Endura Strike gloves review

Your hands can get cold on even the milder days during winter, as they're static and subjected to wind-chill, but layering up too much can reduce dexterity. The best winter cycling gloves will provide just the right blend of warmth, dexterity and breathability for your hands, and that's exactly what the Endura Strike gloves have been designed to do.

As you might imagine, the Scottish brand knows a thing or two about riding in bad weather. We've highly rated the wallet friendly Endura Windchill Jacket II as an excellent example of how effective a simple winter jacket can be, so had high hopes for the Endura Strike gloves from the off.

Endura Strike gloves construction

Constructed with a stretch windproof rear panel, the Endura Strike gloves have a soft shell covering which aims to act as a shield to prevent windchill, as well as preventing heat loss in the other direction. A waterproof membrane is encased between the inner and outer layers, with the outer finished with an eco-friendly PFC free water-resistant DWR coating.

At the palm of the Endura Strike gloves is what Endura calls Palmistry. The brand says it's an exclusive technology that works with the natural creases of the palm to locate the best position for gel padding and silicone grips in order to provide a comfortable and secure riding experience.

The palm and back of the glove sandwich a soft brushed lining and a Velcro closure cuff.

The ride

Once you've been blessed with parenthood, there are two types of outdoor riding that mostly occur, either a flat out smashfest to complete the ride you mapped out before remembering the allotted ride time, or incredibly slow trying to match your furiously pedalling six-year-old on 20" wheels on your 29" (700c) ones.

On the adult only rides, the Endura Strike gloves were impressive. They managed to balance the tightrope windchill blocking and breathability. The water protection is also great, they won't keep your hands forever dry, but as long as you don't remove the gloves, it'll be warm by the time it reaches your hands.

Palmistry does a good job of providing comfort and usability. The Endura Strike gloves also manage to balance the level of insulation and dexterity. They're not as deep winter as say the Giro 100 Proof winter Gloves, but as all-rounders, there's probably not a lot else you would want for.

Acting as a good simulator for the slower speeds of a congested commute, the more relaxed rides with child tested the glove's general warmth, where they also did exceptionally well, especially at the just above zero degrees in snow. There were some sudden temperature spikes as I watched my blissfully ignorant six-year-old sail across huge patches of ice, while my forty-odd years of riding experienced sent my heart at a BPM that could match a cyclocross sprint finish, which the gloves regulated nicely.

These rides were also a good test of the e-touch, whilst typing to confirm to the other parent via phone that we were still in one piece despite the snow. Sadly the gloves did fall down in this case, as messaging did mean removing the gloves.

Ideally for me I'd have a little more jacket to wrist overlap, which would also negate having to ensure the jacket wasn't the one with the slightly too long sleeves to really prevent gaps appearing.

Value

At just less than £40 the Endura Strike gloves are a great purchase. They'll keep you warm and dry for typical winter's ride and although there are a couple of wish list changes, I'd forgo them for keeping the gloves in this price range.