GripGrab Roadster mitts review

The Danish company, GripGrab specialises in looking after your extremities; it makes gloves, hats, socks, leg and arm warmers as well as overshoes.

Its Roadster mitts are designed to be really lightweight for summer riding. The backs of the gloves are made of a thin, see-through mesh. GripGrab says that they are made that way so you can get a tan through the fabric as you ride - so no more dodgy hand tan lines.

It also means that they don’t get too hot when the temperature does increase. But you don’t get a wipe on the back of the thumb though, as you do with many mitts, even summer weight ones.

The fabric has enough stretch to get the mitts on and off easily, and there’s a web of the palm material between the middle and ring fingers to help pull them off. But it’s also robust enough to keep the palm in place well – a nice compromise. There’s also a dart of reflective printing on the outside edge for extra low light visibility.

The palm of the Roadster is equally lightweight, but without the stretch of the back. It’s made of a synthetic suede, so it gives good grip and doesn’t slip around when you are riding. It has a layer of double fabric over the underside of the knuckles for extra padding where they meet the bars. And it also has small perforations for better airflow.

It’s also reinforced and has a padded insert between the forefinger and the palm, another pressure point. And the heel of the palm has a 2mm thick pad of GripGrab’s own DoctorGel built in. This is GripGrab’s thinnest gel pad, which it says is for the more competition-minded rider.

GripGrab says that the DoctorGel pad is positioned to reduce the risk of nerve compression and finger numbness.

Despite being thin, the gel pad is effective. I rode the 140km length Tour of Flanders sportive, including its famous cobbles, in the Roadster mitts without discomfort, although there are other gloves available that would give you more padding.

And being so light, if they do get wet the mitts dry out very quickly. They also seem well made and are resistant to wear and tear, while the white fabric hasn’t turned grey yet.

So the Roadster mitts look like a good bet for when the UK does finally warm up. GripGrab products are stocked in the UK by Wiggle.