I’d always wondered wondered why bicycle riding had never really taken off amongst lobsters and the clawed crustaceans crowd… but thanks to Sealskinz, now I know.
When I first saw the SealSkinz Winter handlebar mittens (yes, that is the product’s actual name) the idea of pairing your non-thumb fingers made sense.
Fingers generate warmth so why not let your fingers contribute to warming themselves up? Couples with a nice warm and waterproof shell, surely that was the way to go?
Well, kinda.
I’ve been using the SealSkinz handlebar mittens (really, where else am I going to put my hands guys?) for a few months now and decided it was time for a review.
First and foremost, I bought the mittens primarily as a winter glove because my Netti Winter Pro gloves aren’t waterproof. With that sole criteria in mind the Sealskinz handlebar mittens perform superbly.
Even on the scooter flying along at 80-100km/h the Sealskinzs keep my hands warm and they are completely waterproof.
Unfortunately, practically speaking the “lobster fingers” concept (which is one of the main selling points of the glove, sorry “mittens”) has turned out to be my biggest fault with them.
You see, once you don the handlebar mittens, your hands become functionally useless. And I don’t mean, oh hey I can’t perform precise brain surgery because I’ve got my gloves on… I’m talking you can’t do anything except grip the handlebars when you’ve got these gloves on.
Perhaps that’s why SealSkinz named them “handlebar” mittens.
Seriously, with two fingers bundled together it’s impossible to do anything. Clipping your helmet strap together, pushing your on-board computer button, flicking your dynamo on because it’s dark, adjusting your freaking sunglasses?
FORGET IT!
Hell even something as simple as pulling the sleeves of my Ground Effect Storm Trooper over the mittens cuffs (which are plentiful long enough) becomes a delicate 5 minute job. I mean I could get rough and just pinch and shove the sleeves over but being elasticized, I don’t think I should ruin the sleeves of a near $300 jacket over some poorly designed $30 gloves.
Perhaps the icing on the cake is even getting the gloves on themselves. The first is easy enough but even trying to secure the wrist tightening strap on the second glove is a PITA.
Seriously I can’t stress how useless your hands become once you’ve got these gloves on. And there’s nothing worse than having to remove your gloves when it’s pouring rain just to perform the most rudimentary of tasks while you’re cycling.
As such, despite being winter gloves I’ve settled for using the Netti Winter Pro gloves if it’s cold and only break out the SealSkinz mittens if it’s raining.
Ideally I’d get rid of both gloves and continue the search for some proper all-purpose water and windproof gloves that don’t leave your hands useless (I can do nearly everything in my Winter Pro gloves I can do with my half-finger summer gloves), but I can’t justify getting rid of gloves that haven’t fallen apart yet so I’ll see them through.
If I’m lucky my girlfriend is with me when it starts to rain and she can help pull my jacket sleeves over… and if I’m on my own I just suck it up and accept I’m going to lose ~10 minutes of my time changing gloves.
Thankfully I don’t get caught out in the rain too much so I only find myself having to pull on the mittens perhaps once or twice a month. The rest of the time the Winter Pro gloves suffice.
Palmwise the Sealskinz mittens aren’t anything to write home about.
There’s no padding but that’s offset a little by the overall thickness and clunkiness of the gloves themselves.
How the hell Sealskinz mittens passed quality assurance and functionality testing on a bicycle I have no idea. I’ll certainly never be buying a lobster type mitten ever again!
Buyer beware.