In this article I’m going to cover a number of options for the best budget road bike gloves.
As with everything nowadays, road bike gloves can be a pretty expensive piece of kit, with prices ranging from 30 USD for simple summer gloves over a 100 for expensive insulated winter gloves.
For this list I’ve focused on a number of solid options for summer road cycling below 25 USD, which is about half what I normally pay for this type of product.
The difference in price is achieved by offering simpler, but not necessarily less effective gloves, made with less pricey materials. And, if I’m honest, branding probably does play a part in this as well. So unfortunately, no Castelli offerings could make the list, which is my favorite brand for cycling gloves.
But enough talk, let’s get to the best budget road bike gloves.
Giro Zero CS Gloves
The Giro Zero CS Gloves are non-padded minimal road cycling gloves with a friendly price.
For people who want to experiment with highly breathable lightweight non-padded gloves, the Zero CS are a good starting point because they don’t break the bank.
Offered in a number of colors they are simple and effective gloves. With a Coolskin microfiber palm and four-stretch mesh as the upper construction.
The pull-on cuff has a reinforced lip to prevent tearing, and the entire glove fits snugly, but is still easy to pull off.
They come in a variety of colors.
- Affordable, highly breathable
- None
Giro Bravo Gel Gloves
If you’re used to padding but don’t want to dig too deep into your wallet, the Giro Bravo Gel Gloves are a perfect solution for your summer rides.
The gloves feature a durable AX Suede® synthetic leather palm. This material is highly durable, so the price notwithstanding, these gloves will last you a long time.
The design is simple and nice, with a plethora of colors to choose from.
The gloves with perfectly, don’t bunch with the hands on the bar, and have a velcro closure on the cuff.
Two finger tabs are made from reflective material.
Not as minimal as the Zero CS and with padding, but if that’s more your kind of thing, these gloves will prove to be worth your money.
- Affordable, durable, padded
- None
Pearl Izumi Select Gloves
The Pearl Izumi Select Gloves is a simple, lightweight summer road cycling glove with gel foam padding on top of a synthetic leather palm.
They are comfortable but superb-fitting gloves for a decent price, and are made in a number of colors. The padding covers almost the entire palm, supplying ample levels of protection against road buzz.
The short cuff has a velcro strap to close it tightly around the wrist. The velcro closure makes removing them easier, even with sweaty hands,
- Superb fit, affordable
- None
SupaGaz Clarino Short Finger Gloves
The SupaGaz SupaG Short Gloves Gloves definitely score points from a design perspective if you ask me. There are many brightly-colored options to choose from. And personally, I don’t shy away from wearing black-gold gloves.
As for the glove itself, they are more narrow-oriented than the other allround summer road gloves on this list. For starters, they don’t have any padding whatsoever. So either this slack should be taken up by your bar tape, you like to do shorter rides, or you simply don’t need as much padding as the average cyclist, preferring bar feel above protection.
Another thing is the one-piece mesh upper doesn’t feature a snot-wipe, let’s call it for what it is. So you wipe your runny nose on a synthetic upper or the long sleeve of your jersey, if it has one.
And these gloves are not meant for people with big hands. They are very tight-fitting gloves. That makes for more than an excellent bar feel, that is if you get your hands in them in the first place. Difficult to get on, also means difficult to get out of.
I don’t mind any of the possible objections I mentioned here and I don’t have big hands. So expect to see me riding in black and gold.
- Minimalistic, great design
- Pricey, non padded, tight fit
SupaGaz Clarino Long Finger Gloves
The SupaGaz SupaG Long Gloves Gloves are the long fingered version, exactly as the name suggests.
They come in a set of different color options, but just as many and colorful.
A pro of such minimalistic long fingered gloves is that they do work great with touchscreens.
- Minimalistic, great design
- Pricey
Specifications budget road bike gloves
Name | Sex | Type | Back | Palm | Padding | Insulation | Season | Buy at Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Giro Zero CS Gloves | men | fingerless | woven stretch fabric | Cool Skin™ | none | none | summer | |
Giro Bravo Gel Gloves | men | fingerless | four-way-stretch mesh | AX Suede™ | gel padding | none | summer | |
Pearl Izumi Select Gloves | men | fingerless | Nylon stretcch | synthetic leather | gel foam padding | none | summer | |
SupaGaz Clarino Short Finger Gloves | unisex | fingerless | Lycra | Clarino™ | none | none | summer | |
SupaGaz Clarino Long Finger Gloves | unisex | full finger | Lycra | Clarino™ | none | none | summer |
Johan van Seijen
FoundeR Restoration.bike
Johan van Seijen is the founder of restoration.bike. His passion for cycling in general, and restoring older bikes turned into a website to share his knowledge with a broader audience. Starting out on his father’s road bike and riding classics as the Amstel Gold Race and Liege Bastogne Liege he has shifted his attention to trail, XC, and gravel riding since. No matter how much he loves writing about everything related to cycling, nothing beats actually using his ever-expanding bicycle collection.
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