The top 9 best men's padded cycling gloves

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In this article I’m going to give you my top picks for the best men’s padded cycling gloves.

There has been a trend towards minimalistic cycling gloves with no padding at all. But when done right, padded gloves do offer that extra bit of comfort that makes the difference when the hours in the saddle are going to count.

This list features one of my favorite cycling brands, Castelli, especially when it comes to making comfortable padded cycling gloves with a solid fit. I’ve also added a number of promising other options and full fingered versions as well.

I do have to remind you that, even with any of these gloves, should you keep experiencing discomfort or even pain, it might be worth taking a closer look at your bike setup. No glove, no matter how well padded it is, can alleviate strain on your hands simply because they have to support too much weight on them. And too much weight is the cause of an ill fit on your bike.

So with that out of the way, here’s my list of the best men’s padded cycling gloves.

Castelli Rosso Corsa Espresso Gloves

The Castelli Rosso Corsa Espresso Gloves is a lightweight allround summer glove with padding.

All Castelli gloves, including this one, feature padding sitting in close proximity of the ulnar nerve. Furthermore the glove features padding with every touch point your hands make with your handlebars.

I know from personal experience that if you favor padding in your cycling gloves, the comfort in Castelli gloves is virtually unmatched. And this very well designed, allround road cycling glove is one of the best options.

Castelli Endurance Gloves

The Castelli Endurance Gloves are very similar to the Rosso Corsa gloves.

The difference is in the material of the upper construction, which makes the glove a little bit lighter and cooler. Castelli calls it Endurance Evolution fabric, and this extra padded glove is meant to be used in long-distance touring in hot conditions.

The light gloves don’t have a large cuff, which could dig into your hands. This might make them just a tad more difficult to remove.

With padding covering almost the entirety of the synthetic palm, including the whole thumb, they do indeed provide comfort for those who are more quickly afflicted by hand pain.

Castelli Arenberg Gel 2 Gloves

The Italian Castelli Arenberg Gel 2 gloves are nice-looking gloves, which are being offered in a variety of colors besides your standard black. They feature the Castelli Damping System (CDS) padding, which protects part of the ulnar nerve running through your hand.

I would consider the padding to be medium, which means your grip on the handlebar remains firm and it doesn’t really feel like you’re wearing a padded glove.

As with all my gloves I buy them a size smaller to prevent creasing between palms and handlebar. The cuff is closed with a velcro strap.

The glove has an extended lip to put them on. There’s also a tiny bit of excess cloth between the middle 3 fingers, meant for removing the gloves, which I never use, since the gloves are easy enough to remove with the strap not fastened.

Overall the glove is extremely comfortable and has the right balance between grip and padding.

Giro Supernatural Gloves

The Giro Supernatural Gloves use multi-density padding from the Elastic Interface Palm Technology.

Elastic Interface is a company whose core focus is on the development and production of paddings, which makes this glove the most tech-oriented one in this lineup.

This type of padding is anatomically molded with zero stitches and various layers of stiffness. The softest around the sensitive area where the ulnar nerve resides.

The result is an extremely comfortable glove, with an extraordinary fit. I’ve been using Castelli for a long time, but for those less brand-sensitive than me, this is the glove I would buy.

Giro LX Gloves

The gorgeous Giro LX bicycle gloves come in three colors: black, white, and tan. And the punctured upper gives them a retro look. Especially when choosing the tan version, it would perfectly complement a vintage road or touring bike.

These full gloves are made of high-quality Pittards leather and offer thick padding to relieve pressure from the ulnar nerve and the inside of the thumb for brake levers used on road bikes.

It’s one of the very few summer gloves that are almost entirely made out of leather, which explains the price tag. And it’s one of the best-looking and most comfortable padded leather gloves money can buy.

Giro Monaco II Gel Gloves

The Giro Monaco II Gel gloves are superbly comfortable gloves in a number of great-looking colors.

The entire palm of the glove is made of high-quality Pittards leather. This type of leather combines all the necessary characteristics you need in a premium cycling glove. Comfort, grip, durability and breathability.

The fingerless Monica II Gel glove is the perfect companion for your summer rides. The Pittards leather ensures perspiration has the ability to escape, while the mesh upper creates both a snug fit that’s still airy and comfortable.

Giro’s Technogel provides added comfort that takes out road buzz and adds comfort as well, without the rider losing feel with the bike.

Hestra Ergo Grip Enduro Gloves

The Hestra Ergo Grip Enduro Gloves are well-padded, well-designed full-fingered gloves.

Although the glove is made up of a number of panels and are covered in seams, this actually enhances the sublime pre-curved fit they offer. And none of that paneling and those myriad seams can be felt inside the glove.

I can appreciate the fact that you have a number of options besides the standard black, and am especially smitten by the blue-white one. Although I admit that white gloves aren’t the smartest color choice when trying to keep them that way.

If you want a touchscreen compatible, padded lightweight cool-weather glove that’s very durable and flexible enough to be used in a variety of temperatures, this gorgeously designed glove is a very good option indeed.

Pearl Izumi Pro Gel Gloves

The Pearl Izumi Pro Gel Gloves is a tight-fit road cycling glove for high-temperature summer rides.

Pearl Izumi favors padding everywhere but the grease between thumb and palm. And they do so onto a durable AX Suede synthetic leather palm.

Black is what you get when you go for these very lightweight and breathable summer gloves.

Pearl Izumi Elite Gel Full Finger Gloves

The Pearl Izumi Elite Gel Full Finger Gloves is a full-finger summer glove with similar padding as the Pro Gel (and fingerless Elite) model.

Since the padding on that model offers a solid amount of comfort, there’s no reason why not to add a full finger to the list as well. Especially if you’re looking for a glove that could also perfectly be used for either gravel riding or mountain biking.

I would like to have seen some other colors as well. But we’ll have to make do with a black one that does have some reflective material in the upper construction. and a velcro strap on a slightly longer than average cuff.

The glove is touchscreen compatible.

Specifications men's padded cycling gloves

Name	Sex	Type	Back	Palm	Padding	Insulation	Season	Buy at Amazon
Castelli Rosso Corsa Espresso Gloves	men	fingerless	mesh	synthetic	gel padding	none	summer	link
Castelli Endurance Gloves	men	fingerless	Endurance Evolution	synthetic suede	extra gel padding	none	summer	link
Castelli Arenberg Gel 2 Gloves	men	fingerless	mesh	synthetic	gel padding	none	summer	link
Giro Supernatural Gloves	men	fingerless	mesh	Elastic Interface®	multi-density padding	none	summer	link
Giro LX Gloves	men	fingerless	Pittards leather	Pittards leather	3MM technogel padding	none	summer	link
Giro Monaco II Gel Gloves	men	fingerless	mesh	Pittards leather	3MM technogel padding	none	summer	link
Hestra Ergo Grip Enduro Gloves	unisex	full finger	polyester stretch	Polyester	gel padding	none	summer	link
Pearl Izumi Pro Gel Gloves	men	fingerless		Ax Suede Laredo	gel padding	none	summer	link
Pearl Izumi Elite Gel Full Finger Gloves	men	full finger		AX Suede™	gel padding	none	summer	link

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.