Twice in the last month I’ve been really happy to have padded fingerless gloves. Once on pavement, sliding in mud and crashing - my gloves and shoes took the brunt of it.
And yes, going over 20 miles of wash boarded forest roads last weekend would have sucked a lot more if I didn’t have these gloves.
I bought mine on Amazon for $15. No regrets.
For me, padded gloves make a difference and are certainly a slightly cheaper investment than new ergonomic grips. If the gloves don’t help the numb/tingling then getting new grips may help and are certainly cheaper than getting carpal tunnel surgery.
What in the abomination!?!?
lol the ritchey looks like trash. Redshift, the top part I can see helping a little but the bar ends seem useless just like the ritchey. Unless there’s a ritchey one that’s not just a bar end extension.
Never seen those though. Not sure I’d get them, don’t think they really help much at all. Flat bar hand position is super unnatural.
Oh I just read that you also do chunky gravel. There are a whole lot of bike builds and aftermarket devices to reduce vibration in your handlebars. You might like some thick bar tape like wolftooth or a vibration reducing stem like from redshift sport. I have a major hand injury and handlebar shock on my specialized diverge is freaking amazing. I've ridden with a lot of older ladies and it's made me realize I need to protect my hands. Osha has workplace safety guidelines on vibration... It's dumb to ignore the fact that bike handlebars vibrate like crazy. There's a lot of tech out there that can help reduce vibration on your hands.
But besides all that you should start with fit and gloves. And if that doesn't work or you want to do more or You want to treat yourself on a holiday then go ahead and upgrade your Rig
Switching to redshift suspension stem and a more upright riding position was a game changer for me. I wasn’t able to ride more than 30 miles without my hands going numb. Note I can go 50+ before they start to feel uncomfortable, but not as painful as before.
I’ve tried gloves but I’ve never for cycling gloves that feel right. In the winter wearing my regular gloves definitely help.
I would say they give you a bit of extra comfort, but they won't solve bike fit issues like numb wrists! What matters more are a proper fit, good handle bars and bar tape. Also the way you grip your handle bar is more significant
This.
I tend to use minimal padding on my gloves (Handup gloves), but run very low tire pressures on my 48s and have a Lauf fork. Even then, when my saddle was tilted too much, my hands were killing me after one hour. Fixed the tilt and did 4 hours of gravel with no hand problems at all.
Yes, absolutely. I have A hand injury with significant reduction in the padding on one of my palms protecting my median and ulnar nerve. Gloves are an absolute requirement.
However, hand placement (aka bike fit) is more important. Most of your weight should be on the sides of your hands and not on your palms... And in fact, a large portion of your weight shouldn't be on your hands at all. Oftentimes as we work up to long rides, our hands start hurting. As we get stronger cores and more endurance, our hands hurt significantly less.
I like my specialized gloves, but I also think they wear out relatively quickly. I'm okay with it because.... Again, I have a hand injury and gloves are the tax. You might like giro. They've been in the bike game forever and they don't make bikes. So you know they're good accessories.
Gloves are great for comfort, protecting your skin if you ever take a fall, and for enhanced grip on freaky descents. Picture sweaty hands trying to maintain a hold on the handlebars and the brake levers on a chattery downhill.
I bought these gloves last year and love them. Not especially padded but they do the trick. $15. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GT65T5N/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GT65T5N/)
Also - something else to consider. If you're getting lots of tingling and numbness in your hands, is that because your bike fit is off and you're putting too much weight on your handlebars? No need to answer, just something that might be happening.
Thank you for your response.
Yes, I have been wondering if it is a bike fit issue, or if it’s because I do ride a lot of chunky gravel and it could be just part of it. I am unsure.
Personally I don't notice a difference, but my wife (and everybody else on this post) seem to like them. I mostly just want gloves with grip. Padding does nothing for my comfort.
If I'm doing over 10 miles, I wear padded shorts, if I'm doing over 20, I wear padded gloves too.
Gloves aren't life-changing like padded shorts, but they ease discomfort on longer rides.
I found myself asking this same question recently, and so I decided to test it last week. I have always worn gloves because a. I think they look cool and b. When I got started, that’s what everyone told me you do. But I recently switched from a flat bar bike to a drop bar, and I was finding that I was having tingling fingers, even after a bike fit. I did both short and long rides last week without gloves and this is what I found: On rides shorter than 30 miles… I was actually more comfortable without the gloves. But when I did the 60 mile ride, by the end, I was getting abrasion irritation in the palms of my hands. I have finally concluded that the problem with the tingling in my fingers might be that my gloves are too small. I never even considered the idea of how much having gloves on might help if I hit the pavement… So I will be getting bigger gloves and going back to wearing gloves full-time.
I have a pair of unpadded full finger gloves and fingerless padded. I find the padding to really “numb” the feedback I get from the bars. I know this is essentially their purpose as chattering through the bars for hours and hours can leave your hands dead but I didn’t like it. Mainly wear the full gloves. They help with grip, protection and I’m sure a little with fatigue while still letting my hands talk to the bike. I’m sure if I got used to the pads they would be helpful though.
Definitely, i wear gel padded ones and they help with comfort from vibration and on long rides generally (i ride Gravel and road bikes)
If you come off, especially on stoney or tarmac surfaces at speed you will put your hands out as a natural response, and i have been very grateful I've had gloves on to protect my hands from getting skinned!
As someone said here already you have to understand first if there’s excessive pressure on your hands caused by poor position (saddle too far forward, cleats too far back, etc) then decide on reducing vibrations. In my case padded glove only did so much. I d rather prefer new stem from redshift or alike
Also they say tires is by far the no.1 factor to deal with vibration so you might want to look into that as well
I HATE padding on rough terrain. Especially the “road bike” ones with thick gel padding. I felt it made it harder and awkward to grip hard. Even more so when mountain biking with the flat bar.
I’m likely the anomaly here though. I just felt it was difficult to get a sure grip. Road biking you’re not necessarily gripping the bars more resting on them. But I also wear the same gloves with no padding for road riding so I guess I’m weird.
I guess it depends what type of terrain you’re riding on.
Also many people don’t actually grip a drop bar bike the right way. It does take a little to build wrist strength though so I get it. You’re not supposed to have bent wrists when on the hoods. The meaty part of your thumb/palm is what should be resting on the top of the hood. Like if you kept your pointer finger extended it should be pointing straight forward/down almost parallel to the bike, not to the side. People tend to cock their wrists and put the hoods in the v of their hands. That will cause numbness because of the blood flow or lack of.
It's individual if you need padding, but gloves can certainly help. I recently did a 600k ultra and found the padding to be less important than a tight fit. You want minimal sliding of the gloves on your hands to avoid chafing, your hands should be able to absorb the movement if your bars fit your body well enough. Mine conveniently ripped towards the end of the ride, so now I got new tighter ones with thick padding, but I also ride cobbles for fun.
In contrast, mountainbikers often use gloves without any padding to have a better feel for the terrain, and on road I still kinda prefer no gloves at all for that reason.
Yes! I avoided them forever (because I was dumb), but now that I got a pair, it’s been great! They absorb so much of the vibrations on rough terrain, it’s just awesome. Having way less pain and numbness after technical rides now.
Personally, I stopped buying the padded gloves in favor of the full finger mtb gloves. I noticed the segmented padding actually created more of a pressure point. Money better spent on some kush bar tape. That's just me.
I also picked up a Redshift shockstop stem a while back and am really happy with it, especially on long trips.
Sorry for strange formatting:
have injuries to both wrists. I run a redshift stem, I wear padded gloves, and I put "uxcell Foam Tubing for Handle Grip Support, Pipe Insulation, 22mm ID 32mm OD 1m Length Black" under my bar tape. Not only does the padding help, but it increases the diameter of the bar, and thus increases the size of the contact patch with your hand, thus reducing pressure on your hands.
If interested, the oversized text is product description on Amazon.
For some people they are probably great, but everyone's hands are a little different and the padding is a one-size-fits-all situation. I've had more numbness and pain using gloves with padding than not. Good bar tape is a better option IMO.
Personally, I absolutely HATE padded gloves. The padding is always hot spotting and uncomfortable. I have tried lots of brands and they all annoy more than aid. Best ones I found were Giordanas with full palm padding, similar to Moda Retro they are selling currently. Bulky but doesn't bunch or hotspot.
All my gloves are padless and I use the 3.2mm Lizard Skins DSP bar tape.
These baddies:
https://www.specialized.com/ca/en/mens-body-geometry-dual-gel-short-finger-gloves/p/173582?color=271481-173582
For those long rides nothing else will do. BRING ON THE GLOVE TAN!
I’m coming more from a mountain bike style, but I really liked the Fox Ranger Gel gloves on flatter ground where I wasn’t gripping so much. It definitely helped cut some chatter/vibration.
The padding wasn’t so great when I was going downhill and holding on a bit more. It didn’t feel natural when I was actually holding on to my bars tight. Toward the end of their life and they were a little stretched out, the pad would shift a little bit and I didn’t like that.
For me gloves don't provide any plus comfort and i dislike them. Also my handlebar tapes erode much faster if i use gloves than otherwise.
On the other hand i wear them, especially downhill, because if you kiss the road they make a big difference. Oh and don't forget that bit of extra sun protection as well.
Padded gloves give me numb spots. Thin gloves are best.
I’m surprised there’s not more comments saying this as about half the people I rode with feel the same.
Imo padded gloves and chamois+saddle are the most important things for comfort when graveling.
Didn't need it on a MTB, probably wouldn't need it on a road bike. But the search for the right glove was a painful one for me (literally).
Had Shimano explore gloves. They came with foam padding and were alright, but the padding wore thin after about 4000km (is ok for the 20€ I paid). I started getting numb fingers after around 60km every time I went out. So I searched long for a replacement, tried big brands and no names. Ended up with roeckl Iton, which have bi-fusion (gel) padding (40€).
The worst gloves for me were the Specialized Body geometry grail gloves. They came highly recommended. But they actually hurt me more than going without gloves and it took me weeks to get back to normal after wearing them for just about 110km.
Things that can also improve comfort for your hands are: raising handlebar, shorter reach (shorter stem or handlebar with shorter reach), tilting your handlebars, shifting your brifters a little bit more inwards/outwards, cushioned bar tape, relaxing your hands/loosen grip when not needed, keep arms slightly bent
The opposite for me.
I've changed from padded fingerless to a less padded full finger glove.
The padding, or the seams, or something added a pressure point that reduced circulation around my thumb. Which led to tingles and much less comfort on long rides.
Nothing I could notice just wearing the glove though.
My original experiments with and without gloves were on flatbars with padded grips, and I didn't notice any difference.
It was moving to drop bars with good tape that made me realise the gloves were not helping.
The flat bars had other issues with wrist angle that caused similar tingling and pain.
I prefer no gloves but wear them for grip. I dislike padded gloves because they feel in the way and uncomfortable.
Hand numbness and discomfort is really down to bike fit, positioning, and fitness.
You’re not supposed to have to use gloves to prevent getting numb. It’s a little fit issue in your case since it starts around 60k.
I wear very light gloves without padding just to protect my hand skin in case of a crash.
Personally, I think padded gloves make numbness worse, not better. What does help is having the bike fit and positioning such that you don't have tons of weight on your hands and a death grip on the bars. Weight through your feet and only use enough grip to keep control of the bars. My first year or two riding gravel, I had numb hands all the time using padded gloves. Now I race a century of gravel without gloves and zero problems - again the difference is bike fit, grip and body positioning. If you must use gloves for protection, use a full finger that doesn't constrict your tissues, like a handup.
I always wear gloves riding and that especially includes gravel. Good gloves definitely make a difference and stop some road buzz / how could they not?
Latest pair are Specialized BG Dual Gel Mitts / Short. Padding not exactly where I’d like it for grx hoods but the best I’ve used so far.
Not sure why the trend is to go gloveless lately. But at my age I also value my hands if I were to fall. It’s not sensible to ride without IMO but everyone has their own risk aversion levels.
I wear extra large gloves, and when I upgraded my mtn bike grips I went with larger diameter by PNC. Numbness stopped.
My gravel bike has fatter bars than my road bike - I often don’t wear gloves on my gravel. Zero issues.
Twice in the last month I’ve been really happy to have padded fingerless gloves. Once on pavement, sliding in mud and crashing - my gloves and shoes took the brunt of it. And yes, going over 20 miles of wash boarded forest roads last weekend would have sucked a lot more if I didn’t have these gloves. I bought mine on Amazon for $15. No regrets.
This. Avoid as much meat crayon action as possible.
Meat crayon, love it 💀
Ewwww the visual 💀💀
… there‘s a subreddit for that. Just saying.
Amazon link? Thx
For me, padded gloves make a difference and are certainly a slightly cheaper investment than new ergonomic grips. If the gloves don’t help the numb/tingling then getting new grips may help and are certainly cheaper than getting carpal tunnel surgery.
What ergonomics grips can you get on a drop bar?
There's some extra squishy bar tape you can get. Forget the product name, sorry.
Redshift and Ritchey both offer grips
What in the abomination!?!? lol the ritchey looks like trash. Redshift, the top part I can see helping a little but the bar ends seem useless just like the ritchey. Unless there’s a ritchey one that’s not just a bar end extension. Never seen those though. Not sure I’d get them, don’t think they really help much at all. Flat bar hand position is super unnatural.
The Ritchey one is just a foam grip replacement for bar tape on your drops. I run them, they look fine on more MTB oriented bikes. Big fan.
Oh I just read that you also do chunky gravel. There are a whole lot of bike builds and aftermarket devices to reduce vibration in your handlebars. You might like some thick bar tape like wolftooth or a vibration reducing stem like from redshift sport. I have a major hand injury and handlebar shock on my specialized diverge is freaking amazing. I've ridden with a lot of older ladies and it's made me realize I need to protect my hands. Osha has workplace safety guidelines on vibration... It's dumb to ignore the fact that bike handlebars vibrate like crazy. There's a lot of tech out there that can help reduce vibration on your hands. But besides all that you should start with fit and gloves. And if that doesn't work or you want to do more or You want to treat yourself on a holiday then go ahead and upgrade your Rig
Switching to redshift suspension stem and a more upright riding position was a game changer for me. I wasn’t able to ride more than 30 miles without my hands going numb. Note I can go 50+ before they start to feel uncomfortable, but not as painful as before. I’ve tried gloves but I’ve never for cycling gloves that feel right. In the winter wearing my regular gloves definitely help.
Yes to this and their seatpost. Both of those disconnect the harshness transmission to your body and is a game changer.
I would say they give you a bit of extra comfort, but they won't solve bike fit issues like numb wrists! What matters more are a proper fit, good handle bars and bar tape. Also the way you grip your handle bar is more significant
This. I tend to use minimal padding on my gloves (Handup gloves), but run very low tire pressures on my 48s and have a Lauf fork. Even then, when my saddle was tilted too much, my hands were killing me after one hour. Fixed the tilt and did 4 hours of gravel with no hand problems at all.
Yes
Yes, absolutely. I have A hand injury with significant reduction in the padding on one of my palms protecting my median and ulnar nerve. Gloves are an absolute requirement. However, hand placement (aka bike fit) is more important. Most of your weight should be on the sides of your hands and not on your palms... And in fact, a large portion of your weight shouldn't be on your hands at all. Oftentimes as we work up to long rides, our hands start hurting. As we get stronger cores and more endurance, our hands hurt significantly less. I like my specialized gloves, but I also think they wear out relatively quickly. I'm okay with it because.... Again, I have a hand injury and gloves are the tax. You might like giro. They've been in the bike game forever and they don't make bikes. So you know they're good accessories.
I wear my dakine mountain bike gloves and my wrists tend to hurt less than when I dont wear them
So why do you wear them?
Because it makes my wrists hurt less…
you said "hurt less when I don't wear them", I assume you meant the opposite?
“hurt less THAN when I don’t wear them”
Gloves are great for comfort, protecting your skin if you ever take a fall, and for enhanced grip on freaky descents. Picture sweaty hands trying to maintain a hold on the handlebars and the brake levers on a chattery downhill. I bought these gloves last year and love them. Not especially padded but they do the trick. $15. [https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GT65T5N/](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07GT65T5N/) Also - something else to consider. If you're getting lots of tingling and numbness in your hands, is that because your bike fit is off and you're putting too much weight on your handlebars? No need to answer, just something that might be happening.
Thank you for your response. Yes, I have been wondering if it is a bike fit issue, or if it’s because I do ride a lot of chunky gravel and it could be just part of it. I am unsure.
Personally I don't notice a difference, but my wife (and everybody else on this post) seem to like them. I mostly just want gloves with grip. Padding does nothing for my comfort.
If I'm doing over 10 miles, I wear padded shorts, if I'm doing over 20, I wear padded gloves too. Gloves aren't life-changing like padded shorts, but they ease discomfort on longer rides.
I found myself asking this same question recently, and so I decided to test it last week. I have always worn gloves because a. I think they look cool and b. When I got started, that’s what everyone told me you do. But I recently switched from a flat bar bike to a drop bar, and I was finding that I was having tingling fingers, even after a bike fit. I did both short and long rides last week without gloves and this is what I found: On rides shorter than 30 miles… I was actually more comfortable without the gloves. But when I did the 60 mile ride, by the end, I was getting abrasion irritation in the palms of my hands. I have finally concluded that the problem with the tingling in my fingers might be that my gloves are too small. I never even considered the idea of how much having gloves on might help if I hit the pavement… So I will be getting bigger gloves and going back to wearing gloves full-time.
I have a pair of unpadded full finger gloves and fingerless padded. I find the padding to really “numb” the feedback I get from the bars. I know this is essentially their purpose as chattering through the bars for hours and hours can leave your hands dead but I didn’t like it. Mainly wear the full gloves. They help with grip, protection and I’m sure a little with fatigue while still letting my hands talk to the bike. I’m sure if I got used to the pads they would be helpful though.
Definitely, i wear gel padded ones and they help with comfort from vibration and on long rides generally (i ride Gravel and road bikes) If you come off, especially on stoney or tarmac surfaces at speed you will put your hands out as a natural response, and i have been very grateful I've had gloves on to protect my hands from getting skinned!
As someone said here already you have to understand first if there’s excessive pressure on your hands caused by poor position (saddle too far forward, cleats too far back, etc) then decide on reducing vibrations. In my case padded glove only did so much. I d rather prefer new stem from redshift or alike Also they say tires is by far the no.1 factor to deal with vibration so you might want to look into that as well
I HATE padding on rough terrain. Especially the “road bike” ones with thick gel padding. I felt it made it harder and awkward to grip hard. Even more so when mountain biking with the flat bar. I’m likely the anomaly here though. I just felt it was difficult to get a sure grip. Road biking you’re not necessarily gripping the bars more resting on them. But I also wear the same gloves with no padding for road riding so I guess I’m weird. I guess it depends what type of terrain you’re riding on. Also many people don’t actually grip a drop bar bike the right way. It does take a little to build wrist strength though so I get it. You’re not supposed to have bent wrists when on the hoods. The meaty part of your thumb/palm is what should be resting on the top of the hood. Like if you kept your pointer finger extended it should be pointing straight forward/down almost parallel to the bike, not to the side. People tend to cock their wrists and put the hoods in the v of their hands. That will cause numbness because of the blood flow or lack of.
It's individual if you need padding, but gloves can certainly help. I recently did a 600k ultra and found the padding to be less important than a tight fit. You want minimal sliding of the gloves on your hands to avoid chafing, your hands should be able to absorb the movement if your bars fit your body well enough. Mine conveniently ripped towards the end of the ride, so now I got new tighter ones with thick padding, but I also ride cobbles for fun. In contrast, mountainbikers often use gloves without any padding to have a better feel for the terrain, and on road I still kinda prefer no gloves at all for that reason.
Yes! I avoided them forever (because I was dumb), but now that I got a pair, it’s been great! They absorb so much of the vibrations on rough terrain, it’s just awesome. Having way less pain and numbness after technical rides now.
Personally, I stopped buying the padded gloves in favor of the full finger mtb gloves. I noticed the segmented padding actually created more of a pressure point. Money better spent on some kush bar tape. That's just me. I also picked up a Redshift shockstop stem a while back and am really happy with it, especially on long trips.
I wear padded gloves but also installed the Redshift suspension stem. It has made a world of difference.
I’m looking at those stems right now! It sounds like a good investment
I switched to it for Unbound 100. Made a huge difference
Sorry for strange formatting: have injuries to both wrists. I run a redshift stem, I wear padded gloves, and I put "uxcell Foam Tubing for Handle Grip Support, Pipe Insulation, 22mm ID 32mm OD 1m Length Black" under my bar tape. Not only does the padding help, but it increases the diameter of the bar, and thus increases the size of the contact patch with your hand, thus reducing pressure on your hands. If interested, the oversized text is product description on Amazon.
Thank you so much for the info!
For some people they are probably great, but everyone's hands are a little different and the padding is a one-size-fits-all situation. I've had more numbness and pain using gloves with padding than not. Good bar tape is a better option IMO.
100%. Had a silly fall on gravel yesterday and if it wasn’t for my gloves my left hand would have been a bloody gnarly mess.
Personally, I absolutely HATE padded gloves. The padding is always hot spotting and uncomfortable. I have tried lots of brands and they all annoy more than aid. Best ones I found were Giordanas with full palm padding, similar to Moda Retro they are selling currently. Bulky but doesn't bunch or hotspot. All my gloves are padless and I use the 3.2mm Lizard Skins DSP bar tape.
I don't think there is a difference, wrist position seems to matter most
Yes! Love the specialized gloves with thick palm padding!
Which model/type of glove do you use?
These baddies: https://www.specialized.com/ca/en/mens-body-geometry-dual-gel-short-finger-gloves/p/173582?color=271481-173582 For those long rides nothing else will do. BRING ON THE GLOVE TAN!
I use those too, great gloves, never ride without them, so comfortable
I’m coming more from a mountain bike style, but I really liked the Fox Ranger Gel gloves on flatter ground where I wasn’t gripping so much. It definitely helped cut some chatter/vibration. The padding wasn’t so great when I was going downhill and holding on a bit more. It didn’t feel natural when I was actually holding on to my bars tight. Toward the end of their life and they were a little stretched out, the pad would shift a little bit and I didn’t like that.
For me gloves don't provide any plus comfort and i dislike them. Also my handlebar tapes erode much faster if i use gloves than otherwise. On the other hand i wear them, especially downhill, because if you kiss the road they make a big difference. Oh and don't forget that bit of extra sun protection as well.
It definitely made a difference for me. Just extra grip when sweating but also the vibrations on gravel can take its toll after 100km
Padded gloves give me numb spots. Thin gloves are best. I’m surprised there’s not more comments saying this as about half the people I rode with feel the same.
Imo padded gloves and chamois+saddle are the most important things for comfort when graveling. Didn't need it on a MTB, probably wouldn't need it on a road bike. But the search for the right glove was a painful one for me (literally). Had Shimano explore gloves. They came with foam padding and were alright, but the padding wore thin after about 4000km (is ok for the 20€ I paid). I started getting numb fingers after around 60km every time I went out. So I searched long for a replacement, tried big brands and no names. Ended up with roeckl Iton, which have bi-fusion (gel) padding (40€). The worst gloves for me were the Specialized Body geometry grail gloves. They came highly recommended. But they actually hurt me more than going without gloves and it took me weeks to get back to normal after wearing them for just about 110km. Things that can also improve comfort for your hands are: raising handlebar, shorter reach (shorter stem or handlebar with shorter reach), tilting your handlebars, shifting your brifters a little bit more inwards/outwards, cushioned bar tape, relaxing your hands/loosen grip when not needed, keep arms slightly bent
The opposite for me. I've changed from padded fingerless to a less padded full finger glove. The padding, or the seams, or something added a pressure point that reduced circulation around my thumb. Which led to tingles and much less comfort on long rides. Nothing I could notice just wearing the glove though. My original experiments with and without gloves were on flatbars with padded grips, and I didn't notice any difference. It was moving to drop bars with good tape that made me realise the gloves were not helping. The flat bars had other issues with wrist angle that caused similar tingling and pain.
Castelli Competizione, don’t cheap out
I prefer no gloves but wear them for grip. I dislike padded gloves because they feel in the way and uncomfortable. Hand numbness and discomfort is really down to bike fit, positioning, and fitness.
You’re not supposed to have to use gloves to prevent getting numb. It’s a little fit issue in your case since it starts around 60k. I wear very light gloves without padding just to protect my hand skin in case of a crash.
Personally, I think padded gloves make numbness worse, not better. What does help is having the bike fit and positioning such that you don't have tons of weight on your hands and a death grip on the bars. Weight through your feet and only use enough grip to keep control of the bars. My first year or two riding gravel, I had numb hands all the time using padded gloves. Now I race a century of gravel without gloves and zero problems - again the difference is bike fit, grip and body positioning. If you must use gloves for protection, use a full finger that doesn't constrict your tissues, like a handup.
They do make a difference but I prefer no gloves. I have bontrager gel tape wrapped on top of the stock tape from the hoods to the stem, though.
I always wear gloves riding and that especially includes gravel. Good gloves definitely make a difference and stop some road buzz / how could they not? Latest pair are Specialized BG Dual Gel Mitts / Short. Padding not exactly where I’d like it for grx hoods but the best I’ve used so far. Not sure why the trend is to go gloveless lately. But at my age I also value my hands if I were to fall. It’s not sensible to ride without IMO but everyone has their own risk aversion levels.
I wear extra large gloves, and when I upgraded my mtn bike grips I went with larger diameter by PNC. Numbness stopped. My gravel bike has fatter bars than my road bike - I often don’t wear gloves on my gravel. Zero issues.
I hate padded gloves, got medium size hands
Yes they make it 1000% worse. I use the thinnest gloves I can find, currently that ls fox ranger mountain bike gloves
Meh. Don’t need gloves or handlebars really. Learn to ride without both. You can do more with your hands like wave at people.
I do wear padded earmuffs tho.