Bike Perfect Verdict
Loads of features at a good price, but prominent pads and undersized ‘Form Fit’ won’t work for everyone
Pros
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Smart swipe fingers
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Snot/sweat wipe
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Unique finger construction
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Prominent pressure point pads
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Includes free multilingual laundry encyclopaedia
Cons
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Undersized fit
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Unique finger construction
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Prominent pressure point pads
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Pulled threads are obvious
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Pull tab is hidden inside the glove
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Bulky multilingual laundry encyclopaedia
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Leatt’s MTB 1.0 V22 lightweight MTB gloves use a courageously different feature loaded ‘Form Fit’ design at a good price to try and break into our best MTB gloves list. Undersized fit, lumpy pads and unique finger construction means trying before you buy is wise though.
Design and specifications
‘Form Fit’ means the MTB 1.0 V22s use a stretchy ‘ripstop’ backing fabric that also forms the thumb and upper finger as far as the final knuckle. The sides and fingers ends are separate pieces of the a lighter fabric with reinforced finger webs and deep double backed seams. The faux suede MicronGrip palm material also forms the fingers/thumbs and turned up tips. The whole surface is touchscreen conductive too. Thick, square-edged pads are sewn into the front of the palm, the heel and thumb base. A neoprene panel under the wrist has silicon printed logos and tensions the double-over hem. A Terry toweling snot/sweat wipe is then stitched onto the outside of the thumb, with a ‘protective’ silicon panel over the third and forth knuckles. The glove color matches Leatt's MTB 3.0 jersey and MTB 3.0 shorts too.
Performance
The first thing to know is that the sizing of these gloves is definitely undersized. I normally use XL for a bit of mobility but the XL Leatt’s were a real fight to pull on. Weirdly, the pull-tab is down inside the glove where you can’t reach it – so that doesn’t help much either. You’ll also need to cut out the six (four of them are doubled back) multilingual laundry instruction tabs to stop them lumping under your palm. Once on, the ‘body’ fit was OK but the fingers were definitely short. The seams in the turned up tips were perfectly placed to burrow uncomfortably between finger and nail too. In other words, if you’re ordering blind I’d definitely go up a size.
That still won’t tell you whether the big, block pads on the palm will help reduce pressure on your hand or actually concentrate it – which is what happened with me. That’s not going to be the case with everyone though and while there are tons of unpadded palm gloves around, padded ones are relatively rare outside the roadie scene. Or to put it another way, what I found painful might be the answer to another rider's prayers, but again, trying before you buy is definitely recommended.
While the silicon patch shrugs off some scuffing, where the fabric does get caught on undergrowth/in crashes/on Velcro while washing/storing it pulls up a very obvious white thread. That means they start looking scruffy while they’re still actually totally fine.
If the fit and pads work for you, then the palms fabric gives good finger grip when wet or dry and you can work touchscreens fine with all fingers and thumbs. Those thick pads interfere with palm communication though and the tight cuff and finger fit means arm pump is more likely too.
Verdict
Leatt deserve credit for doing something different with the design of their MTB 1.0 V22 gloves and finger grip, screen swipe and XS to XXL sizing are all positives. You need to take into account those sizes are smaller than average though. The big palm pads and thick finger tip seams provoked a love/hate (mostly the latter) reaction in our testers, so that means trying before you buy is crucial even if the price seems good.
Tech specs: Leatt MTB 1.0 V22 Glove
- Price: $29.99 / £24.99 / €29.99
- Sizes: XS to XXL
- Colors: Malbec (tested), Black, Desert
