Furygan Ace Sympatex Evo gloves review

RRP: £79.99 // Sizes: S-3XL // Colour: Black

The first thing that struck me about these gloves was that for all-season gloves, they seemed very light. They really don’t look much bigger than many summer gloves, so I was curious to see how they fared against some of the bulkier gloves I’ve tested recently.

I like to read the various labels that come with my gear and even check out the websites that promote the products (I used to work that side of the fence once upon a time, so perhaps it’s a form of atonement). I was happy to see that Furygan’s marketeers weren’t holding back when it came to bigging up their gloves. According to them, here was a glove that would keep my hands warm and dry without compromising my riding precision. Really? They looked pretty thin to me. Riding precision yes, but warm and dry?

Clearly sensing the potential customer’s disbelief, Furygan’s marketing team tried to put me at ease by pointing out that the gloves had a “lining made from specific brushed knitted fabric for comfort, Thinsulate padded thermal lining that traps and holds body heat, and allows moisture to escape for protection against the cold.”

Yes, that sounded good, but I still wasn’t convinced they would perform in the great British winter.

Turns out I was wrong.

I first wore the gloves on my way to work. That’s about 45 minutes’ commute in reasonably cool conditions. So far so good; it didn’t rain so I couldn’t vouch for waterproofness, but my hands were warm. Gloves 1 – 0 Marketing Sceptics United. But maybe it wasn’t that cold. I didn’t have a thermometer on the bike, so I couldn’t say.

In terms of comfort and protection, the gloves tick all the usual boxes: they are CE approved and feature large knuckle armour and both leather and foam reinforcements for added protection. The palm is 100% leather to give a nice grip on the handlebars and the rest of the glove is a mixture of polyamide and goat leather. There are two Velcro adjusters, on the wrist and the cuff, which help get the perfect fit and make the gloves easy to get on and off. But it was the warmth I was talking about…

The second outing the gloves had was the real McCoy: it was properly cold. I didn’t need the thermometer to know that, I could see my breath. And it was starting to rain. Brilliant!

I was almost disappointed that after 20 minutes on the bike the rain stopped. The gloves had handled that amount of rain without even the tiniest leak, so I forgave the weather for ruining my experiment and decided to enjoy the cold and sunny day.

My ride that day covered about 250 miles, with a mixture of roads from country lanes to motorways so my speed varied and the gloves were exposed to different conditions. I didn’t have heated grips on the bike and to be honest I didn’t really need them, the gloves were warm enough.

Since then I have worn the gloves for my daily commute through the cold winter months, and so far I can’t fault them. The way they feel and grip is great. And they are warm, and waterproof, and… I guess I was wrong to think that the good people of Furygan would be anything other than brutally honest about their gloves. As the name suggests, they are ace!

Please don’t get me wrong, though, they’re not magic gloves. Your hands still get cold if it’s freezing and you’re on your bike for a long while, no gloves can stop that happening, but in my opinion they are as good as any thick and clumsy winter gloves that I have worn.

For further information: www.furygan.com

Furygan Ace Sympatex Evo gloves review