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Cube Natural Fit Touch Gloves

7
£34.99

VERDICT:

7
10
Pricey screen tapping gloves but robust with plenty of comfort
Weight: 
49g
Contact: 

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Cube's Natural Fit range of gloves are designed to provide plenty of movement and dexterity while still offering full finger coverage for those early Spring mornings. You'll need to size up though if you've got long digits.

We've got the Touch version here which is designed with touch screen devices in mind. Considering many riders use their phones mid ride for Strava, taking pictures and the like it makes a lot of sense.

The material used for the palm and fingers feels like a sort of faux leather and it's this that works with the touchscreen so can use any part of the underside of the glove. It's thin but gives you plenty of feeling, ideal for navigating through menus or feedback from your brake levers.

While the screen of my Garmin and iPhone will work with my normal gloves it's a bit hap hazard, especially the phone. Using the Cube gloves it's much more precise and easy to do something with the screen while riding too.

The comfort is good with it barely feeling like you've got any gloves on at all, which I suppose kind of the aim with the Natural Fit moniker. The palm material of the finger extends over the top and finishes just below the nail so there are no seams at the finger ends.

This touchscreen compatible material is also very grippy especially when used on carbon brake levers in the wet. It has a sort of tackiness that sticks to the material.

The three sections of gel padding are positioned just where you need them, base of thumb, running below the fingers and the outer palm. It's about 4mm thick and firm too so it's supportive and decent at absorbing shock without being over the top. Riding a pretty harsh frame over rough roads didn't feel uncomfortable and stopped all of the big shocks passing up through my arms. This should make them good for cyclo-cross and general off-road riding too.

The back is ventilated with a soft, tight knit mesh and this works well from around 7°C to 15°C for regulating temperature between too hot and too cold.

You get a snot wipe on the back of the thumb which is always a must on any glove.

The Cube gloves seem to be a bit on the short side in the finger department. The main palm area fitted me spot on as did the cuff in both width and length but my decidedly stubby fingers reached right to the ends, not something that happens often to be honest. If you're a bit nifty on the piano you're definitely going to have to size up to get the length.

Thanks to some stretch in the material they are easy to get on and off when coupled with the cuff tab and a Velcro strap provides a close fit.

Overall the Natural Fit Touch gloves are well built, very comfortable and make using mobile devices very simple. The short fingers could be an issue for some but I think the biggest hurdle could be the price. £34.99 is pretty steep for the type of glove that is likely to be used for just a few months of the year, for pure roadies anyway.

Verdict

Pricey screen tappers but robust with plenty of comfort

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Cube Gloves Natural Fit

Size tested: Large

Tell us what the product is for, and who it's aimed at. What do the manufacturers say about it? How does that compare to your own feelings about it?

The Natural Fit Touch gloves are designed to give as close a feel to wearing no gloves at all with this version being designed for touchscreen capability. I find them comfortable with loads of dexterity.

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Compatible with touchscreen devices

lightweight and very well ventilated long finger gloves

CUBE VENT SYSTEM

mesh backs with X-application

absorbent fabric

Natural fit gel foam padding

velcro cuff

pull-on system

seamless fingertips

non-slip palm

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
8/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
7/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
 
8/10
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
 
8/10
Rate the product for value:
 
6/10

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

The touchscreen material works great with phone screens allowing you to access menus without removing your gloves. The thin fit means for great dexterity and a lot of feedback from the bike.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The well positioned padding.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

High price.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes.

Would you consider buying the product? Not really, they're pricey.

Anything further to say about the product in conclusion?

The Natural Fit gloves are very nice, comfortable and I like the minimalistic feel to them but I think the price should be closer to £25.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes.

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 36  Height: 180cm  Weight: 76kg

I usually ride: Kinesis T2  My best bike is: Kinesis Aithien

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Every day  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, club rides, sportives, fixed/singlespeed,

 

As part of the tech team here at F-At Digital, senior product reviewer Stu spends the majority of his time writing in-depth reviews for road.cc, off-road.cc and ebiketips using the knowledge gained from testing over 1,500 pieces of kit (plus 100's of bikes) since starting out as a freelancer back in 2009. After first throwing his leg over a race bike back in 2000, Stu's ridden more than 170,000 miles on road, time-trial, track, and gravel bikes, and while he's put his racing days behind him, he still likes to smash the pedals rather than take things easy. With a background in design and engineering, he has an obsession with how things are developed and manufactured, has a borderline fetish for handbuilt metal frames and finds a rim braked road bike very aesthetically pleasing!

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1 comments

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DrJDog | 8 years ago
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Do they make a fingerless version that still lets you use a touch screen?

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