Castelli Prima Gloves

Castelli's Prima gloves are a grippy option for spring/autumn and you can operate all kinds of touchscreen with them.

The gloves are made from Coolmax polyester with long cuffs to keep your wrists draught-free. They're fairly warm but not windproof. I'd say they're good for temperatures down to about 10°C – although that'll depend on how fast you're riding, how much you feel the cold, and so on.

The Coolmax wicks moisture away from your hands effectively although, of course, if you do start getting sweaty palms you can easily whip the gloves off and put them in your pocket.

The palms, fingers and thumb aren't cushioned but they are patterned with a silicone print that does an excellent job of keeping your hands from slipping on the bars or levers. These are surprisingly grippy, even when rain or mist has made your bar tape wet. That print left its mark on my lovely white handlebar tape during my first ride – I've got dozens of little squares on the tape now – although, to be fair, anyone using white handlebar tape at this time of year is asking for trouble. I'm going back to black.

One other interesting feature is that you get what Castelli call 'Conductive Touch Technology' on the tips of the thumb and forefinger. You know how some some touchscreens don't work when you have gloves on? They will work when you're wearing these.

If you're interested and don't already know, a resistive touchscreen like you find on some Garmin Edge computers will work when you're wearing any gloves. A capacitive touchscreen, like you might well have on your phone, won't work with most gloves, but it will work with these, which is handy if you use your phone for navigation.

The scorpion logo on the back of each hand is embroidered so it's going to last. One final thing: the washing instructions tell you to hand wash these. That might sound a bit of a pain compared to bunging them in the machine but I've just been running them under the tap after every couple of rides and they're doing fine.

Verdict

Surprisingly grippy gloves for spring and autumn with the added advantage of being compatible with touchscreens.