Chrome Midweight Cycle Gloves

The Chrome Midweight Cycle Gloves are warm and practical when it's cold or damp, though snugger wrists, proper water resistance and some palm grippers would be nice given the pricing.

Chrome makes stuff with urban cycling in mind – 'Useful gear. Made for city,' as they say – but these are perfectly usable for regular road riding too.

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The uppers are built from two panels, with the outside three fingers and the majority of the back of the hand being ripstop nylon, whilst the rest is synthetic PU leather. The Chrome logo is reflective for a little touch of visibility.

Beneath this is a relatively thin layer of insulation that works well; I used these down to 2°C and they were fine, although that's pretty much the limit. The insides are soft and fleecy too, so they're comfortable as well as warm.

The wide, shortish cuffs don't do anything to seal out drafts though – it's a shame there's no Velcro to cinch them in with, as unless you have forearms like lamp posts the elastic inserts won't do anything.

These are at least impressively windproof everywhere they do cover your skin.

While not offering any 'official' water resistance, they cope okay with light showers or even short bursts of intense rain. Once soaked though, that PU leather holds a fair bit of water, especially in the palm.

> 25 of the best winter cycling gloves for 2021 – keep your hands warm and dry

The 'casual' look means you just get the two small pads on the outside of the palm for comfort – far less than many more dedicated gloves – but for me at least it worked well. I don't often feel the need for a huge amount of padding in winter gloves anyway.

I did miss having any silicone grippers though, as it would have been nice to have a little more grip on the levers at times.

You do get touch screen areas on the thumb and forefinger, at least, and these worked well on my iPhone. The quality of these seems to have markedly improved in the last couple years across the industry, which is great to see.

Value

At £47 these are fairly expensive given the lack of bike-specific features such as water resistance, tight-sealing cuffs or silicone grippers. For instance, the Sportful WS Essential 2 Gloves offer the same low-bulk warmth but use water-resistant Goretex fabric and give better grip, and are just £3 more at £50.

Meanwhile the Altura Firestorm Gloves offer a similarly basic design to the Chrome ones (if a more cycling-y look), and are £39.99.

Overall

I like these gloves for their lack of bulk, subtle design (they don't look weird if you wear them off the bike) and effective touch screen elements. However, at this price I would expect them to be somewhat richer in actual cycling features.

Verdict

Windproof, warm for their low bulk and stylish, but expensive given the lack of bike-specific features