Cuero Cycling Gloves – retro for the modern world.
One could be forgiven for thinking the modern world is becoming more disposable, and even in cycling, bikes, clothing and componentry can feel like it’s made to be faster, lighter, cheaper but also less durable. Compared to the (weighty) steel path racers of our forebears, we are in both a better, but some might also argue, worse, position.
So perhaps you want a quality product to last longer than a season. Perhaps you hunger after classic styling. Perhaps you groove on natural materials rather than something that will continue to shed its micro plastics into the food chain long after we are finished using it. Perhaps you love a beautiful and well-designed product.
Enter Recovered Cycling, a one-man show based in the Lone Star State that has been recovering and indeed re-covering sad, torn and worn saddles in quality leather for some years now. A while back Jason (the one-man man) went on a mission to create a timeless leather fingerless glove, and here is the result.
I first decided gloves were a fine idea for cycling back in the late Eighties when I transited a car window in a glove free state and ended up with ten stitches in my hand. I bought some leather gloves, but over the years they gave way to various synthetics, so the arrival of the Cuero cycling gloves in the post was a walk down memory lane.
When you first pull on leather gloves, they may not be totally comfortable. Not distasteful, but not ideal. This is because, like good boots, they need to break in. A few rides, a handful of sweat, a few soaked in tears and soon they are moulded to your unique shape, like a second skin. The Cuero gloves are well cut and beautifully stitched from deer leather, often used in gloves because it’s soft, comfortable and wears well. Good materials well made. Break in was swift, and they became a very comfortable thing. The drilled holes in the back, which I initially saw as styling, provide surprising cooling, and I liked the sweep of the cut at the wrist to create a tab for donning. They are not padded, just two layers of leather on the palm for added abrasion resistance. Is this a good thing? Depends if you like padded gloves or not – your choice.
At the end of a ride you can rinse these out in cold water, and Recovered stock a range of nourishing leather care products for your saddle and gloves if you choose to go down that route, but these are never going to look new again once worn, and they won’t dry as fast as synthetics, or thank you for putting them in a dryer. They will always smell of leather, and carry the patina of your particular rides. If you love a “Tour De France matching kit I wear lycra shiny gear” clean set of gloves, walk away now. If you fancy something that mellows with age, that has stories worn into it, this is for you.
There is no getting around the fact that at one of your American C notes these little babies aren’t cheap, but before you have seven kittens at a hundred dollar set of gloves, stop for a second and gaze rapturously at what you get – high quality construction and materials that will without question outlast multiple pairs of cheaper options, given proper care. Think “investing in hands” rather than “buying gloves” and I suspect you’ll break even over time, plus you get to wear a beautiful thing.
I the end there’s nothing bad to report about these gloves, as the fit, finish and design are excellent. On the one hand there’s classic styling, fit, comfort and durability in spades. On the other there’s $100, slow to dry, and vegans won’t like the fact they are made of peeled Bambi. That’s just what leather is, and as mentioned earlier, it’s your choice. They are a marvellous example of the genre, so it’s up to you to decide not so much if the gloves fit you, but if you fit the glove, to paraphrase the classics. If you want to get your vintage style on, sashay over to the link below.
Cuero Gloves are available from – http://www.recoveredcycling.com/product/cuero-gloves/
MSRP – US$100.
Disclaimer – These gloves were provided for the purposes of review but no money, whisky or glace cherries changed hands in the making of this article. I had to provide it all for myself…
About the Author : When we get opportunities to test gear, we put the word out to our staff and usually ask people to pitch an idea about the story that they’d write. The photos below were part of Euan’s reply to test the Cuero Gloves. How ’bout that for a perfect pitch?
A hundred doesn’t seem that outrageous when a new pair of full finger gloves from the bike shops I go to costs $60 Canadian, not including tax and you might only get 3 good seasons out of them.
A quick correction, these are deer tanned cowhide, not deerskin. So Bambi was not peeled; my mistake entirely.
With apologies,
Euan Pennington;