RH+ Racer mitts

It's always a good day when you go out in summer gloves for the first ride since winter. The RH+ Racer mitts are a high-end summer gloves and priced accordingly, in line with comparable options from Castelli and Gore.

There's a lot going on here, with a fairly complicated back design combining black mesh with white lycra stripes. These are bonded to the mesh and I wondered initially how they'd cope with use and washing, but it's all stayed together just fine. Ventilation was good and I didn't find myself with sweaty hands (although to be fair it's not been hugely warm yet this year).

The RH+ branding and adjacent stripes are just starting to peel off after six weeks of fairly regular use and probably half a dozen cool washes in the machine. I've had this with other gloves (it's practically a Castelli signature) and it doesn't really bother me as it doesn't affect the performance or comfort of the gloves at all.

Down the outside edge of the gloves is a reflective dotted line; when combined with the striped backs this makes for good visibility in a range of light conditions. Thankfully the reflectives seem to be staying put well. The palm is made of a tough polyester material and again there's some good detailing, with three polyurethene pads to provide some vibration isolation and an unusual printed rubbery grip pattern right across the palm.

As a result, the Racers are a particularly grippy set of gloves. I haven't generally found problems with insufficiently grippy gloves in the past, but the combination of the padding and grip print would make these a great choice if you have thin or no bar tape. With thicker bar tape these can feel over-padded but there's no bunching on the palms so they are nevertheless plenty comfortable. I've used these for rides of five hours with no discomfort or numbness.

There's the obligatory terry wipe on the thumb and some loops between the fingers to aid removal. These are a nice idea and do make the gloves easier to remove especially when you've been sweating. One of the loops started to come unstitched on the very first time I used them, though, so I have some doubts about their robustness.

Curiously our review set are a little different to the model shown on RH+'s website, with the Velcro tab located on the back of the gloves rather than palm-side. They are hard to find in online shops, however, and the dealer locator on RH+'s website shows precisely zero UK stores - which is strange as I've seen their kit in one of our local bike shops.

Verdict

Well made mitts with good detail and grip; padding is well-placed and generous, possibly too generous for some