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Ashmei Merino Gloves

7
£30.00

VERDICT:

7
10
Lightweight liner gloves with minimal bulk, but pricey for what you get
Weight: 
36g
Contact: 

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

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Thin, light and impressively warm, the Ashmei Merino Gloves are great for use on their own in the spring or autumn, or as a pair of liner gloves in the depths of winter. At 30 quid they are a pricey solution, though, especially when they don't actually incorporate a huge amount of the wonder wool.

  • Pros: Comfortable, lack of bulk
  • Cons: Expensive

Merino has long been touted as a wonder material for winter wear as it is very warm but also highly breathable, making it ideal for use in socks or gloves to protect your extremities.

> Find your nearest dealer here

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The Ashmei Merinos are thinner than the non-merino Grip Grab liner gloves I usually wear, but wearing them side by side reveals the Ashmei gloves are a bit warmer.

The best thing about their slenderness is that they fit snuggly under any glove you wish without affecting dexterity for changing gear or braking. It's always good to keep a little bit of room inside your gloves to trap heat, and the thinness of these maintains that.

The fit is good and they feel really nice when on too. The slim cuff is unobtrusive whether inside another glove or tucked up inside a jersey sleeve. It is quite short, though, so on its own there is a chance of chilly breezes hitting an uncovered wrist compared with many cycling gloves.

Come spring or autumn, when things have warmed up a little, the Ashmeis are warm enough to be worn on their own, even in higher single figure temperatures. Although, one thing that is lacking is padding; most liners are like that so it's not a major criticism, but if you have a bike with a firm ride these might not work for you on their own.

The thumb and index fingertips are compatible with smartphone screens and the rest of the fingers use silicone strips for grip.

ashmei Merino Glove - palm.jpg

Unlike Rapha's similarly pricey (£40) Merino Liner gloves, which are made from 100% merino, the Ashmeis use a mere 33% alongside 46% polyester and 16% elastane, though that does give plenty of stretch to get them on and off.

For the £30 price tag I'd like to see a higher percentage of merino in the gloves really, for performance. Although they are warm I can only imagine they'd be more impressive with more wool, based on my years of testing merino garments.

> Buyer's Guide: 21 of the best winter cycling gloves

While we haven't reviewed many gloves of this ilk, a glance around the internet finds that you can get liner gloves made with merino from just over a tenner, like Madison's Merino Winter Gloves. They look to be a little bulkier than the Ashmeis but with many of the same attributes – for less than half the price.

In conclusion, I do like the Ashmei Merino Gloves – they feel great, offer a nice fit and perform well – but I can't help feeling that they are overpriced for what they are.

Verdict

Lightweight liner gloves with minimal bulk, but pricey for what you get

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road.cc test report

Make and model: Ashmei Merino Glove

Size tested: Medium

Tell us what the product is for

On Ashmei's website it says: "Elliot Welland, in charge of product development, says: 'When developing the Merino Glove we wanted to achieve several important performance characteristics – thermoregulation being the highest priority. We heard so many times from our athletes 'in 'brand X' glove I get too hot after 10 minutes of activity and need to remove them'. To solve this issue, we used a terry looped Merino against the skin, which keeps the hands in excellent thermal equilibrium.'

"The gloves feature sticky silicone grip on the fingers to help grip smart phones and the fingertips are smartphone compatible."

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

From Ashmei:

Detail

Ultra stretch Merino wool blend

Touch screen finger pads

Low profile cuff

Signature ashmei branding on forefinger

Versatile piece – used as liner or glove

Brushed microfibre ultra stretch fabric

Aero fit

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
8/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
7/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
8/10
Rate the product for fit:
 
8/10
Rate the product for sizing:
 
8/10

The sizing is similar to many other gloves on the market. I found them snug enough but with a bit of wiggle room for my fingers.

Rate the product for weight:
 
8/10
Rate the product for comfort:
 
8/10
Rate the product for value:
 
5/10

How easy is the product to care for? How did it respond to being washed?

A simple 30-degree wash cycle is all that is required to keep them fresh and clean.

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

Great as liner gloves but for use on their own they could do with some padding.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

Warm, considering how thin they are.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

Expensive for what they are.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? No

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your overall score

The Ashmei gloves are surprisingly warm considering how thin they are and the quality is pretty good. They are pricey for a pair of liner gloves, though, especially when the merino content isn't that high, and that keeps the score at 7.

Overall rating: 7/10

About the tester

Age: 38  Height: 180cm  Weight: 76kg

I usually ride: This month's test bike  My best bike is: Kinesis Aithein

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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