First and foremost biking gloves should provide protection to the rider’s hands. The road can be a very unforgiving thing when your skin comes in contact with it especially at riding speeds. Protection is not the only factor though.

I doubt there are many of us who would wear armored gauntlets to ride in. A glove must be comfortable and allow some feel of the controls. Then there are the ever-present elements whether it is the bitter cold, blistering heat, snow, rain, or wind the rider always seems to be battling something.

Riding in Arizona, especially during the late spring to early autumn timeframe the biggest issue you have to deal with is heat. With temperatures over 100 degrees it becomes difficult to find gloves that will protect your hands without putting them through some type of heat inflected torture.

I am always on the lookout for a pair of gloves that will allow me some protection while being able to keep my hands cool. There are several different styles of gloves from half-finger, to three-quarter finger to full gloves.

I tend to prefer a full glove. Not only does it allow a bit more protection but it also saves me from burning my fingers when I grab the clutch or the front break. When you’ve been riding all day in temperatures over 100 degrees those grips and levers can get kind of hot.

I happened across a pair of Held Air gloves and decided to give them a try. The gloves are a combination of leather and fiber. The palms are lined with leather for long wear. They are reinforced around the thumb area to prevent premature holes from forming.

The back of the glove is made up of a combination of leather and mesh fiber. The back of the knuckles and fingers have leather pads offering protection if you happen to fall. The rest of the back is mesh, allowing air to reach your hands.

One of features of these gloves I especially liked was that the fingers have a mesh section. This means that while riding you can flex your fingers and get a blast of air inside your glove.

The gloves come in two colors. There is the standard black, which I bought or there is a light gray color that may actually be cooler in the hot sun. The gloves are slightly curved in a natural arch so that you don’t have a bunch of material wad up in your hand when you grab the grips.

The quality and craftsmanship are first rate. Held put these gloves together with high quality materials and as a result these gloves wear very well. After two seasons these gloves still look like new. The leather is colorfast treated so after a day of riding I am confident I will not pull my hands out and have them covered with black dye.

These are great warm weather gloves that I am able to use for all but the coldest riding temperature. You could safely use these for three seasons if you added a thin glove liner making them great since you no longer would have to carry two sets of gloves for varying temperatures.

I’m definitely a fan of the Held Air gloves and may even pick up another pair just to have once this pair finally wears out which from the looks of these may be quite some time.