Outdoor Research Freewheel Leather Palm Bike Glove Review

Outdoor Research knows a thing or two about gloves and about outdoor gear generally. You would be hard pressed to find a climber who doesn’t love their Ferrosi pants, or a mountaineer who doesn’t tromp around in OR gaiters. Gloves are a major staple of OR’s lines, and their quality is no secret. Mountain biking, however, is a new frontier for the company, and OR is aiming to drop some knowledge on us chain draggers. With their foray into the space, they’re offering a hoodie, a jersey, a t-shirt, a pair of shorts, a hip pack, and a couple options on gloves, all bearing the Freewheel name. I was graced with the opportunity to test out one of the pairs of gloves they’ve launched.

Outdoor Research Freewheel Leather Palm Bike Gloves Features:

• Nylon/spandex mesh paired with durable goat leather palm
• DuraPrint on the back of the hand for added abrasion resistance in high-wear areas
• Strategically placed seams on the index finger for better dexterity on brake levers
• Touchscreen compatible
• Back-of-thumb sweat wipe
• MSRP: $59

OR Brings their Gloves to MTB

Are these gloves revolutionary? Honestly, no, but the wheel doesn’t need reinventing here. Plenty of good options for mountain biking gloves exist, and OR’s new Freewheel Leather Palm gloves fit right in. In the wide gradient of MTB gloves, some focus on being as light and breathable as possible, while others aim to be trail-builder’s work gloves that can be ridden in. The Freewheel Leather Palm gloves take the center line, aiming for breathability, but giving some additional protection and warmth. As a result, they’ve been welcome in the testing lineup during these colder, rainy months.

Aiding breathability, the gloves sport high viz spandex between the fingers and have a midweight mesh on the back of the hands. The spandex breaths very easily, while the mesh material is more insulative. Still breathable, but certainly more tuned to Fall and Spring riding than other breathability-focused gloves like the TLD Air. Similarly, the leather palms are perforated for breathability, but they retain enough warmth to be best suited for colder riding. In my testing, I found their balance of breathability and warmth perfect for non-Summer riding.

For special features, the gloves have a doubled up layer of leather at the heel of the hand, which is a nice protective measure. While I do my share of falling, I don’t typically lead with my hands, so I didn’t end up directly testing that feature. I appreciate it, but I hope to never use it. The gloves also have touchscreen fingers and thumbs, which worked very consistently throughout testing, never presenting an issue. They did have some poor thread-work at those touchscreen areas, but nothing a pair of scissors couldn’t clean up. My last highlight for special features goes to the back-of-thumb nose-wipe. We could pretend we don’t need these, but what would we look like? I, for one, am glad to have it, and I think OR executed it nicely on these gloves – good size, location, and material.

The gloves do have some oddities though. Three come to mind. Oddity 1 – While these gloves are true to size, they have narrow wrists. They fit snugly when worn, but require some negotiating to get on. For a glove with a perfectly good velcro wrist strap, that narrowness is unnecessary. Oddity 2 – The palms of the gloves appear black, but were dyed with a dark purple. How do I know? A day-long, rainy ride left my palms dyed purple. It came off, yes, but it was notable and not particularly desired. Oddity 3 – The fingers are long and narrow. Again, true-to-size in nearly every way, but the fingers specifically felt almost ready to accommodate Jack Skellington. With some shimmying and adjusting, they fit just fine when worn, but I do find their cut to be… odd.

All oddities aside, these gloves were largely durable, comfortable companions in the rainy months. They grip well, move well, and take beatings in stride. For just shy of $60, they’re on the high end of the MTB glove pricing scale, but they do their job well.

Fit: I always wear a size Large glove, and that’s what I tested here. They were true to size in all respects except wrists that felt narrow upon entry and finger-length, which I found excessive.

Buy Now: Available at REI