The Assos Spring Fall Glove is super minimal on the back of the hand but the palm is a joy both in terms of next to skin feel and bar feel - the perfect choice for the shoulder seasons
Pros
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Excellent touchscreen compatibility
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Luxury feel inside and out
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Excellent bar feel and dexterity
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Good wrist coverage
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Well designed pull tab
Cons
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Back of fingertips need more structure
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Lacking windstop at the back of the hand
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The hands are one of the radiators of the body. It can be amazing what a difference shedding a pair of cycling gloves can make. The flip side of that is also true. When the weather is sunny and pleasant, but there's still a little bit of a chill in the air, adding the right cycling gloves can make a huge difference.
Finding those perfect cycling gloves is the challenge. It's a search that never ends. We've got a guide to the best cycling gloves but like you, we continue to search and test. The latest option we've spent time with are the Assos Spring Fall gloves. They are a lightweight option that's designed for warmer weather and, after spending time with them, we are ready to talk about all the details.
If you are looking for the right pair of cycling gloves to take the chill off spring and fall riding keep reading to see our thoughts on this option from Assos.
The wrist of the Assos Spring Fall Gloves extends well up the arm so that it sits under long sleeves (Image credit: Josh Ross)
Design and aesthetics
When it comes to shoulder season cycling gloves there's a lot of options to handle the last remnants of winter and the Assos Spring Fall gloves are one of the best.
The whole back of the hand is a single piece of extremely thin brushed lycra. It's a high-stretch material that does a great job of fitting the hand. The brushed interior is also a joy against the skin. As a liner, it provides a small amount insulation but in this use, it offers very little warmth.
Conceptually the glove design revolves around light insulation and moisture wicking. It covers the skin and it wicks moisture, but it doesn't protect against wind. It does continue far up the wrist to keep a gap from forming between the gloves and the bottom of an arm warmer or long sleeve jersey.
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There's a simple black on black Assos logo on the back of the hand and no colour options available (Image credit: Josh Ross)
The palm uses yellow sticking and there's very little padding(Image credit: Josh Ross)
The pull tab is part of a single piece of fabric that makes up the palm. It's a very positive, high-quality, feeling to pull on the gloves (Image credit: Josh Ross)
Visually there is very little to notice on the back of the hand. The Assos Spring Fall gloves only come in black and the Assos "A" logo sits centrally, also in black. It's only visible because of a small difference in sheen. Farther up the wrist is a rubberised tag with the words "System Outfit" again in black and the words "Spring Fall" larger and in yellow. This is the only colour on the back of the glove but complents the stitching on the palms.
If you follow the yellow details and flip the gloves over, you'll notice the only real design drama. Although it's a simple in execution, the most noticeable part of these gloves is the palm. It's a wide swathe of luxurious synthetic leather. Below the knuckles is a very small hint of padding which comprises foam inserts but it's thin enough to hardly be noticeable. At the tip of the thumb and forefinger is a spot of silver that provides touchscreen compatibility.
There is a second piece of fabric for the thumb on both sides which provides better movement of the thumb. There are extra pieces of fabric in various places that make for a middle area but it's only at the thumb that the top and bottom have a break in their design.
In between the fingers there's an extra piece of fabric to separate the palm from the back of the hand (Image credit: Josh Ross)
Performance
The first interaction with the Assos Spring Fall gloves is the pull tab. It's part of the design that ends up being more important than you'd think. The back of the gloves has almost no structure so the only way to pull the gloves on is to grab the pull tab. Since the whole palm, and all the fingers, is a single piece of fabric the pull tab connects to the fingertips. Pull it on and it exudes quality.
Unfortunately, it's more of a mixed experience to use. Without any structure to the back of the hand it can be hard to get your finger tips to the end of the glove. The lycra back will stretch to accommodate your fingertips instead of pulling the palm into place so it follows the underside of the hand. Because the thumb has seams that separate it from the rest of the glove it usually takes a bit of moving things around with your other hand to get the gloves in the right place.
Because there's very little structure to the back of the gloves it can be hard to get them sitting in just the right place, particularly on the thumb (Image credit: Josh Ross)
Once you get things into the right place, the experience improves. There's something that feels pretty good about form-fitting black gloves paired with some of the best arm warmers. The Assos Equipe RS Spring Fall Targa jacket I recently reviewed makes a nice pairing , too. The high nature of the wrist means no break in the black material as you head up your arm and I love the way it looks. It's super comfortable as well.
Outside of the look, all the performance from these gloves comes from the palm. The back of the gloves is so minimal it's almost just a way to hold the palms against your hand. The palms are really good though. There's plenty of dexterity for zipper and grabbing food from a jersey pocket. There's plenty of coverage for touchscreen compatibility on the thumb and forefinger, plus the dexterity to use a phone.
The touchscreen fingertips are a joy. They work well and there's plenty of dexterity (Image credit: Josh Ross)
Verdict
The Assos Spring Fall gloves are not for cold weather. They're for times when you are close to being able to either completely shed gloves or switch to a summer glove - the shoulder seasons. If you'd rather not deal with removing gloves as the day heats up, they will do a great job of shedding heat later in the day while adding a bit of protection for cooler mornings. Adding windblocking material to the back of the hands would do a lot for increasing the cold-weather performance but it also wouldn't match the intended use.
The one thing that could be addressed is the lack of structure at the fingertips. If the very end of the fingers had a heavier fabric at the top, it would help with getting the gloves situated easier. As they are now, it's a small mis-step in a well-designed glove.
Josh hails from the Pacific Northwest of the United States but would prefer riding through the desert than the rain. He will happily talk for hours about the minutiae of cycling tech but also has an understanding that most people just want things to work. He is a road cyclist at heart and doesn't care much if those roads are paved, dirt, or digital. Although he rarely races, if you ask him to ride from sunrise to sunset the answer will be yes.
Height: 5'9"
Weight: 140 lb.
Rides: Salsa Warbird, Cannondale CAAD9, Enve Melee, Look 795 Blade RS, Priority Continuum Onyx
