Quiet, loaded with features, padded for comfort and cosy when dry, however, the loss of warmth when wet, clumsy bulk and partially-prolapsing liner aren’t so good though
Pros
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Warm when dry
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Silicon grip
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Comfy padding
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Reflective detailing
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Neoprene cuff
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Snot wipe
Cons
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Cold when wet
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Bulky and clumsy
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The liner comes out with your hand
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Endura’s Strike has been a popular choice when it comes to the best winter cycling gloves for a while and their initial cosiness, soft feel and grippy padded palm are all positives. It feels cold and wet even when the insides are still relatively dry though, the bulk makes them a little bit clumsy and there’s a knack for taking your hand out if you want to get it back in easily.
The Strike uses a softshell fabric upper with a DWR coating as its first line of defence over a thin layer of insulation with a waterproof membrane underneath and then a plush fleecy inner lining. The underside uses a synthetic suede material, with light padding and silicon stripes for grip on the palm and first two fingers. The first finger has a terry cloth towelling nose wipe and a reinforcing panel across the thumb junction, and fingers three and four have reflective tips. A mid-length neoprene cuff gets a velcro closed tab. They come in three colours and a very wide size range, too.
The Endura Strike gloves use a DWR-coated softshell fabric upper as well as a thin layer of insulated material to keep your hands warm and dry (Image credit: Guy Kesteven)
Performance
Initial impressions are soft, cosy and quiet but you do need to wriggle your fingers a bit to get them right into the tips when they’re dry. Get them slightly damp and it’s noticeably harder. If you don’t pinch the finger and thumb tips while you pull damp hands out, you’ll partially pull the fleece liner out with your hand, which makes wriggling your fingers and thumbs back in and getting the cuff to sit right a real pain. You’re more likely to need to take the glove off than other designs as the only touchscreen compatible digit seems to be the thumb.
While the Eco-friendly DWR on the soft-shell beads water off when new, its performance fades quickly in use so it soon wets out - especially if you brush it against wet shrubs and the like. That means while the inner membrane stops water getting through, you’re left with a cold, wet outer and much less effective insulation layer which means your hands feel wet even if they actually aren’t.
While the silicon grippers work well, the multi-layer construction means there’s a lot of shifting around between the contact layer and your actual hands so feedback definitely suffers. Fat finger ends make it awkward to operate zip pullers, too.
Verdict
Endura’s feature-loaded Strike gloves tick all the boxes. They’re cosy on dry, windy days and they come in loads of sizes. However, multi-layer clumsiness muffles control feedback, and comfort and warmth soon drop once they start getting damp. Finger pinching is vital if you want to get back in easily too, and that rapidly stops being funny when your hands are already freezing.
