Launched as part of Stolen Goat’s fresh MTB22 collection are their Voltage Grey Gloves. They are comfortable, offer a range of useful features and are built to a reasonably high quality. However, it doesn’t take long before they look a little worse for wear, and the palm padding is an acquired taste.
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Stolen Goat’s Voltage Grey gloves are designed for temperatures where it’s not quite cold enough for full winter gloves. They offer a stretchy microfibre and cotton blended upper paired with an anti-slip palm with padded portions for comfort. There’s also a handy terry cloth thumb panel.
The Voltage Grey gloves fit my large hands rather well, though a small niggle is that the pinky finger isn’t quite long enough for me. That ignored, the comfort is nothing to be sniffed at.
It’s not often I’m totally comfortable with palm padding, but Stolen Goat has done a great job here. It’s well-placed and not invasive to bar feel. Whether or not it’s useful is up for debate. On the bike, the gloves don’t feel too dissimilar to unpadded gloves. The cuffs are comfortable and have no velcro around the wrist.
Stolen Goat says these gloves are made for cool to warm temperatures, and while they’re more than capable of keeping hands warm in more changeable conditions, I’ve found that they border on overheating on warmer days. So unless you can put up with some warmth when it's hotter out, you’ll want something that's better suited to warmer weather. They would likely be ideal for riding earlier in the day when temperatures haven't quite warmed up if you're doing an early ride.
The one big downside that’s cropped up is that it doesn’t take much for them to look a bit worse for wear. After a handful of washes and even a few trips through overgrown trails, there are a lot of broken threads showing, suggesting that it’ll get worse with time. Whilst these gloves offer a pretty high build quality elsewhere, it’s a shame to see that abrasion resistance has been neglected.
Given the quality of the construction, uppers aside, I think that Stolen Goat’s gloves live up to the asking price of £25. However, there is some pretty fierce competition. I’m a big fan of ION’s Logo glove, priced at £20. They are simple but comfortable. They do come with their downsides, but for the money, it’s tough to complain.
Then there are gloves like the Dakine Thrillium which are quite similar, but for £35 have a lightweight upper and a goat leather palm. If you’re looking for a no-glove feel with added protection, they are great, but not as easy to pull on.
If you want gloves that are ideal for cooler conditions, Stolen Goat’s Voltage Grey gloves are a solid choice. Available in XS-XXL, they are comfortable and come with handy features. The downside? They lack abrasion resistance and can get too warm in summery conditions.
