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Halvarssons Dry Level gloves - Bob Pickett gives a four-month review of these three season gloves

Halvarssons Dry Level gloves - do they live up to their name? Swedish company Halvarssons seem to be one of those brands that have been out there for years, but nobody knows they exist. My reckoning was that the Swedes know something about extreme weather conditions; so if a pair of gloves are good enough to cope with their local circumstances, they should be more than sufficient to handle the oddities of a UK Spring, Autumn and Winter (and with current weather patterns, at least occasional Summer use!)

So when a pair of their Dry Level three season gloves came my way, I was happy to entrust my hands to them.

The Dry Level gloves are made from a sturdy feeling textile, with cowhide on palms and the inside of the fingers. They have additional padding over knuckles (no hard armour there, but I find a lot of hard armour to be uncomfortable), but do have additional armour on the side of the gloves and the palms are also reinforced with Keprotec - in other words, exactly where your hands are likely to scrape the floor in a slide.

They also have a grippy surface at the fingertips - essential in colder weather, along with a suede patch on the outside of the thumb, allowing you to wipe away rain (this also features on their Summer gloves - a nice touch and very welcome if, like me, you tend to keep your visor down at all times).

The gloves are a gauntlet type and the long, wide cuff means that they will comfortably slip over the top of most jackets and will stretch back far enough to cover even the shortest of sleeves (my Bering jacket has very short sleeves, but the Dry Level gloves slip right over the end). Adjustment is by means of a Velcro strip across the wrist.

So what are they like to wear? They felt comfortable from the off, though to begin with I found the span between thumb and forefinger felt a little restrictive - after a lot of wear they feel like they have stretched a touch, but when you're looking to reach out quickly to grab the brake lever, to begin with this was a bit disconcerting.

Feel is good; obviously not up to Summer glove levels, but you're able to feel what is going on. They don't slip about on your hands and are nicely flexible; I can reach out to do two-finger braking while keeping the other two on the throttle (now they've stretched a bit - see above).

Extra protection at the palm - just where you need it in a slide The inside of the gloves feature layers, in order to keep the hands warm - by and large, this works. Spring and Autumn will not throw anything at these gloves they cannot handle; they've kept my hands warm on the daily 15 mile commutes and the Outlast © top layer has held off the rain, no matter how hard it has come down. That said, on a couple of much colder days, I have felt a touch of chill getting through to the fingers - a bit of a surprise, given where the Dry Level gloves originate from.

Of course, you want your hands to stay dry - and the Dryway © layer does a very good job of wicking away moisture. Most of the time.

Most of the time? OK, time to reach my niggles about these gloves. In hot weather, your hands will get sweaty in these gloves. And if they get sweaty, the innermost layer of lining sticks to your hands - and feels like it is trying to pull out of the glove with you when you take them off… so once it dries, you find it has rucked up, dried in place and is uncomfortable when you try to put them back on again.

And some of the stitching has come undone in the gauntlet part of the lining. Four months and maybe 2/2,500 miles into their working life, I don't expect stitching to come undone, even if it is "only" on the thermal inner.

But these are niggles rather than out and out complaints; overall they're doing a good job and should the worst happen, I feel like these gloves will take care of my hands.

Verdict: A good three season glove and value for money. But do make sure your hands are dry before putting them on.

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