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Hein Gericke Pathan Evo 5-finger Winter gloves – Bob Pickett tries out the non-‘crabclaw’ option

Hein Gericke Pathan Evo 5-finger gloves - good performance from a budget glove Hein Gericke’s 3-finger Pathan Winter gloves have long been praised for their mixture of warmth and feel. But I don’t like having my fingers constrained in a ‘lobster claw’. So when they released the 5-finger version, I was keen to try them.

I’ve been wearing them for six weeks and 1,000 miles. And the temperature has gone from hot (in the mid 20s) to cool (guessing under 10 degrees), with weather conditions ranging from bone dry, to moist to absolutely chucking it down. I’m delighted to say the 5-finger Pathan Evo gloves have come up trumps every time.

The gloves broke in quickly. A good balance between padding and feel has been achieved – I know what is going on, but they are comfortable, especially over distance. A nice touch is mottling the leather on palms, inside of thumbs and first two fingers, which helps to ensure grip in slippery conditions (rain, frosty early mornings). The supple cowhide also works very well for wiping rain off the visor - with no purpose-built wiper on the gloves, this is a welcome discovery. They are also very easy to secure, even in gloved hands, with Velcro wrist restraints and cuff adjusters.

My hands have stayed warm in cooler, morning rides – they’re not going to be as warm as the 3-finger gloves, but on the evidence so far they’ll be fine when the temperature drops. Moving to the other extreme, when things turned hot, my hands stayed bone dry, as the Sheltex membrane wicked away any moisture.

And when the rain came down, again my hands stayed dry. Two hours in torrential rain is a strong test for any gloves – and the Pathans performed admirably, with no moisture getting through the inner layers.

A downside is the lack of hard knuckle protection (rubberised strips are employed). OK, I don’t intend to test this out, but surely it wouldn’t have cost much more to incorporate this into an otherwise excellent set of low-budget gloves (£49.99 as at August 2010).

Verdict:Good value, low-budget gloves, let down by the lack of knuckle protection.

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