Thinking of getting myself some uni specific gloves. Currently using some Troy Lee DH MTB gloves, but they don’t have any wrist support, which seems like it might be important given the way I’m falling. What puts me off the Hillbilly gloves a bit is the suggestion that they’re a bit warm - I want full finger gloves as where I’ve lost skin when not using gloves is beyond where half-fingers would protect me, but my current TL ones are fairly well vented whilst still providing protection. I can also get KH gloves a bit cheaper.
Any comments from those who’ve used either or both - or anything else similar?
I’ve worn work gloves and skating wrist guards, tried the KH Pulse (not enogh protection) but nothing compares with Hillbilly. I started using Hillbilly long fingers when I rode dirt boards, then switched over to muni with the long fingers and later switched to short fingers. Yeah, they can be hot, depends on the time of year. The short fingers have a palm side stiffener, the long fingers have stiffeners on both side; I remove the stiffener on the back of the hand cuz it’s an overkill.
I sweat a lot, salty sweat eats leather, so I burn up a pair of short fingers every two to three months during the warm months; thats 35-40 muni sessions in the humid Southeast. The long fingers are warm, but that’s good for cold weather riding. I now ride exclusively in the short fingers year round, when it gets cold I add a nylon over mitt to hold heat and break the wind.
The most breathable wrist protection would be a basic skating wrist guard without a glove, which would work fine if you don’t sweat much.
Where I ride it’s all roots and rocks, so it can get ugly! I’ve broken a bunch of fingers falling while wearing Hillbillys, but I haven’t even sprained a wrist.
I always used Hillbilly 1/2 fingered gloves. I have had cut fingers a couple of times from a couple of hard falls. I switched to KH Pulse. They don’t have comparable wrist protection, but I feel safe enough in them. I don’t like my fingers covered, but it beats cutting my fingers should I fall. I may cut the tip of my right index finger (glove) off so I can operate my iPod more easily. KH are way better for the sweat problem that Ben mentioned. They breathe better, but still get hot when it’s warm out. In my opinion, the best protection would be Hillbilly full fingers; the best comfort would be Pulse.
I wear Hillbilly full fingers for muni, because there are lots of thorny plants in the desert to run your fingers through. The warmth doesn’t really bother me. It is a dry heat here, so the sweat evaporates quickly. The brown leather in my first pair eventually got stiff and crumbled. The new black leather ones seem to be holding up better. I use half-fingers for riding my 36 guni. I took a spill and slid a ways on the gloves, and my hands and wrists were not injured in any way.
They look alot better than anything I’ve seen so far. in the summer I was using short fingered sailing gloves that are realy cool and have very strong leather palms and have just found some armoured leather work gloves for the winter. But I like the idea of the intergrated wrist protections, I must live a sheltered life Thanks for the link and who sells those in europe?
My thread shows operating the brake lever way out on the very tip end of my shadow handlebar is awkward with a big bulky skid plate in the palm of my hand. My Hillbilly half finger fit my b*cycle. On the 36er my left handles all braking, fidgeting with head light, and cycle computer duties. It wears KH Pulse and rarely leaves it’s post. I trust my right “disc golf” hand to snowboarding wrist guards like ProDesign and DocMeter Flexmeter guards. They sit more atop the grip when I’m tucked in at speed.
I also have full fingered Hillbilly gloves. They give you less wrist flexibility, but more protection (no surprise there). Because of the wrist guard on the palm side, I sometimes have to grip the seat in an odd way when riding Muni. I don’t think I would wear them if I was doing much trials. Luckily, I’m not doing no trails riding. yet.
I wear heavy leather working gloves and under them Docmeter Flexmeter Double Sided Wrist Guards
Link to the maker 1, 2, description .pdf nice vendor site. Other vendor : 4. The solid protection of the inner hand is removable and you still have the “soft” armor. I use with the rigid protection and have no problem to hold he saddle handle and play with the brake lever.
I’m totally satisfied with this combination (working gloves + Flexmeter). It work well, I try several time a ride ! :D:D:D
The only problem with Hillbillys are the bulky palm protector which can make it hard to get at a brake lever and hold onto a grab handle.
I modify all of my Hillbilly wrist guards as follows:
Open up the glove and you’ll see a rivet. You need to pry the rivet out of the stiffener using a screwdriver and some vise grips. Once the rivet is removed, then pull out the stiffener.
The idea is to flatten the stiffener. I use a pair of vise grips and a vice, but you could do it with two vise grips. The key is to warm up the plastic first toi keep it from cracking. Knowing when to stop is the key; I broke a couple so I know now
With the stiffener flattened so it conforms with your hand, the glove fits better and will not impede your grip.
Dredging up an old thread, I know. However, I was shopping around for some better wrist protection today, and found that Amazon has some of the full fingered ones in size large for $12 right now from their returns center. Free shipping too if you add some other bauble to get your order over $25. If anyone has been thinking about the Hillbilly gloves, now might be a good time.
Just thought someone out there might want to know. If not, carry on with business as usual…
KH Percusions are ideal if u still want a decent grip of the seat while SIF or some tricks. 2013 ones have a bit more padding in the palm an avail in fingerless. My older pair were comfortable but not enough protection for me (& I suspect still not enough).
I have the older brown fingerless pair of Hillbillys. My mediums were a size too big and the fit wasn’t very good EVEN considering the size difference. Very good protection, at first I was concerned about my fingertips but was never a problem. Not as easy to grip the seat SIF as the KH but way better than any skating style pads I’ve tryied.
All skate style wrist guards I’ve tried have good bracing but the padding is in the wrong place to be of any use. IMO
I’d get Hillbilly again even if they didn’t fix the sizing problem.
One pair left. I grabbed one of them yesterday from amazon after I stopped by where a skateboard shop used to be near where I live. For 12USD I don’t mind ordering without trying on. My current rollerblade brand wrist guards are 20 years old and are starting to fall apart. On uni I’ve been consistently breaking nails and sometimes getting my fingertips when I catch the seat on a drop.
I use these TSG Professional wrist guards. I like that I can use them without gloves in the summer, and easily wear running gloves under/in them in the winter. I have pulled many Supermans off my uni in these with hand landings where these protected both from abrasions and stabilized my wrists and prevented both soft tissue injury and fractures.
Also these don’t interfere with me holding the seat handle.
My current 20yro rollerblade branded guards look a lot like this. The stitching is finally starting to come undone. I just don’t like tearing up my fingertips and constantly breaking nails with these.
One positive is they saved my wrists and arms from any damage when I took the spill that broke bones in my foot.
I’m about to pull the trigger on a pair of Hillbillys, but the sizing has me concerned. My middle finger, measured as specified, is right around 3 1/4", which the sizing guides (two of them, with the same info) on Amazon say means I need a large, but your remark and a number of comments on Amazon’s site suggest that that might be too large. Do you (or anybody else) have any advice for choosing a size for these?
I suppose even if they are too large, they can’t be worse than the cheap work/gardening gloves (no wrist protection) I got at a local big box home improvement store, which are definitely too large. Too small is obviously not workable.
I used the method where I measured around my knuckle area and came up about 8.5" and bought a medium and it fits very well. It can probably stretch for 9". This is for the half finger variety and not sure if it works for the full fingered ones.
I got a pair of brand new tan hillbilly wrist guard medium (half finger) that I might be interested in selling, PM if interested.
Thanks for the link and who sells those in europe?
