Muni Gloves: Hillbilly full and half gloves

Unicycles and Equipment
1

In looking for the perfect glove, I wanted the following:

Front and Back wrist splint
Full finger coverage
Breathable
Durable

These gloves are the bomb! Totally tough, takes a ton of abuse and keeps on ticking. I’ve ridden mine hard for a couple years of mountain boarding and now a year of muni, all I’ve done in that time is restitch a couple places and add some rivets at the palms to retain the wrist splint better.

The only downside is that the full fingered gloves are really warm in the summer! So, I got myself some summer gloves:

These half gloves are equally awesome, not quite as bomber because they only have a wrist splint on the palm side, but they have a full wrap leather wrist strap, so plenty of glove for most riders. The glove palms are a bit more durable than the full gloves because they are leather versus the synthetic, same style splint, same breathable mesh, but on the back of the hand as well, so they stay cooler than their long fingered cousins.

These gloves have become the trademark riding wear for our informal group, my son and his best friend have one of each :sunglasses:

Not to dis KH gear, but one of our riders took a digger in the park with KH gloves and hurt her wrist badly. She has since upgraded to a full splint Hillbilly glove and has fallen way harder and often, but no further injuries. Get the double splint full fingered glove for hard core trials/tech, but for general riding the half fingers are plenty!

2

Thanks for the review! I have a question, though. What’s the splint material made of? Is it slightly flexible?

Here’s why I want to know. I have a pair of Pro Design wrist guards, with thick plastic (but somewhat flexible) splints, but they are falling apart, so I need to replace them soon. I’ve heard from some on longboarding forums that ones with splints that don’t flex are actually designed to protect your wrist at the expense of your forearm–that is, they won’t flex at all, so your wrist is safe, but if you hit too hard, the splints impact your forearm and will break your radius and/or ulna instead. This is considered by some a good trade off, as those bones heal much more readily than wrist bones. Supposedly, a little flex added in reduces the chance of breaks altogether.

I’m not a medical professional (hint, hint), so I don’t know if that’s a crap argument or not. But I don’t want to break my wrist again, as I did 3 years ago, and would prefer not to break my arm, either. Any insight you can contribute would be welcome.

3

Hey Peter, they are somewhat flexible, about the same as those wrist guards you mentioned. I know some folks who replaced the old pro guards with these. If you want more flexibility, get the half gloves.

4

Hey Ben.

I bought those fingeless versions of the Hillbilly glove from your recomendation last season.
They are great! Taken plenty of diggers and they save the wrist great!

I was suprised how many people had those hillbillys at Moab.
Seems to be a popular glove amongst Muni-ers.

5

I’ve had my Bad Ass gloves for about a yeear with many falls. I’ve been very lucky, but also well protected and would not ride without them. I agree on the heat issue, but the leather is far better than synthetic. The leather can get a bit wet. The wrist support is great, and bet slack or cinched.

I did grind down the “spooner” shaped heel of the palm splint a bit. One issue that took a bit of time to get used to is the slight restriction on grip with the palm splint.

In winter I rode XC to about -20C without any other cover glove, and windier, cooler days, used my snowboard shell gloves and the Bad Ass gloves as the “liner”.

I have a pair of Half Ass gloves in the mail somewhere…

PS-- I modified my 661 4x4’s with a hard knee cap, and I have done some full speed 36er UPDs onto my knees and the heel of my palm Bad Ass splint. Burns some plastic, but NO major injury. I’ve bailed my Trials uni on multi step sets and same good luck.

6

I too wear these gloves and they are terrific. Give me the confidence to Go For some techs without fear of a splintered wrist. I have taken hundreds of hits on them and they are still protecting me.
Shug

7

I highly recommend these gloves so far as I am just getting some! I have researched beyond means all wrist supports because I am a result of a severe broken forearm from rigid guards. I had triple 8 hired hands. The splints are very rigid and on both sides of the wrist so a bad fall will push one INTO the bone. I recommend pro-designed but they do not fit my hands well and do not protect the fingers at all. I cannot use them as I get my fingers scraped up. At least skating ramps.

The half finger ones have the same spoon shape as PD which is incredible on dispersing impact. They protect your fingers and do not have rigid guards that will push into the forearm bone. I wouldnt recommend the full finger as that is a more rigid splint.

8

I used to want those a lot.

9

I took out the splints and bent them to better fit my palms, so now they are less restrictive. I also popped out the rivets that secure the heel end of the palm splint, this allows the splint to move a little better would doing seat grabs.

Hey Scott, sorry we missed you this summer, hopefully we’ll get together next year and ride, maybe at Moab?

10

These look like a great option for gloves, I’m going to keep a look out for them down here. Thanks.

11

The only place that carries them is MBS (mountain board company in Colorado). The actually company, Hillbilly, is in Georgia, so you can contact them directly, but their website is shite.

12

Mine just arrived in the mail today. I had been debating medium vs large. Luckily I got the large, because the seem to run a bit small. I have long fingers and a small wrist, and oddly the fingers are just right, but the wrist strap just barely makes it to the velcro. Maybe it will stretch over time.

13

Hey, just soe more fit tips:

There’s a single rivet at the base of the palm side nylon splint, I guess it’s there to keep the splint in place. Anyway, I have been popping the rivets out so that I can remove the splint for “remolding” so that the splint fits the shape of my hand. I have popped the rivets on three pairs, lots of use on all three and no problems going without the rivet.

You can pry the rivet loose with a screwdriver; the rivet is only pushed through the splint, there’s no backer washer.

I do find the gloves stretch out a little bit, mostly once they warm up and get sockaed with sweat :o

14

Has anyone found these in Canada or do I need to buy them online?

-Thanks

15

Does the Hillbilly half finger have a removable topside splint?

Thanks for the introduction to these gloves. I almost hit the buy button , but would like more info.

I’ve had 2 paris for the KH gloves, and they’re good, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to re-stitch the end of the fingers. I bought a pair of the new designed largest KH gloves, and I can’t even wear them:( Too narrow, and really the back side wrist support digs into all the wrong spots…

Can you completely remove the top side support in the Hillbilly full finger Gloves? I understand the half fingers don’t have the topside wrist support, but I’m thinking Fall and Winter riding with a half glove might not be enough.

Thanks for the review and help!

19

Woo! I found them right here in Calgary at http://www.epyx.ca/

Yes, it just slides out. It fits a bit tight against my hand so I’ll be trying it with and without the top support.

20

The back plastic things on my Hillbilly gloves were probably in the wrong way. I turned them around and put the long end into the glove first. Now they don’t jam into the back of my hand, the bend is at the wrist instead of halfway up the back of my hand. Much better!

I did have to get used to the fact that the plastic piece in the palm is larger than what I had in my rollerblade wrist guards. I used to grab my seat in the palm of my hand but with these gloves, it’s more like grabbing the seat with my fingers. Nothing to worry about, it’s just different.
I’m thrilled with these gloves and wish I’d bought a pair sooner.

21

Love these gloves! I was ready to write my own review until I found this thread.
First if all, I like full finger gloves for mountain uni. I have used KH for years. I would wear foam inside the KH gloves to prevent palm bruising. But for cement, I always wear wrist guards(with foam underneath). I like hillbilly gloves for both city and backwoods and no extra padding.

I’ve only have worn them 20 times, but so far so great.

I believe it has a built-in spring for hard slams to the ground. See the space between the palm and skid plate? Hillbilly gloves’ ‘‘skid splint’’ does not form fit to the palm which allows for a spring recoil. So I haven’t put in extra pads on the palms…yet.:smiley:

Photo 189.jpg

22

I was using Hillbillys (fingerless) when I had a hard fall (last week). I was amazed how well my wrists and hands did. I wish my ribs fared as well. They don’t stink like the other one’s did. The only two negatives are the little donkey head is not the logo and the velcro strap barely reaches around.