Outdoor Research knows a thing or two about gloves and about outdoor gear generally. You would be hard pressed to find a climber who doesn’t love their Ferrosi pants, or a mountaineer who doesn’t tromp around in OR gaiters. Gloves are a major staple of OR’s lines, and their quality is no secret. Mountain biking, however, is a new frontier for the company, and OR is aiming to drop some knowledge on us chain draggers. With their foray into the space, they’re offering a hoodie, a jersey, a t-shirt, a pair of shorts, a hip pack, and a couple options on gloves, all bearing the Freewheel name. I was graced with the opportunity to test out one of the pairs of gloves they’ve launched.
Outdoor Research Freewheel Leather Palm Bike Gloves Features: beanie hat
Are these gloves revolutionary? Honestly, no, but the wheel doesn’t need reinventing here. Plenty of good options for mountain biking gloves exist, and OR’s new Freewheel Leather Palm gloves fit right in. In the wide gradient of MTB gloves, some focus on being as light and breathable as possible, while others aim to be trail-builder’s work gloves that can be ridden in. The Freewheel Leather Palm gloves take the center line, aiming for breathability, but giving some additional protection and warmth. As a result, they’ve been welcome in the testing lineup during these colder, rainy months.
Aiding breathability, the gloves sport high viz spandex between the fingers and have a midweight mesh on the back of the hands. The spandex breaths very easily, while the mesh material is more insulative. Still breathable, but certainly more tuned to Fall and Spring riding than other breathability-focused gloves like the TLD Air. Similarly, the leather palms are perforated for breathability, but they retain enough warmth to be best suited for colder riding. In my testing, I found their balance of breathability and warmth perfect for non-Summer riding.
For special features, the gloves have a doubled up layer of leather at the heel of the hand, which is a nice protective measure. While I do my share of falling, I don’t typically lead with my hands, so I didn’t end up directly testing that feature. I appreciate it, but I hope to never use it. The gloves also have touchscreen fingers and thumbs, which worked very consistently throughout testing, never presenting an issue. They did have some poor thread-work at those touchscreen areas, but nothing a pair of scissors couldn’t clean up. My last highlight for special features goes to the back-of-thumb nose-wipe. We could pretend we don’t need these, but what would we look like? I, for one, am glad to have it, and I think OR executed it nicely on these gloves – good size, location, and material.
The gloves do have some oddities though. Three come to mind. Oddity 1 – While these gloves are true to size, they have narrow wrists. They fit snugly when worn, but require some negotiating to get on. For a glove with a perfectly good velcro wrist strap, that narrowness is unnecessary. Oddity 2 – The palms of the gloves appear black, but were dyed with a dark purple. How do I know? A day-long, rainy ride left my palms dyed purple. It came off, yes, but it was notable and not particularly desired. Oddity 3 – The fingers are long and narrow. Again, true-to-size in nearly every way, but the fingers specifically felt almost ready to accommodate Jack Skellington. With some shimmying and adjusting, they fit just fine when worn, but I do find their cut to be… odd.
All oddities aside, these gloves were largely durable, comfortable companions in the rainy months. They grip well, move well, and take beatings in stride. For just shy of $60, they’re on the high end of the MTB glove pricing scale, but they do their job well.
Fit: I always wear a size Large glove, and that’s what I tested here. They were true to size in all respects except wrists that felt narrow upon entry and finger-length, which I found excessive.
These gloves do the job. They’re durable, grip well, and balance breathability and warmth perfectly for Fall and Spring riding. They do have some kinks to work out in future iterations, but even in their current state, they’re pretty solid gloves and worth consideration for any rider.
Nate Fearer is an outdoors enthusiast based out of Bellingham, WA. He grew up in Southern California, became entranced by Sierra Nevada alpine trips, and now finds that same sense of wonder in the North Cascades. Whether it's rock climbing, mountaineering, running, fly fishing, mountain biking, etc. etc., Nate just wants to be outside with the rocks and trees. When he's not in the forest thrashing gear, he might be behind the computer doing tech-y stuff or spending some quality time with his family. (Note: Nate receives sample products in exchange for authentic reviews. He is not paid, nor influenced to share anything other than his honest opinions.)
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