Planet Bike Orion Gloves
By James Sharp

We cyclists expect a lot out of our gloves. We use them to deflect branches and thorns, we grab oily chains with them, we expect them to protect our hands in case of a fall, we wipe snot with them and we expect them to stay looking good after all of that. Many of us are pretty darn cheap too, so we don’t want to pay very much for gloves that cover all of the above abuses and then some. Planet Bike recently introduced the Orion full finger glove and gave us the chance to see how it worked. We happily obliged.

The Orion glove has an Amara palm with thin gel padding. The back of the glove is spandex, stretch terry and ventilated mesh. The cuff is made of Airprene and has a Velcro closure. Not a bad spec list, really. The stretch terry covers the thumb and is very nice for wiping the aforementioned snot and sweat. The gel padding is thin enough to resist bunching but still offers some cushion. It is easy to overdo the padding, so I was glad to see that Planet Bike went the conservative route of less is more. I found the cuff to be comfortable and, though large, didn’t interfere at all. I would have liked the gloves to have rubberized grippers on the first two fingers, though, as at times my grip on the brakes seemed a little tenuous.

The back of the Orions, as I stated above, are vented. Despite that, I felt that the gloves were hot; too hot for summer days. Fortunately, I’m late with this review. Normally, that would be a bad thing, but in this case I have been able to use the gloves in all sorts of weather and have found that they are perfect for Fall and Spring riding, when the temperature is between 55 and 70 degrees. They breathe well enough if you aren’t sweating profusely.

The only other issue we had with them was the fit. Normally I wear a medium glove, but with the Orions a medium was too small. The fingers on the size large were too long, but the padding was in the right spot. I always recommend trying on clothing-type accessories -- helmets, gloves, shoes, etc -- before you buy and that especially holds true with the Orions. If they fit your hands, they are great, if they don’t, all the features in the world won’t make them work for you.

Summary: Overall, the Orion glove from Planet Bike is a well made, comfortable glove that gives up a little flash in order to be a solid value. MSRP is $29.99, but they can be found for much less. Try on a pair; if they fit your hands, and you don’t have problems with your hands over-heating, these gloves are a winner.

James Sharp is a contributing editor for GearReview.com who crashes every time he forgets gloves.

For more information, contact:
Planet Bike
P.O. Box 259267
Madison, WI 53725
E-mail: info@planetbike.com
www.planetbike.com