Bought a pair of Castelli lightness gloves last Fall and the seams burst inside 3 or 4 rides. Not great but no biggy, the wife sewed them up for me a treat. Figured I had been unlucky and gotten a bad pair.
Couple weeks ago I treated myself to a pair of Castelli Espresso gloves. 3 rides later and the stitching has indeed burst and the gel pads are falling out. If I’m being honest I was
already pretty underwhelmed when they first arrived at my door.
So the latest ones are in the process of being returned and I start looking for better replacements, I figure I’d be silly at this point to buy castelli again so I’m looking at Assos and Gripgrab but one glance at buyers reviews on Wiggle is all it takes to see people are having the same issues with these gloves too - they are falling apart after 1 or 2 rides!
I have two other pairs of gloves which were absolute bargain basement territory - a pair of no names I bought from Ali express for £6 that I use on the trainer and a pair of Cevapro padded gloves I bought from Amazon for £14 a year ago. Both these cheapo gloves have done thousands of miles and not a single frayed stitch anywhere so why the hell are premium brand name gloves falling to bits?
I’ve had good luck w specialized gloves, I use the grail model short and long and usually get 2 seasons per pair before the pad feels smooshed beyond usefulness.
Similar here, I bought a pair of light weight spring/autumn full finger Alé gloves that didn’t last a month. Wiggle accepted the return but frustrating, odd since their shorts and jerseys have lasted me well.
I wonder if you are buying those Castelli gloves at an authorized dealer and not getting fakes?
I can highly recommend a pair of Giro Jag gloves. They only cost me $19 on ebay but they have a high end look. I like a really slim line glove that is usually plain black. I also like a not too bulky palm. In the past I’ve had Giro Zero gloves as well and liked them.
I was having good luck with specialized. But with my last pair, the velcro strap separated from the material that sits over the velcro. So now harder to put them on and off, and I have 2 things flapping in the wind. Love the padding on them though.
I’m having similar experiences, mostly with the newer thin/summer MTB gloves. I’m amazed how quickly the stitching pulls out of the side of the fingers, even on those from reputable brands. Normal gloves that use thicker materials are generally better, so maybe it’s just a side effect of using the thin/light material of those super light gloves?
I’d be pretty surprised if Specialized doesn’t replace them for you. My experience is that they’re really good about any problem you have with their branded stuff. There’s differing opinions on the “value” of S over other brands, but they’ve NEVER turned me down on a broken part repair (even when I assumed it was my fault and just asked how to avoid breaking the next) so I assume clothing would be the same.
PS- the grail gloves I wear don’t have Velcro, they just pull on and off like regular gloves
I bought a pair of Castelli Lightness gloves about 18 months ago, too. Seams burst the second time I put them on. Got a refund, but was pretty annoyed because they were nice gloves. I’ve had no problems with DHB windproof and Defeet, and they’re comfortable enough. Nothing premium about them, but they’re fine.
