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Giro Supernatural Road Cycling Mitt

9
£59.99

VERDICT:

9
10
Excellent mitts, very comfortable with a great fit, though they don't come cheap
Excellent fit
Comfortable
Expensive
Weight: 
36g
Contact: 

At road.cc every product is thoroughly tested for as long as it takes to get a proper insight into how well it works. Our reviewers are experienced cyclists that we trust to be objective. While we strive to ensure that opinions expressed are backed up by facts, reviews are by their nature an informed opinion, not a definitive verdict. We don't intentionally try to break anything (except locks) but we do try to look for weak points in any design. The overall score is not just an average of the other scores: it reflects both a product's function and value – with value determined by how a product compares with items of similar spec, quality, and price.

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The Giro Supernatural Road Cycling Mitts are excellent, with a perfect fit for me, and very comfortable thanks to the Elastic Interface Palm which does a great job of soaking up vibrations from the road. All of this does come at a high price, though.

These gloves are an excellent fit for me. They're also lightweight and low profile, and the palms mould to the shape of your hands, which prevents bunching of the material. The low-profile nature and textured palm help maintain good handlebar feel which can often be a compromise on padded mitts. The palms being seamless also prevents any discomfort or irritation.

The upper – the back of the hand – is made of a breathable mesh which helps keep the hands cool while riding. I never had any issues overheating, though the warmest it got to during testing was a spring-like 18-19°C.

2022 Giro Supernatural Road Cycling Mitt - detail.jpg

Mitts are very much a personal preference, with some people wanting zero padding and others wanting lots of it. Personally, I prefer plenty of padding otherwise I tend to get numb hands. The padding here is made by the Italian company Elastic Interface, which makes the padded inserts used in many brands of cycling shorts.

The seamless multi-density foam is designed to protect arterial circulation and reduce common discomforts. There are several areas of padding: across the bottom of the fingers, on the thumb and two areas on the heel of your hand. I found it worked well to damp any vibrations. This was most noticeable on some long five-hour rides on the bumpy back lanes of Wales. I didn't suffer from numb hands or any discomfort, something I often do on long rides.

> Buyer’s Guide: 10 of the best summer cycling gloves

They have all the other features you'd expect on a high-end pair of mitts such as a nose-wipe on the thumb, and pull tabs on the fingers and wrist which work well in making them easier to get on and off, as well as a Velcro closure.

2022 Giro Supernatural Road Cycling Mitt - finger detail.jpg

There are some reflective parts on the wrist and finger, too, to improve visibility.

Size-wise, these mediums fitted my average sized hands perfectly and in line with the size guide. They are available in five different sizes and five different colours.

Value

At £59.99, there is no denying these are an expensive pair of summer mitts. However, the competition that use the same Elastic Interface Palm technology also don't come exactly cheap, such as the Q36.5 Unique gloves that Mat tested last year. In fact those are slightly more expensive, with one official UK stockist listing them at £62, another at £64.99. But the dhb Aeron Mitts with the same technology are cheaper at £40.

Conclusion

Overall, these are a great pair of mitts. The Elastic Interface Palm does a good job at protecting your hands from vibrations, while the excellent fit and seamless construction make them very comfortable. If you are happy to spend that bit extra, then you'll get a great pair of mitts for your money.

Verdict

Excellent mitts with a great fit and very comfortable, though they don't come cheap

road.cc test report

Make and model: Giro Supernatural Road Cycling Mitt

Size tested: Medium

Tell us what the product is for

Giro says: "Developed in collaboration with the cycling chamois experts at Elastic Interface®, the Supernatural™ brings an entirely new dimension to comfort and performance in cycling gloves. The key to this breakthrough is a one-piece, stretchable, multi-density foam that's molded into a three-dimensional palm to match the anatomical contours of your hand like a second skin.

"The seamless design allows for a smooth channel between padded areas to protect arterial circulation, improve blood flow and reduce common discomforts. The palm is also textured and perforated to enhance grip and ventilation, with padding optimized for road and mixed-surface riding. The stretch mesh upper, with adjustable wrist closure, further enhances fit and comfort for these amazing gloves."

Tell us some more about the technical aspects of the product?

Giro says the key features are:

Reflective pullers

Microfiber wrist puller

Reflective closure strap

One-piece, seamless design

Molded palm with Multidirectional Curvature™ by Elastic Interface®

Multi-density hybrid cell system foam

Rate the product for quality of construction:
 
10/10
Rate the product for performance:
 
10/10
Rate the product for durability:
 
7/10

The grey palm did start to look dirty fairly quickly.

Rate the product for fit:
 
10/10
Rate the product for sizing:
 
8/10
Rate the product for weight:
 
9/10
Rate the product for comfort:
 
9/10
Rate the product for value:
 
5/10

How easy is the product to care for? How did it respond to being washed?

I washed these at 30 and air dried them without any issues.

Tell us how the product performed overall when used for its designed purpose

These significantly improved comfort on the bike.

Tell us what you particularly liked about the product

The seamless palms, the comfort provided by the padding and the fit.

Tell us what you particularly disliked about the product

They're some of the most expensive mitts in the market.

How does the price compare to that of similar products in the market, including ones recently tested on road.cc?

Compared with others using Elastic Interface Palm technology, they're slightly cheaper than the Q36.5 Unique Gloves, with one official UK stockist listing those at £62, another at £64.99, but the dhb Aeron Mitts are cheaper at £40.

Did you enjoy using the product? Yes

Would you consider buying the product? Yes, although I'd struggle to justify the money.

Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes

Use this box to explain your overall score

These are an excellent pair of mitts; the padding is great, and the stretchy, seamless palm makes for a perfect fit.

Overall rating: 9/10

About the tester

Age: 35  Height: 178cm  Weight: 73kg

I usually ride: Specialized Roubaix  My best bike is: Cervelo S3

I've been riding for: 10-20 years  I ride: Most days  I would class myself as: Expert

I regularly do the following types of riding: road racing, touring, club rides, general fitness riding, Indoor

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2 comments

Avatar
Christopher TR1 | 2 years ago
1 like

I don't get it: Do they steer you towards graveyards in the dead of night or what?!

👻

Avatar
Dnnnnnn | 2 years ago
1 like

Your money, your choice but - price apart - the review could be describing the £4 mitts I got from Aldi. Or was it Lidl?

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