Hincapie Sportswear Nitro Gloves

The Nitro gloves from Hincapie are comfortable and well-fitting gloves with a potential aero benefit, but which is hard to quantify without a wind tunnel.

The key to their design is the AT2 Tour Lycra Power (as used on the bib shorts that share the same name) that keeps the back of the gloves very smooth, with an extended cuff, keeping airflow smooth over the hand and wrist.

They're skin tight, but they're not uncomfortable as a result. Quite the opposite in fact. The fabric is light and very breathable, and worked well to draw sweat moisture away from the skin on hot rides. There's very few seams and they're well made, surviving plenty of crit races and longer rides.

Supposed aero benefits aside, the gloves are comfortable, with just the minimal padding on the palm providing just enough cushioning. I like a thinly padded glove as I prefer maximum feel through the bars, these ticked that box nicely. They're easy to pull on with a small tab on the cuff. Removal is aided with a similar tab between the two middle fingers.

Can a glove really be aerodynamic? Possibly not, but the Nitro's tight-fitting Lycra Power construction and extended cuff is closer fitting than most other gloves. You only need look at a professional time trial to see that quite a few teams use similarly long gloves, so there could be something in it.

They're a nice pair of gloves, and certainly feel fast and fit very nicely. Aero benefits are hard to prove in the real world though, and while they're comfortable, I'm just not convinced by the extended cuff over a regular pair of mitts.

Verdict

Comfortable gloves but aero benefits are hard to prove.