By Richard Pestes – PezCyclingNews.com
SUPER NANO Glove. This one’s designed for cool-but-not cold temps, but is a really light-weight full fingered glove, and I’ve found them really well suited to 7-10C degree (45-50F) temperature days.
Performance • I like this glove for cool Spring & Fall days where you need full fingers. They do tend to run warm – and kept me toastier than any other glove I have in this weight category. Overall they’re very comfortable. The light and stretchy cuff seals snugly and softly around the wrist, and tucks in neatly under a jacket or jersey sleeve.
Construction • The glove backs are made of Strato lite fabric which has membrane to block the wind and cold – and repel rain, while the whole palm is a gripper – made from Pittards real lamb skin leather, the debossed (indented) pattern adds tackiness for non-slip. Pittards is the very established British leather goods maker most known for their gloves. The company started in 1826, and has supplied gloves for the military (RAF fighter pilots), and more recently prominent sports brands like Footjoy, Puma and Spalding. And fear not – Pittards was an early pioneer of washable leathers – so getting this glove wet, and throwing it in the wash to keep it clean, is no sweat. Ahem.
That palm is the real Pittards deal – washable, soft, and grippy lamb skin.
Performance • I like this glove for cool Spring & Fall days where you need full fingers. They do tend to run warm – and kept me toastier than any other glove I have in this weight category. Overall they’re very comfortable. The light and stretchy cuff seals snugly and softly around the wrist, and tucks in neatly under a jacket or jersey sleeve.
Pioggia 2 Shoecover: To me, another mark that Castelli are really serious about top-line road gear is their selection of shoe covers & booties – I count 8 different models for North America – 4 of them specifically for cold and/or wet conditions. This Pioggia 2 a real deal shoe cover for the rain – ‘Pioggia’ means ‘rain’ in Italian.
The top is polyurethane coated fabric that completely blocks water. The only way water is getting in here is either at the seams, ankle tops, or from the cleat opening underneath – and Castelli has 2 of those 3 covered. The main seam down the front of the cover is taped from the outside, so water is kept clear of the seam itself.
There’s almost no worse feeling to riding in the rain than feeling that first cold trickle of water as it soaks past the tops of your booties and through your socks. These feature an ankle enclosure to stop water from getting in – it feels like stretchy rubber, and is lined with a silicon strip to further block water. But if it’s really nasty out, I’m tucking these under my Pave bib tights or leg warmers, to add another layer for the water to penetrate before it even gets to the ankle tops.
I didn’t yet get a chance to ride these in a downpour, but did ride them on wet and splashy roads. My feet stayed dry, and I really liked the wind blocking of the uppers, and warmth of the lining. They’re not for really cold winter days – I’d go with the Narcisista or Diluvio covers – but these will get use all year when it’s raining.
Colors: white, black
The zip is easy to use with gloved hands, and note the silicon strip inside the ankle band – designed to better block water from sneaking in from the top.
The zipper has a really tight enclosure that’s keep a lot of moisture at bay, and the big Velcro fastener lets you really snug ‘em against your ankle.
The bottom is a really tough-feeling, textured hard plastic-like material that should hold up when walking, but it’s not stretchy.
Overall a nice rain booty – not made for extreme winter conditions, but ideal for the other 3 months of the year.
By Richard Pestes – PEZcycling.com
Go to SUPER NANO GLOVE product page, click here >>
Go to PIOGGIA 2 SHOE-COVER product page, click here >>
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