You’re familiar with the Cobrafist, now lay your eyes on the new 45NRTH Sturmfist line. Built to help you give old man Winter the finger while keeping said finger from getting frostbite, the Sturmfist gloves take a decidedly 45NRTH approach to winter gloves. The rise of fat bikes means a lot more people are braving the cold and are willing to pay for better cold weather cycling gear – as long as it works.
Many winter gloves are labeled as simply, winter gloves. The Sturmfist gloves are tiered based on what temperature ranges you expect to encounter, either 15-35ºF, or for the more robust winter pedalers, 0-15ºF. Labeled as the Sturmfist 4 or Sturmfist 5 based on the number of fingers, though both look to offer a good amount of dexterity considering their temperature ratings.
While these should be great for other winter activities as well, the Sturmfist gloves are purpose built for cycling thanks to a first among cycling gloves…
When you’re riding in extremely cold temperatures, your handlebars can actually act as heatsinks, pulling the heat away from your hands through conduction. To prevent conductive heat loss you can either slap on a set of AME’s heated grips, or slip on a pair of the new Sturmfist gloves thanks to the layer of aerogel insulation in the palms. Supposedly an industry first use in a cycling glove, aerogel is a fairly old technology which is essentially a silica gel that’s liquid components have been replace with gas. The resulting “frozen, solid, or blue smoke” as it has been called is extremely light and one of the best known thermal insulators.
Early aerogels were also fairly fragile and brittle – not great for clothing. Now, new versions of aerogels are stronger and more flexible thanks to the work of organizations like NASA. The resulting materials are not only incredible thermal insulators, but much less bulky than options like down since aerogel does not need loft to insulate. We’re assuming they’re also still pretty expensive which is why you only find aerogel in the palm of the Sturmfist while the rest of the glove uses a Polartec NeoShell outer with Polartec Alpha insulation on the back of the glove (300g insulation for the 4, 100g for the 5). The use of the NeoShell outer should make these plenty waterproof.
In order to offer additional protection from the cold, the Sturmfist 4 uses a glove in a glove construction with an inner Merino wool liner plus a removable Merino Wool glove liner. The Sturmfist 5 also uses merino wool, but just a built in liner presumably to increase dexterity in the glove meant for “warmer” temperatures. Of course the 4 also combines the ring and pinky finger to aid in head retention and still allow for the use of just your index finger for one finger braking or operating a road shifter.
Due to the differences in construction the 5 sticks with an extended velcro cuff while the bulkier 4 uses a drawstring cuff that is easier to use with the thicker gloves and fit over jacket sleeves. Along with the waterproof Pittards WR100X Armortan goat leather palm and fingertips for durability, both models have the requisite soft suede nose wipe on the thumb.
The 100% merino wool liner will also be available separately for $50 to either use as mid-ride spares once the first pair gets soaked in sweat, or for use with the Cobrafist pogies. Utilizing a 250g merino wool, the gloves combine a rib-knit cuff with flat lock stitching, silicone printing for grip, and touch screen compatible thumb, index, and middle finger tips.
All gloves will be sold in sizes 7, 8, 9, and 10 (s, m, l, xl), while the Sturmfist 5 will sell for $100 and the Sturmfist 4 for $130.
