The Rider Firm – the folks behind Hunt wheels – have another project that has been brewing behind the scenes for quite some time. Their new Dissent 133 layered gloves aim to eliminate the cold & wet hands that make riding through the winter unbearable in many locales. The Dissent 133s do that with a four piece system that starts with a super light wicking baselayer glove liner, adds in an insulating glove, and tops it all off with a windproof or waterproof shell.
Add layers as you need to keep comfortable in a wide range of temperatures and weather conditions.
Developed & tested in Sussex, England, the gloves take their name from the average 133 annual days of rainfall in the UK. That’s a lot of wet riding if you commit to getting on the bike regularly. And The Rider Firm folk are strong believers in getting out to ride in brutal weather – the kind of rides that when you get home, you feel good about having braved the elements. So they knew they could put together a better setup to keep riders hands comfortable.
Now, we at Bikerumor have used layered gloves in the past, and had mixed luck. Sometimes they worked perfectly well together, and other times adding layers just constricted our hands and limited circulation, defeating the purpose.
We’ve tried on the new Dissent 133 gloves and first impressions were that adding layers had a pretty minimal impact on fit or perceived bulk, so at least they got that right from the start. Now time (and the seasons) will just have to prove how they work in the weather. But to be honest, I personally recognize the difficulty in find gloves to survive the winter, so I look forward to giving these a try.
The concept for the entire system essentially boils down to low bulk & putting a membrane very close to the surface of the gloves to keep the wind and rain out of every one of the insulating layers from the start. Then each individual element remains thin enough to pack down for modular use.
Silk insulating liner
Both inner liner gloves are low-bulk, insulating products that The Rider Firm had already had great experience with and didn’t see the need to change too much. They just needed proper outer layers designed to work together. Start with the silk liner for £13 and you have an ultra thin wicking layer to broaden the usable temp range of the Defeet glove.
Defeet Duraglove e-touch insulating liner
Then add on a Defeet synthetic liner (40% CoolMax/40% Cordura/20% Lycra) for another £23. Actually, Dissent did make a tiny update even to the already great Defeets, first picking the e-touch version for touch screen compatibility, and then adding their own grippy Dissent 133 logo detailing. They already make a good fall/spring option on their own, but with the silk liner can dip down to lower temps, or with a Dissent 133 shell can provide proper cold weather insulation.
Showerlite windproof shell
Two outer shell glove options are available. The £30 Showerlite glove is a light windproof shell that maximizes flexibility while protecting the insulating layers. It should work best when real rain isn’t a concern.
OutDry waterproof shell
The £55 OutDry light glove is the fully waterproof option, yet still thin & packable. It gets a Schoeller external fabric bonded directly to the OutDry membrane to keep the shells thin & durable, and a DWR coating so that what little fabric there is doesn’t take on moisture form the outside.
Both outer gloves are pre-shaped for a smooth fit around the bars, and use Dissent 133’s own gusseted closure system on the back of the hand with a large pull-tab that’s easy to use one-handed with gloves. (Oddly enough that is something many cold & wet weather gloves fail to address.) They also have extra space around the knuckles that Dissent says make the gloves fit well with minimal bulk, while still making it easy to get them on and off layer-by-layer, without constricting your fingers while riding.
Ultimate Pack full four glove system
Buy the gloves as separate pieces and build your own winter setup. You can also order the complete Ultimate Pack setup with all four for £95 or even separate Windproof (£58) or Waterproof (£80) packs with three layers, with bundles including a storage case to keep liners from getting misplaced. The gloves are each available in four sizes S-XL. And the system works with each layer the same size.
They’ve opened up the Dissent 133 gloves now as a pre-order so you can be ready for the onslaught of winter. Unfortunately the first batch has already sold out even though we just got all the final details on them. But still pre-order now for deliveries slated to arrive at the end of December 2017, when there still will be a good bit of winter to survive.
