The Specialized Enduro glove is one of the Californian company’s longest standing mountain bike gloves. Over several incarnations, Specialized has fine-tuned it to incorporate the features required by the demands of today’s rider.

Specialized is renowned for its awareness of the physiological impacts cycling has on the rider. It began creating equipment designed to aid comfort under the Body Geometry label and this rider-first approach has trickled down into items such as the Enduro glove.

The first thing you notice is the unusually stitched palm and articulated fingers, which Specialized calls LifeLine construction. This is aimed at following the natural curvature and movement of the palm and fingers.

The palm is made of a hardwearing and soft Clarino with double layers of the material at the heel. The ubiquitous silicon grippers are present on the thumbs, index and middle fingers. Both thumb and index finger also feature touchscreen compatibility.

The back of the hand is partially protected by neoprene and the fingers are provided with additional articulation. A short Velcro strap situated underneath the wrist provides closure.

The Enduro features neoprene knuckle protection

The first thing you notice about the Enduro is the snug fit. The neoprene materials lend the glove a slight compressional feel across the back of the hand and wrist. Finger length is almost perfect on the size large tested, although the silicon grippers on the middle finger tended to pinch the fingertip shut.

The Clarino palm isn’t the thinnest and the fit is a little baggy. This results in a little loss of handlebar feel. If you use really tacky grips your hand can move around inside the glove more than is normal. As a non-padded trail glove they have been pretty comfortable with no obvious pressure points.

Clarino palm adds durability but is a loose fit

Durability of the glove has been a bit of a mixed bag. The palm is holding up well to numerous attempts to use my hands as brakes – but the same can’t be said for some of the other areas.

The first thing I noticed is one or two of the glued-on rubber ‘armour’ patches have started to peel away (I have washed the gloves a few times but only at 30°) and the metal thread used for touchscreen compatibility is starting to undo. The thinner Lycra side panels are looking a bit tired as well.

Rubber features are starting to come away

The final niggle (and this is probably a personal issue) is the upper articulation on the finger keeps catching my nails when trying to put the gloves on. This leads to a little bit of faff to get them fitted just so. Petty, but a bit frustrating.