Lindstrands Nyhusen review | Summer Mesh gloves

Lighter than many cycling gloves, yet both abrasion resistant and armoured, the Lindstrands Nyhusen gloves on review here are an interesting proposition. As a leather-only rider when it comes to gloves, have the Nyhusen won me over to the world of breathable mesh?

After just under 1,000 miles on my 2016 Honda CB500X across lakes and dales in the eclectic climbs of Spring here’s how I got on…

Fit and feel

The Nyhusens are extremely lightweight, highly vented summer gloves using a mixture of durable nylon mesh and suede leather to give a durable-feeling glove that’s ready for hot weather adventures. Both the materials and finish are really good; I’ve grown to love the mixture of leather palms, mesh top and corduroy style material flanking the fingers.

General fit is great, with these medium gloves fitting my medium hands perfectly, with just the right amount of length in the fingers and just the right amount of width in the palm.

Naturally, being such a lightweight glove the control feel is amazing, assisted by the addition of rubber patches in key areas on the palms and fingers. The confidence this provides is really noticeable when riding in more challenging conditions. Tackling more technical rides and the odd trail was noticeably more natural in these than my usual bulky leather gloves.

Overall finish is really good too, with no obtrusive seams or stitching to the palms and a real feeling of quality that pushes far beyond their price point.

Touchscreen compatibility

It would be fair to say I’m sceptical about ‘touchscreen compatible’ gloves, given so many I’ve used simply don’t work. Lindstrands uses the same setup across most of its product line shared with sister brand Halvarssons. There’s touch tips to thumb and finger plus a clever little ‘nib’ to the forefinger giving a surprising amount of dexterity, especially when applied to such a lightweight glove.

This is easily the best touch screen ‘system’ I’ve used as it consistently works with the nib allowing you to do finer interactions not normally possible with a gloved hand, even one compatible with touch screens.

Warm and cold weather use

Being mostly mesh these are a true one season summer or hot weather only gloves. That being said, they proved surprisingly versatile with the assistance of heated grips in early spring and even survived a couple of unplanned damp rides.

Air flow is as close to a bare hand feel you can get and although the palm is non-perforated, there’s no clamminess there. Having put them to use in a couple of 20°C rides the difference between these and my usual go-to perforated leather gloves is substantial. There’s no stickiness, and moisture is wicked away well by the liner. For warm riding conditions, and at their price point, they are a very impressive piece of kit.

Protection and certification

Despite being thinner and lighter than some of the cycling gloves I’ve owned, Lindstrands has managed to pack in a good amount of protection to the Nyhusens. They are fully certified to CE Level 1 under EN13594:2015, with knuckle armour to the top and Hi-Art abrasion protection to the palms.

The knuckle armour is heavily shaped and described as ‘soft’ in the marketing blurb, however it’s anything but. In fact during my first ride I had to stop and swap gloves due to the knuckle armour being distractingly uncomfortable. In fairness it was very cold and the armour seems to soften in heat. I later persisted with them and I’m glad to say the armour has softened over time and use. After a few hundred miles the armour is now significantly better and perfectly comfortable for a full day’s ride.

As someone who usually uses significantly more protective gloves it’s comforting to see the addition of abrasion-resistant materials alongside the knuckle armour, especially at such an affordable price point. That being said, lightweight gloves such as these don’t offer anywhere near the protection of fully-featured gloves so it’s important to consider your riding and make a choice that suits your needs.

For everything you need to know about the safety labels in your motorcycle kit, click here.

Fastening

The gloves have a very simple Velcro closure to the cuff with a nice thin, high-quality Velcro tab. This holds firmly and there’s plenty of adjustment in it without too much gathering of the excess materials of the gloves. The length is good too; just long enough to tuck under a jacket, but just short enough to sit below my watch.

Wet weather use

Despite not being designed for it they faced a couple of showers in my use. And unsurprisingly my hands were wet, but for what it’s worth the gloves dried out quickly.

Lining

Lindstrands describes the lining as using ‘Skinfit’ technology to hold in place and to be fair it must work well as I didn’t even notice there was any kind of liner (turns out there is!). That in itself is testament to how well the ‘Skinfit’ system has been applied, and given the moisture wicking feel mentioned above, it does a decent job in that regard too.

Three alternatives to the Lindstrands Nyhusen gloves

With such a competitive price point there are few competitors but here are a couple of lighter summer oriented gloves that might be worthy of consideration:

• Spidi X-Force motorcycle gloves (£99.99). Short cuffed with plenty of ventilation and some clever closure tech all be it a much higher price point. Full review here.
• The £52 Hevik Helios R gloves are a decent comparably priced mesh gloves with a most traditional look and feel check out the full review here.
• All-leather gloves can be fine for many riders in summer, and there are loads of options in the link below. For a classic style, consider something like the £74.99 Goldtop Predators.

These are just three of many alternatives – you can find all the gloves we’ve tested here and be sure to regularly check for the discounts available through Bikesocial membership.

Lindstands Nyhusen review: Verdict

All in all, the Nyhusen gloves have really surprised me; they’ve become a permanent fixture in my top box and have seen far more use than I expected they would.

All my initial concerns of not feeling protected enough, them not being durable enough and me not daring to be seen in sand camo have been proved wrong, although I’m still working on being comfortable with the camo (thankfully they match my bike and there’s a black version too).

The Nyhusen manage the fine balance between lightweight breathability and basic protection, providing a natural feel that’s hard to beat. While they aren’t perfect, the knuckle armour could still be softer and there’s already some fraying and signs of wear to the insides of the fingers, at the advertised price these are an absolute steal and well worth checking out.

Do you have a pair of these gloves? Email us at enquiries@bikesocial.co.uk to tell everyone what you think of them…