Leather gloves are bit tight.

I got new pair of gloves, and for the love of me, they seemed fine when I first tried them, but when I ride, the pinky gets numb. They just need to stretch a little, and I once heard of something like:"you soak them in water and ride until they dry in your hands". Is that accurate? Any other ways of making them fit faster?

Water takes the oils out of leather. Not good.
Try oiling them up good with mink oil or some other leather treatment.
Maybe stretch that pinkie of the glove. fing02.gif

Leather will stretch a bit. I would say if your finger is going numb though its a bit too tight. The old addage of soaking and wearing until dry will work, I used that technique several times when I was a teenager with hiking boots before I did the PCT. Just make sure you condition the leather after drying.

I always get gloves that are very tight. Not so much that I get numbness but very tight. After a thousand miles or so they will fit perfectly. They kind of stretch and mold to your hands. If I get gloves that fit hust right, once they are broken in the seem loose with bunching in the palm. Just my .02$, I may be strange.

soichiro, May 14 2006, 10:12 AMI always get gloves that are very tight. Not so much that I get numbness but very tight. After a thousand miles or so they will fit perfectly. They kind of stretch and mold to your hands. If I get gloves that fit hust right, once they are broken in the seem loose with bunching in the palm. Just my .02$, I may be strange.

Can't say I completely agree with that, it may be true with some brands. About 6 months ago I bought a brand new pair of Alpinestars SP-1 gloves. Funny how things always seem to fit just fine at the store dry.gif Anyway after a few days of riding they were causing numbness. I too figured I would just suffer through it assuming they would break in. Lets just say that after more than 2000 miles nothing has changed. I finally gave up and went up a size and bought a pair of Alpinestars GP Plus gloves and couldn't be happier. After 1000 miles they are still perfect.

I had the same concern with my last pair of gloves.
I thought they were TOO tight, seemed good (tight) in the shop but riding around was a different story, they were REAL tight.
Even after a week I was still quite concerned.
I didn't do anything to "quicken" the break in, but after a couple more weeks they are ok now.
They were really annoying over that transition period but they came around.
Don't know if that helps?

Edit: ironically the gloves in are a pair of A-star SP-1's

Very Fast Ride, May 14 2006, 10:01 AMI got new pair of gloves, and for the love of me, they seemed fine when I first tried them, but when I ride, the pinky gets numb. They just need to stretch a little, and I once heard of something like:"you soak them in water and ride until they dry in your hands". Is that accurate? Any other ways of making them fit faster?

If you want the best conditioner go to:

http://www.obenaufs.com/index.php?osCsid=0...d8c4f8203c9dfe3

They were referred to me on the forum after I mentioned using mink oil and then got turned on to this company.

soichiro, May 14 2006, 09:12 AMI always get gloves that are very tight. Not so much that I get numbness but very tight. After a thousand miles or so they will fit perfectly. They kind of stretch and mold to your hands. If I get gloves that fit hust right, once they are broken in the seem loose with bunching in the palm. Just my .02$, I may be strange.

+1.gif
It may also depend on the quality of the leather in the glove as to how much it will stretch. My last pair I'd wear for about a half hour on the bike and switch back to my old pair. When I was at home I'd wear them around the house. Now they fit perfectly.

dutchinterceptor, May 14 2006, 12:41 PM +1.gif
It may also depend on the quality of the leather in the glove as to how much it will stretch.  My last pair I'd wear for about a half hour on the bike and switch back to my old pair.  When I was at home I'd wear them around the house.  Now they fit perfectly.

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teklightproglv.jpg
These are the gloves in question: Teknic lightning. There are 2 kevlar knobs on the pinky, and they dig into it. The fact that there is 2 layers of leather seems to lenghten the break in process. Anyhow, I'll go watch the game with my gloves on. Thanks for the replies.

I was just going to ask the same question about the same pair of gloves! Mine hurt my middle and index fingers mostly on the left hand. My last pair of gloves were Joe Rocket pheonix's...and after about 4000 miles they still killed my thumb...I kept hoping for them to stretch and they never did. I went up from medium to large when I got the Lightning pair and was hoping that would solve the problem. Guess I just have to ride more and hope they stretch tongue.gif

Given that it's the armour thingos (technical term) on the finger that's hurting, you may be out of luck.
However (but!) if you put something on your finger to make it fatter (like sticking plaster, tape, a finger cut off a fabric glove, etc.) it may help to 'break them in' and stretch/soften the leather more quickly. Also using them for things that will bend the fingers will help, like digging in the garden, driving the car, or (now here's a wild thought!) riding your bike. goofy.gif

my first pair of gloves seemd to fit snug, but I thought they would be fine. After riding an hour with them my fingers were all numb.
My next set, Apline Stars SPS gloves I made sure to get a size that fit loose enough to be comfortable from the start. They never really got looser, and are still very comfortable. I've got about 7000 miles on these gloves.

I think that maybe you could be buying them too small. Were not playing racquet ball, and I don't think the gloves need to fit tightly around all of your fingers. I know that leather protects us well when it fits snug, but I think thats more true for your leathers than it is your gloves. It would seem to me a well made glove should hold up even if its just a little "loose" for a proper fit, flexibility, and comfort.