Fox describe the Sidewinder gloves as "The most versatile glove in our line", coming in at £ 30.00 RRP they are at the upper end of mid-priced, so we expected a decent quality glove. The test period was around 10 weeks, with a few hundred miles covered.
Fit
The gloves fitted well, with no bunching up or odd length fingers that some gloves have.
Performance
The Sidewinders grip well, have a decent amount of feel on the bars but still offer a good amount of protection. We'd say they are a great all-round glove, suitable for both summer and winter riding. They also feature Conductive Clarino® finger tips meaning that they work with smart phones, which should be standard on all mountain bike gloves in this day and age. The top of the glove has rubber 'studs' to offer some protection in the event of a crash, or to help alleviate brambles and branches smacking the hands when riding the trails.
Issues
Sadly, that's where the good points end. After a few weeks riding, the stitching started coming apart all over the gloves.
Not just on the fingers which is common after lots of use, but near the wrist too.
It's possible that this was just a bad pair that slipped through quality control, but the amount of times we've had gloves prematurely fall apart (from many different brands - see our Royal Victory review for one example) does point to many of them simply not being up to the task of proper mountain biking and the abuse that entails.
Overall
With luck the review pair will be replaced under warranty. This review will be updated if so after the second pair have been well used.
