Giro Women’s Gear Review: LA DND Gloves, Manta Shoes, and Socks

Thanksgiving Day proved to be the perfect time to try out some new gear from Giro including gloves, socks, and shoes.  Since the temps were in the 50s, I chose a lighter pair of gloves:  The Giro LA DND women’s gloves ($26). Left shows the top side, right shows the palm side. When I first …

Thanksgiving Day proved to be the perfect time to try out some new gear from Giro including gloves, socks, and shoes.  Since the temps were in the 50s, I chose a lighter pair of gloves:  The Giro LA DND women’s gloves ($26).

Left shows the top side, right shows the palm side.

When I first put the gloves on, I thought they might be a little snug.  However, the 4-way stretch breathable mesh fabric soon proved me wrong; these gloves are designed to fit so there is no bunching. The Giro LA DND gloves feature special flex zones at the knuckles and the palms are made with Clarino synthetic leather.  Honestly, I put these gloves on and then forgot all about them; they fit that well.

Normally my hands sweat like crazy in gloves of any kind; I didn’t notice any of that in these gloves.  I often end up wearing my boyfriend’s old winter gloves and it’s nice to finally have a stylish and fitted pair of comfortable biking gloves.

LA DND Women's Cycling Trail Gloves

Notice that extra grip on the pointer and middle fingers and thumb?  It’s always nice to feel like your fingers aren’t going to slip off the brakes.

I also got a chance to test new Giro Women’s Classic Racer Socks ($12.99) and Giro Manta shoes ($150).

The Classic Racer socks are made with Meryl Skinlife fibers and are so lightweight and soft they feel like a second skin.  These socks provide a lot of moisture-management to keep your feet from sweating, but they’re also very durable. The socks seemed thin at first, but ended up being just right.

My everyday sock/shoe combo consists of smartwool socks and Pearl Izumi bike shoes with laces.  I like my lace-up shoes because they look more like regular shoes but I’ve noticed that on long rolling descents when I’m up with my weight on the pedals (like on Fruita’s new PBR), my feet start to hurt.

So, I was excited to try the Giro Manta which is a much stiffer shoe.

I like the ratchet buckle and the two velcro straps on the Giro Manta shoes. These kicks feature a microfiber upper and a ratchet buckle which is replaceable according to the Giro website. The ratchet/velcro system made it simple and easy to get the shoes properly fitted to my wide feet.  The socks were roomy and kept my feet cool.

I had no problems getting in or out of my Shimano clips with these shoes either.  Within minutes of starting our ride I forgot I was wearing new shoes.  To me that is the real sign of a good product:  It’s so good you forget it’s brand new.  I did think about the shoes as I was cruising down PBR because I was aware of the fact that my feet didn’t hurt!

Just to really test out the durability of the shoes, socks and gloves, I made sure to crash once.  Shoes and socks kept my feet protected and held up just fine.  My gloves didn’t show any signs of damage, but kept my hands free from scratches and scrapes as well.

Thanks to Giro for letting me try these items!  Next up I’ll be testing out a new helmet (it turns out my head isn’t as big as I thought it was) and another pair of gloves.