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The Troy Lee Designs Women's Ruckus glove is a robust mountain bike glove for warm weather. The materials are good and the style is sleek, but the fit is awful, leading to chaffing, drafts and pressure points at the base of the palm.

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The Ruckus glove is built for aggressive trail riding, and combines an Ax suede palm with a synthetic leather underlayer, neoprene for the rear of the hand, and padding on the palm.

The padding consists of a second layer near the knuckles which is actually fairly unobtrusive, and an odd section on the outside which I can only assume is there in case of falls or karate chops. It seems pretty useless though. 

The fingers have small vent holes plus mesh down the outside of each, making for good ventilation that suits the warmer months. Despite the fairly thick neoprene on the back of the hand, these gloves breathe pretty well and aren't too sweaty. 

The Ruckus also has touchscreen-compatible fingertips, which work as well as any other gloves, which is a compliment as faint as it sounds.

The fit is perfect along the fingers and a the palm is a good width, while the sizing comes up just as it should. The whole lot is secured with Velcro, at least in theory... however, the flap isn't long enough to properly do its job. And this is just the start of the Ruckus' problems with shaping.

The palm is really short, leaving the cuff and a prominent seam to sit under the heel of your hand. It rubs and irritates as you ride. That short cuff inevitably leaves a gap to your jersey and jacket, too, leaving you exposed to drafts.

It's worth noting that Troy Lee's own Ace womens gloves (in the same size) don't have any of these problems, so it's not like my hands and their designs are simply incompatible. Something just seems to have gone wrong with the tape measure when the Ruckus was laid out.

At £40, these are expensive for such a poor fit. I strongly suggest you try before you buy, or at least think back to see if your life is stuffed with comments about your childlike wrists and palms or not. If the Ruckus fits you'll be rewarded with a breathable, tough glove for summer shreds, enduro and trail riding. If not, it will prove uncomfortable, so avoid. 

• www.saddleback.co.uk

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