Trilobite Comfee Gloves Hands-On Review

Introduction

Recently, Trilobite sent me a “Care Package” in the form of a box containing their new Go-Up jeans, the Ace jacket, and a pair of gloves which is the subject of this review. Trilobite is fast becoming a familiar name to webBikeWorld readers with us having published several reviews of the Czech Republic based manufacturer’s products.

The gear I have reviewed has been well received as the quality of their apparel has been very good. They have also demonstrated they are keen to take reviewers’ comments to heart and update their products based on feedback.

Having reviewed two pairs of their jeans and a jacket it seems only logical to have a look now at their gloves. Trilobite has several styles of gloves aimed at the commuter/cafe style rider offering protection appropriate for these types of riding. The gloves I was sent differ a bit in that they are geared more towards off-road riding, or as Trilobite refers to it, “Scrambler” riding.

Let’s see what the Comfee gloves are all about.

The Trilobite Comfee Gloves

The Comfee gloves are a short cuff glove that uses a mixture of leather and durable fabrics for construction. The gloves are lightweight and very flexible which is often desired in an off-road style glove. The outward appearance suggests that they are also lightweight on protection but there’s more than meets the eye here and we’ll get to that in a minute.

Two color options are offered including the black color shown here in this review and a light tan/beige version. The lighter color looks pretty interesting but I have a feeling they might show dirt rather quickly so keep that in mind if it is a concern.

The black gloves are black on the back of the hand while the palm and underside of the fingers are a medium gray color. The palm area has an additional covering of gray material with a grid pattern on it. The beige version uses light tan and browns with some red applied to the “grid” pattern in the palm. Personally, I prefer the black version but it’s always nice to have choices.

Branding is plentiful but subtle at the same time. “Trilobite” is embossed in the leather near the back of the hand while a small rubber tag with “Trilobite” written in white is attached near at the base of the closure strap.

To top it off, a small metal button with the Trilobite graphic is present under the wrist. One can tell who made the gloves but it’s definitely not “in your face”. On the tips of the index fingers and thumbs, the Trilobite graphic is screened onto the fabric in place.

This fabric serves a practical purpose more than branding as it is compatible with capacitive touch screens allowing the wearer to operate mobile devices. It works well enough but I’d like to see this material cover the very end of the digits so one doesn’t have to flatten their finger/thumb against the screen for it to work.

Construction

There are a lot of panels and different materials used in the Comfee gloves making the overall construction a bit complex for sure. It also gives the gloves a rather busy look. Here’s a quick rundown of the materials and their locations.

A majority of the back of the hand uses a goat leather and next to it is a strip of black, breathable fabric that eventually runs to the tops of the ring and little fingers. On the other side of the strip is a different black fabric with a more open weave that wraps from half of the thumb all the way over the top of the index and middle fingers which also have patches of leather.

The underside of the glove, at the heel of the hand, is more goat leather which gives way to a synthetic leather material seen in gray. This synthetic leather runs under the palm and the underside of each of the fingers. Covering most of the palm area, on top of the synthetic leather is a flexible plastic material (TPU?) on which sits a raised grid. This grid adds a “grippy” feeling to the palm area.

As if all that weren’t enough, the interior is lined with aramid fabric on the palm and underside of the fingers while the back of the hand and fingers are lined with what feels like a smooth nylon lining.

That’s a lot of panels and materials to bring together in a glove. This complexity could also be-be why there ended up being a bit of a wonky issue with the left glove. Looking at the photos one can readily see how the middle and ring fingers on the left glove aren’t cut quite right. The ends of these two fingers diverge away from each other.

This isn’t the first time I’ve seen a pair of gloves have this issue. However, I am disappointed to see that Trilobite let these go out to someone, especially a reviewer, who would certainly notice this issue. When wearing that glove the side seam on the ring finger does end up nearly in the middle of the fingertip which can be felt when wearing it.

Barring that “miss” on the cut of those fingers, the gloves are well put together. All main seams are double stitched and seem even and tight, and least on the outside. The edges of some of the lining materials could have been trimmed a little more neatly but these are typically not in view.

Closure at the wrist is a single leather strap which fastens via a patch of hook and loop fastener behind the thumb. This single closure is one of the reasons these gloves are better suited to the slower speeds and the softer surface of off-road riding as they could be pulled off pretty easily in a slide on the street. Speaking of those unpleasant moments, let’s have a look at the protection offered in the Comfee gloves.

Protective Features

Being a short cuff glove designed for offroad use, it would be easy to dismiss how protective these gloves might be. Outward appearance is a bit deceiving though.

Under the fabrics on the back of the hand and knuckles is a TPU protector for the knuckles. The material used is flexible but feels pretty tough and substantial. It strikes a nice balance between comfort and energy dissipating stiffness. This combined with a thin layer of foam underneath makes it pretty unobtrusive.

The other main piece to the protection puzzle is the aramid lining. The entire underside of the palm and fingers is lined with the pale yellow abrasion resistant material. This sits underneath the synthetic leather exterior which is also covered with a layer of plastic “gripper”. I think this area should hold up pretty well in most situations. It might even protect from road rash in a low-speed slide on the street but that’s just a guess on my part. I don’t recommend finding out 🙂

The other protective bits include a leather patch on the anterior side of the little fingers as well as leather covering the tips of the index and middle fingers. The index finger gets an additional patch over the first knuckle as well for good measure. Finally, the goat leather patch at the heel of the hand is supposed to CE rated so it should provide some extra abrasion protection there.

Fit & Comfort

With a name like “Comfee” these gloves better offer a decent amount of comfort, right? I feel comfortable (pun intended) saying that they are indeed pretty comfortable to wear. While I have not had the opportunity to spend an afternoon with them in an offroad situation I did take them out for some moderate pace riding on the backroads.

I was first a bit concerned all the various panels and seams would be noticeable but for the most part, they were pretty good. That’s not to say they are perfect, though. I did find I could feel the seam at the end of the aramid lining in the ends of the finger boxes. It’s not uncomfortable, but it is there.

I was also worried about the area of the palm at the base of the fingers. When closing the hand this area would bow out and bunch up. This looked like it might be an issue when holding the grips but when actually holding them in practice, it never became a thing.

As far as fit, the Comfee gloves I was sent are a size large where I typically wear a medium. In this case, they fit me just fine. I’ve run into this with some other gloves such as the Induction glove from Klim. To put it in perspective I usually wear around a size 9 to 9.5 in most gloves and these sized large fit me very close. That is how I like them but they could not have been smaller and still fit.

Conclusion

I have to admit I had my misgivings about the Comfee gloves when I first received them. I’m not usually interested in short cuff gloves (ORSA II’s notwithstanding) but after reading up and finding out these are geared toward off-road riding I adjusted my thinking.

They have a nice amount of protective feature that should serve their intended audience well. There are also plenty of breathable materials in place and despite the sizing difference, they fit very well and are indeed comfortable.

However, the glaring issue here is the poor cut of the materials where the middle and ring finger on the left glove is concerned. The fact it is only happening on one glove means this is likely an error in quality control and not every pair will be this way. Still, it should never have landed on my desk or in a customer’s mailbox.

All that said, I’m still pretty positive about the overall construction. I would like to think that the odd fingers on the left hand would warrant replacement from Trilobite and/or their dealers.

Readers might be thinking “Why so forgiving?” when I am typically pretty tough on manufacturers. When factoring in that the Comfee gloves only cost 41,28 € in Europe and will retail for $49.99 USD here in North America, that is getting a lot of bang for the buck. So yes, as long as a defective unit will be replaced (at no cost to the customer) I would recommend these for their intended purpose and style of riding.

Trilobite Comfee Gloves Image Gallery