Every time I post a photo of these on Instagram, people always ask what they are, thinking they’re some expensive luxury cycling item. The truth is, the Specialized 74 gloves are some of the best gloves I’ve owned and they don’t even scratch the bank account. They’ve held up to daily use, haven’t stretched or loosened up at all and look damn classy.  Check out more below.

One of the reasons why they have yet to stretch is because they leather doesn’t need to. When you clench a fist, these panels expand as shown. Because of this, the soft leather maintains its form and the best part is, you don’t have to care for them at all. They’re resilient.

If you’re a fan of heavily-padded gloves, you might not like these. The palm padding is very minimal, in my opinion, that’s the way to go. Your bar tape should provide ample padding. These have very small areas that double up on the leather.

At $45, they’re a worthy investment. I bought an XL and they’ve maintained their form after two months of daily use. I’ll be reviewing other gloves in the coming weeks and sadly, for this review, I didn’t have a bottle of bourbon to shoot them with…