Expectations are high from motorcycle gloves at any time of the year, but in winter we're even more demanding - which is why it's always a relief to find a pair that work.
The Furygan Oslo D30 Primaloft gloves keep my hands warm and comfortable for an hour in temperatures hovering around 10°C, which is what I personally expect from an unheated winter glove.
I wore these through October and November 2024 and experienced a range of temperatures that dropped as far as 7°C. In that sort of cold I found my fingers were tingling after 20 minutes of riding, but they settled down after that and I still had full dexterity after an hour on the bike.
That's about my limit now for wearing conventional gloves. Much below 7°C and I will reach for a pair of heated gloves to make sure I've got fully functional hands and fingers.
With the gauge reading around nine to 10 degrees I found the Oslo gloves to be more comfortable for an hour so, and I spent all of one November day on the bike in 11-12°C and was perfectly happy with the warmth from these gloves.
It's worth mentioning that the Suzuki V-Strom 800RE I was riding didn't have handguards to divert cold air around my hands. The addition of those to a bike can make a big difference, so these gloves would perform even better behind deflectors like that.
The thermal lining isn't massively thick in my opinion yet it works well at retaining heat and blocking out draughts.
It contains Primaloft, a material designed to rival goose down for warmth and compressibility yet remain effective when wet.
That makes it ideal for bike gloves, and I found the liner in these gloves to be very comfortable and not so bulky that they compromised feel for the controls.
Photography: Helen Meeds
They took no time to break in - an hour's ride home from work was enough to prove I could take them out for the whole day that weekend.
At the end of that full day it started raining heavily for the last hour. The gloves were sodden by the time I got home, but my hands on the inside remained warm and dry.
The Oslo gloves are what I would describe as a mid-length design. They extend further than the wrist, but not as far up the arm as a full-length glove.
There's one fastening strap, which is well-positioned on the underside of the hand and also has an elasticated retainer to stop the strap slipping free from its adjuster loop.
Choosing a glove of this length means you'll need a jacket sleeve with plenty of reach to be able to create the overlap that's required to keep out draughts and rainwater.
Despite being a fiddly job I was able to get that overlap, but on occasions I didn't take enough care when setting them and then had to stop and rearrange the cuff and sleeve on my left hand.
For more confidence that the glove will stay under (or over) a jacket, I prefer a longer glove with a fastener to tighten the glove's cuff. Something like Furygan's Starker D3O or Land DK Ultra would give this. The Starker gloves cost a tenner more than the £89.99 price of the Oslo gloves at the time of review, and the Land DK Ultra are £40 more at £129.99.
Not all riders want the fiddle of fastening an extra strap and trying to get the gloves either inside or outside of the jacket sleeve, so these Oslo gloves are ideal for those people. I've been reviewing a Richa Atomic 2 jacket and the knitted cuffs of that worked perfectly with these gloves.
In terms of fit and sizing, I wear a medium in most brands and a large in some others. In this instance I went for large, which was ideal for me. I may have got away with a size medium, but a tight fit isn't a great idea in winter gloves as it may hinder circulation enough to make hands feel cold.
The goatskin palms on the Oslo gloves is soft and supple, and the touchscreen-compatible fingertips worked well for me on both a TomTom Rider 550 sat-nav and my Samsung phone. Some gloves require a particular angle of attack for them to operate a touchscreen, but I had no such trouble with these gloves.
The back of the hand combines leather and textile, which does make the gloves very flexible, and soft D3O armour adds to the feeling of comfort and flexibility.
This insert contributes the knuckle protection within the Oslo gloves' CE pass at Level 1KP.
One feature I'd like Furygan to add is a visor wipe. It appears to be something French brands don't consider necessary, but I find it makes a huge difference when riding in rain.
Overall, though, I found the Oslo D3O Primaloft gloves to offer a comfortable and flexible solution that kept my hands dry, and warm in the sort of temperatures in which I'd expect a conventional glove to be effective.
