Dissent 133 glove layering system review

How many pairs of gloves do you own? Chances are that you have various weights for different degrees of coldness and wetness, and that none of them are quite right. The Dissent 133 glove layering system aims to tackle this.

It’s from the people behind Hunt Bike Wheels, who are used to catering for the UK rider. The name comes from the 133 days a year that it rains in an average year in the south of the UK.

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The idea is that rather than having a pair of heavy gloves for cold, another pair for wet weather, one for mild weather, etc, you have a pair of fully waterproof outers, a pair of windproof/showerproof outers, a pair of lightweight thermal gloves and a pair of silk liner gloves. You can use the different outers with each of the two inners, wear each layer on its own or use an outer with both inner layers together, dependent on the conditions. If things warm up during a ride, you can remove a layer too.

Lined winter gloves are prone to have their linings invert when you take them off if they are wet, which doesn’t happen with the Dissent 133 system. Another advantage of the layered approach is that when your gloves do get wet, it’s much easier to wash and dry them than a single piece padded item. Dissent 133 includes three wire spreaders to help you dry your gloves more quickly too.

In total, there are 11 different combinations of gloves, allowing you to adapt to pretty much any condition except hot summer days of course. There’s a sheet of recommended combinations on the inside of the rather smart zip-up padded case.

If you don’t want the whole set of four, the individual Dissent 133 layers are available separately or there are packs of three, giving you windproof or waterproof options.

Both the showerproof and the waterproof outer gloves are closed with Velcro tabs. There’s a cuff which overlaps these. This has a ribbon puller which makes it very easy to grip when wearing the gloves, so that you can quickly adjust the fit at the cuffs. The cuffs themselves are long, so there’s good overlap with jacket sleeves. There’s a reflective dart on the outer side seam and reflective lettering to add visibility.

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Being designed to use with inner gloves, there’s not much padding in either outer glove pair, so that using the bike’s controls isn’t awkward. They both come with silicone grips over the palms, while the fingers and thumbs are touchscreen active. The thermal liners too allow you to work a touchscreen.

The Dissent 133 layering system works well: it’s easy to tailor your warmth level to suit the conditions. Wearing either outer pair with either inner, there’s good insulation without losing bar feel. Even with the two inners and the showerproof outers, there’s still good dexterity.

It’s only if you layer up two inners with the waterproof outers that you lose a bit of lever feel. This is the extreme option though and the effect is no worse than when wearing many highly insulated, single-piece winter gloves like the Mavic Vision Thermo and the GripGrab Ride waterproof gloves.