How to Measure for Bike Gloves: Sizing Guide

Bike glove sizing comes from wrapping a flexible tape around the widest part of your hand below the knuckles, thumb excluded, then matching that number to the specific brand’s chart.

The fix takes about thirty seconds and one piece of string — but only if the number you write down matches the system the brand uses. Giro measures width and length separately; Scott measures circumference alone. Measure the way your chosen brand asks, then read that brand’s chart and nothing else.

Measure Your Hand the Way the Brand Asks

Hand circumference is the starting point for most charts, taken around the widest part of the palm just below the knuckles with the thumb left outside the tape. Use a flexible tape; without one, wrap thread, mark it, and lay it against a ruler.

Keep the tape snug without squeezing. LEKI’s instructions call for the tape tight around the widest part of a flat hand, below the knuckles, thumb clearly outside the loop. Pulling it tighter “for accuracy” inflates your error — compressed skin reads smaller than the hand actually is.

Some brands want the hand lightly closed instead of flat. Giro measures width with the hand lightly closed, which is why the same hand can produce two different numbers depending on the method. Follow whichever position the chart specifies.

The Two Sizing Systems That Don’t Agree

Glove charts split into two families — width-plus-length and plain circumference. Giro’s adult men’s sizing pairs a width range with a length range: a medium covers 201–219 mm of width and 180–194 mm of length. Scott’s 2024 bike glove manual publishes circumference bands instead, running from 3XS at 15.2–16.5 cm up to 3XL at 27.9–30.5 cm.

A “medium” in one column lands a full size away from the other. Scott’s manual is blunt: the correct size comes from the manufacturer’s chart or the chart printed on the garment itself. That rules out generic sizing tables online and trusting the label inside your last pair.

Reading Your Number Without Guessing

Write the measurement in the unit the chart uses — millimeters for Giro, centimeters for Scott — because converting in your head is where most sizing mistakes start.

When your number straddles two sizes, consult the individual product page rather than the general chart. Published ranges are guidelines, and fit shifts within a single brand: a padded downhill glove and a thin cross-country glove sized identically won’t feel the same.

Cycling gloves use elastic materials with a deliberately tight fit for clean power transfer. Snug is correct. Numbness, visible palm wrinkles, or lingering pressure points mean the size is wrong regardless of the chart. Full finger movement and secure grip are the real test.

Don’t measure around the thumb, don’t wrap a rigid ruler around your hand, and don’t assume S, M, L carry across brands. Once the number is right, our roundup of tested bike gloves worth buying pairs each pick with the sizing chart that applies.

Giro publishes full men’s and women’s charts with both measurements side by side. Giro’s glove size chart is the reference to open before you commit to a number.

Common Measuring Mistakes

Four habits account for most bad purchases: measuring over the thumb (adds width and pushes you up a size), treating width as circumference or the reverse (mixes systems that don’t convert), yanking the tape tight (shrinks the reading), and using one brand’s number to buy another brand’s glove (Giro and Scott publish entirely different ranges for the same hand).

The check that settles it: put the glove on, close your fist, and grip a bar. Fingers should move freely, the palm should sit smooth, and nothing should go numb. If any of that fails, the measurement was off or the chart was the wrong one.