"I can see clearly now the rain has gone...."

"...I can see all lobster-claws in my way..."

That is how the song goes, right?

All of which terrible punning serves only to introduce the fact that I bought myself a pair of lobster-claw cycling gloves back in the autumn, thinking I wanted warmer hands when winter came calling. After much open-mouthed gawping at the cost of such gloves from established brands, these are what I ended up getting:

No, I wasn't especially familiar with VeloChampion as a brand either. But these were being sold as new on eBay for a tenner. I took a chance.

And you know what? They're excellent, probably the toastiest cycling gloves I've ever had. The claw design, allowing your fingers to keep each other warm, has been a real boon. In fact, it has taken until this week's sub-zero temperatures for me to get even slightly chilly hands cycling - that's how good these have been. Very comfy too, with well-placed padding. And although they were not advertised or sold as being waterproof, I've completed 25-minute rides in steady rain and emerged with bone-dry hands too. Your mileage may vary in a downpour, but I can only speak for my own experience so far.

Downsides? Well, the glossy black stripe on the back isn't really to my taste, but even that isn't gaudy or bling, is it? That said, the gloves could use some reflective details for these dark winter nights. Oh, and if the cuffs went 5 or 10 millimetres further up my sleeve, I wouldn't complain. But these are minor niggles, for what are properly good gloves and, at the secondhand price I paid for them, an absolute steal.

TLDR: warm, comfortable and even showerproof, these lobster claw gloves are terrific. ★★★★☆

BUY: seems that these are no longer available from VeloChampion, but you might be lucky and find some on eBay like me.

Full disclosure: I bought these with my own money. If anyone wants to give me kit in exchange for an honest review, I'm open to that, but unless I explicitly say otherwise everything I review on here will be sourced and paid for by yours truly.