The futuristic-like BluegrassPrizma 3D gloves sell themselves around the fancy TPR prisms dotted around the glove. They’re comfortable and well-sized, but the fabric gets tatty quickly, and the level of protection the prisms offer is very questionable.
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Bluegrass says that the Prizma 3D gloves are made for enduro/trail riders, downhillers, and BMXers to ‘make the hard line easier’. That’s thanks to an ergonomic shape and refined internal seam construction.
The upper is made using a four-way stretch mesh with a slim-fit neoprene cuff, which is where you’ll find a handy Velcro strap. There are a collection of silicone grippers at the fingertips, perforations in the palm and inner fingers, and a patch of terry cloth on the thumbs.
As for fit, my large test pair fits my usual size large hands very well. All fingers stretch right up into the ends of the glove, as do my thumbs. They’re undoubtedly comfy, and you can feel the good quality of the palm straight away.
During my average ride, performance isn’t too bad at all. The palm is nice and thin, so the bar feel couldn’t be much better, and the upper is stretchy enough to mould around my hands perfectly.
However, the four-way stretch mesh construction comes with a couple of quirks. One is that it’s not massively breathable. I’ve noticed that my hands can get pretty warm mid-way into a ride, so the Prizma 3D gloves may best be suited to cooler days.
Along with that, if you find yourself riding through overgrown trails, any brushes with overhanging plants will pull threads away from the upper, making the glove look pretty untidy surprisingly quickly. Having experienced this during my first ride wearing the gloves, I wasn’t totally convinced of their durability. To be honest, I’m still on the fence. However, having ridden mostly clear trails, the uppers haven’t shown too much more damage but fresh threads have begun to show.
Elsewhere, the gloves have remained well intact, so my only concern is from the upper of the gloves.
Now, onto the TPR prisms. Many brands are stitching stretches of D3O into the knuckle. Bluegrass has decided to dot prisms made of TPR (a rubber-esque material) around the knuckle. I’ve been fortunate enough not to crash in the Prizma’s just yet, but I reckon I have a pretty good idea of what’ll be left of your hand if you were to knuckle a tree. I think that rather than provide the level of protection a strip of D3O would, your knuckles would be left pebble dashed in prism-shaped bruises.
The prisms look cool, and I especially like them in this colourway, but I just don’t believe that they’re a good method of protecting knuckles.
For this style of glove, Bluegrass is right on the money with the price. Endura’s MT500 D3O glove is in a similar league in terms of performance but will set you back £43.
SixSixOne’s Evo II gloves are much better suited towards summer riding but their build quality is worse than the Prizma 3D’s as the fingers quickly came apart. Those will cost north of £40. So the quality you get for the cash plus (hopefully) some level of protection makes the Bluegrass Prizma 3D gloves a solid deal.
If you’re more for the looks rather than the protection and usually steer clear of overgrown trails, you’ll be more than happy with the Bluegrass Prizma 3D gloves’ fit and comfort. However, I don’t believe the protection will serve as such, and be prepared for trailside snags to tear the gloves up rather quickly.