Yes, because they solve opposite problems. A summer glove is perforated to let air through. A winter glove adds a membrane and insulation, which is exactly what a summer glove must not have — and neither compromises well into the other.
What a summer glove is
Protection where the hand lands, and air everywhere else. Perforation is a construction choice rather than a coating, and it is the whole reason the family exists. A glove that is bearable at a standstill in August is a glove with holes in it.
What a winter glove adds
A waterproof membrane and insulation, and with them bulk at the cuff and millimetres between finger and control. That is the trade: warm hands and less feel. The warmest glove in a range is rarely the one that gets worn all winter, because it cannot work a switch.
The all-season claim
Some gloves are sold for both, usually with a removable liner or minimal perforation. They are genuinely usable across a wider band and they are not as good at either end — a real compromise rather than a free one, and the specification says which properties were traded.
The third pair people end up with
Waterproof gloves for rain specifically, because a summer glove soaks and a winter glove is too warm for a wet summer day. Whether that is worth it depends on how much you ride in rain at temperatures that do not need insulation.
What to test regardless of season
Make a fist around a bar. A glove that fits flat and bunches at the base of the fingers when closed will be uncomfortable within twenty minutes, and no published measurement predicts it.
Questions riders send in about this
Can I wear liners under summer gloves in cold?
It adds thickness where dexterity is already tight and does nothing about wind through the perforations. It is a stopgap rather than a solution.
Do heated grips remove the need for winter gloves?
They warm the palm and let you wear a thinner glove. The backs of the hands and the fingertips are still in the airflow, so a windproof glove remains part of the answer.
Last reviewed 18 September 2026