Mar 13 2009
Motocycle specific gloves
When you are looking at gloves, it is like when you look for gloves for any other sport. Remember that your hands are the body part that leads while you are on the road. Since they are on your handlebars they are the first thing the air hits. If the wind chill is low your fingers get cold pretty quick. A couple of suggestions. You will want full finger gloves so that you will be protecting your whole hand from flying debris and in case of a crash. You also don’t want to chance that your fingers will become wet with perspiration and make your controls slick to use.
I have used just regular cowboy (roper) gloves for a lot of years. I like the softness of the deer (or elk) hide the palms are usually doubled and the seams are on the outside. These are the things you want to look at in a glove. It is also good to find fingers that are curved since your had will be that way on the controls. Good motorcycle gloves are built just like that. I have found them in leather and textile (just like jackets and suits). The textile is usually re-enforced nylon and sometimes include Kevlar. I have a pair that also have “armor” on the knuckles. I have also taken a pair of lighter gloves and used a liner when I need a little additional warmth (there are those layers again). So go out to dealers and see what motorcycle specific gloves look like. That is how I found the kind I like, not motorcycle specific but, very similar. You will also want to look at the quality of the glove for colorfastness. I have seen many students come back on a sunny Sunday morning after riding on a damp Saturday afternoon and their hands are blue or black from the glove dye.
