What to Look for to Find the Best Motorcycle Gloves
– A Complete Guide –
Find the Best Motorcycle Glove – A Complete Guide. Trying to figure out what you should look for to find the best motorcycle gloves for you? If yes, then you certainly have come to the right place. If we ask you about the most important safety gear which you can wear while riding your bike, without a second thought, your answer will be a “helmet”. This is because everybody wants to stay alive and ending up having a major brain injury is certainly a bad idea. Plus, nobody would want a scratch or a scar while having face to face with the mother earth, right? Well, this was an easy question. But what if we ask you which is the second most important piece of safety you could possibly wear?
The answers can be varying but the majority of the riders will go for motorcycle gloves and they have a pretty decent reason for it. Whenever you fall, your instincts place your hands in a position that they take most of that fall. Now imagine a road accident on a bike, if you let your hands go down, you might receive enough damage which can make your hands go useless for life and you definitely don’t want that because almost every task that you perform in your life, one way or another, depends on them.
Whether you want to write, operate a computer, do construction, make the money or eat, you just cannot imagine a life without your hands, so, why not protect them? In this article, we have got everything you need to know and exactly what to look for while buying the best motorcycle gloves for yourself.
Why do you need proper motorcycle gloves?
By now, you probably are aware of the importance of gloves while riding. Now the next thing that comes in mind is that why you should spend so much money on a pair of motorcycle gloves, when in fact, you can grab any pair of leather gloves from the Home Depot. That would work pretty fine, right?
Totally wrong! The best motorcycle gloves are made by keeping some specific attributes in mind and their design provides you with the 2 things that are needed while you ride your motorcycle.
- Provide protection to your hands, while at the same time, offering you smooth and comfortable control over your motorcycle.
- Making sure that your hands have adequate protection in case of a crash.
This is where your ordinary Home Depot gloves will completely let you down because keeping the above-mentioned things as their motives do not make them.
Plain and simple, right? But you will find dozens of different styles of motorcycle gloves from uncountable brands and all varying as far as prices are concerned. They might have different designs and some gloves might have added features that you won’t find in other gloves. However, you are always going to find the following features, no matter which company you buy from and how much you pay for them.
- Features including hardened knuckles, palm sliders, double-layers in impact areas, etc., which will protect you from the impact you might receive during a crash.
- Pre-curved construction to allow comfortable grasping of grips.
- Good closure system, to make sure the gloves don’t come off in case of a crash.
- Weather protection and ventilation.
Types of Motorcycle Gloves
In order to find the best motorcycle glove you need to understand the different types. You will find different types of Motorcycle gloves and each pair of gloves will have its own advantages, given that, it is used in the conditions for which it is made.
- Racing Motorcycle Gloves
- Gauntlets
- Short Motorcycle Gloves
- Off-Road or Dirt-Bike Motorcycle Gloves
- Adventure or Touring Motorcycle Gloves
These gloves are mostly used for high-speed racing and high thrill rides. No matter if you are on street or tracks, the armors used in these gloves are efficient enough to provide great protection in case of an impact. Plus, these gloves have venting at different portions like palm and fingers, which ensures a cool and comfortable riding experience.
These types of gloves are more suitable for a warmer season, as, their main priority is to provide comfort to the rider. But this comfort comes with the expense of protection. Although they feature some knuckle and palm armor, they come no way near than other types of gloves as far as safety is concerned.
Gauntlets
If you are not interested in racing, but looking for a perfect glove, best for your everyday use, then Gauntlets are the best choice. They provide mobility and comfort just like the short gloves and offer premium protection for your wrist and hands. You will find these gloves equipped with knuckle armors, wrist support, and palm shields.
Off-road or dirt bike motorcycle gloves
If comfort and grip are what you are looking for, then off-road motorcycle gloves are the perfect option. You won’t find much of a protection, but still, they have something to protect your knuckles and fingers. Because of their lightweight and easy to grip design, off-roading will become easy and a lot more comfortable.
Adventure of touring motorcycle gloves
If you are planning to go on a long trip or tour, then you need something that you can heavily rely on. You might face many kinds of weather conditions on your way and to protect your hands, you need something that is made up of much more durable material and robust crafting methods. And for this, touring motorcycle gloves are the best choice. You might find them a lot bulkier and heavier than other kinds of gloves and this because they have extra protection for your fingers, palms, and wrists. They also feature a ventilation system and external stitching.
What to look for when buying the best Motorcycle Gloves
If you are planning on buying yourself the best motorcycles gloves, then this section is the most important one. If you find the following features in a glove, then go for it, as this is all that a perfect motorcycle glove incorporates.
- Safety and Protection
- Comfort
- Weather Control
- Flexibility
- Fit
- Style
1. Safety and Protection
Your number one priority while choosing the best motorcycle gloves should be safety against injuries. Picking the right gloves, which provide adequate protection against bruises and scrapes in the case of fall, is what you should be planning on. Look for good paddings at wrists, knuckles, and fingers. This will make sure that your hands are taken care of when they are hit by rocks, bugs or gravel. I think you must be expecting them to do more when things get worse, so, let us tell you, a good pair of gloves is what will make difference between a serious injury and no injury at all.
2. Comfort
Obviously, there is no point in wearing such gloves in which you do not have a good time, especially when they become the reason for your discomfort. The best motorcycle gloves will keep you comfortable when you will come in contact with the hot sun, cold winds, drenching rain, and other extreme riding conditions. In order to make sure the gloves are comfortable, wear them and observe whether they would bother you much or not.
3. Weather Control
You can never expect when the weather will become the bad guy, so make sure you buy gloves that have good airflow and ventilation that will prevent excessive sweating. Sweating while riding is the last thing you would want, as it makes your hands quite slippery and uncomfortable. You need a tight grip while grabbing brakes and clutch levers. It would be certainly not very pleasant to lose grip over your motorcycle just because your hands were sweating.
4. Flexibility
One of the most important things for a smooth riding experience is that all of the gear that you wear has flexibility, thus enabling you to have a flawless motion. As far as the best motorcycle gloves are concerned, no matter if you are wearing light summer gloves or heated winter gloves, your hands must move freely to perform all the tasks, from operating the bike to closing your zippers.
5. Fit
As you already know that your hands are the prime candidates to control the bike, so buying the best motorcycle gloves with perfect fitting is crucial. The fitting of your gloves can affect the way you handle your bike. Gloves must be tight enough to provide protection in case of a fall and must not come off, while in the meantime, must allow ease of movement to grasp brake and clutch lever.
6. Style
After you have considered the above factors, now is the time to think about how well you are going to look while wearing a pair of your best motorcycle gloves. Good Visual appeal needs you to match your gloves with the color of your bike or the other gear that you will wear. Good thing is that gloves come in various colors, so, you will easily find the one you like.
Which material is the best: Textile or Leather?
One of the most frequently asked questions is, which material is used by the best motorcycle gloves? Are leather gloves better than the textile gloves or is it the other way around? Well, to be honest, there is no definite answer to this particular question. It solely depends on how you are going to use your gloves and what exactly you want out of them.
Both of these materials have their own plus points. Leather tends to be much more resistant against wearing and tearing and gives you better and comfortable fitting because it molds to your hands. On the other hand, textile gloves are best for extreme weather. If you are more of an adventurous person and like to go on long tours where you are prone to dirt, moisture and different weather conditions then going for textile gloves is a wise decision.
Now, gloves along with providing protection, are also known for their style. And we hope you don’t want to look out of style and matching gear is the prime factor which makes you look attractive at the first sight. So, again, if you are using rough and tough textile gear, you should only opt for textile gloves. However, if cruising is your priority then leather gloves will give you the required protection, make you look classy and are the go-to option for cruise riders and sport bike riders around the globe. Hold Fast Gloves have you covered either way, check out line of gloves.
How Should Motorcycle Gloves Fit?
In order to find the best motorcycle glove they must fit right. To know the gloves that you are buying, perfectly fit on your hands, follow the points below
- The best motorcycle gloves must be tight, but not so tight that they stop proper blood circulation.
- Palm areas must not be bunched up with extra or additional material.
- As far as the fingers are concerned, make sure that your fingers are not touching ends of the gloves, but at the same time, you must not feel that the fingers are too loose or long.
- You must be able to freely move your hands when clenching and opening your fists and the armor must no rub against your hands.
- The gloves must be comfortable enough that when you are riding, you should feel as if you are not wearing anything on your hands.
How to Measure for Motorcycle Gloves?
If you are not sure about how to measure for the best motorcycle gloves, then the following are the two famous and easiest methods.
Draw Hand Outline, and Measure Distance
For an accurate, comfortable and correct glove fitting, use the following method
- Place your open hand on a flat surface with palm down, and draw an outline of your hands.
- As shown in the figure below, mark point ‘1’ and point ‘2’.
- Now, measure the distance between the two points
- This will give you the correct measurement of your size.
Measuring Tape Method:
Another efficient way of measuring for the best motorcycle gloves is to use a measuring tape. All you have to do is wrap the measuring tape around you knuckles of your hand, excluding the thumb. Close your fist as tight as you expect it to be while riding your bike. This method is as easy as it can get to measure for your gloves and will provide you with the right measurements as well.
The best All around glove
We at Hold Fast Gloves feel we have 2 gloves that are in the category as The Best Everyday glove. The Steadfast Model and the Dauntless Model. The Steadfast model is a mix of durable leather with breathability making it a great spring and Summer glove. Having a balance between protection, comfort and breathabilty makes the Steadfast glove the best Everyday Glove. The Dauntless Glove is our Best All-Around Glove. It provides maximum comfort with a very high level of protection. The Dauntless glove has features that are usually only featured in top race gloves like a finger bridge. Get a pair of our Dauntless gloves and have the confidence knowing you have a the best feeling glove as well as a glove that has a very high level of protection.
The Steadfast
The Best Everday Glove
The Dauntless
The BestAll-Around Glove