Three Pairs Of Gloves, Two Keepers

Photos by Fatima

For the 2014 riding season, Fatima and I reviewed our 2013 Gear For The Year and decided what we’d like to g’his pit kay (wear them until we turn them to rags), and what we’d like to replace.

Two of the following pairs of gloves made the cut and one did not. Read on to see what worked for us, and what didn’t.

Scott SPV Mesh Gloves

A quick glance at the specs of these gloves will reveal nothing particularly special. They’re 75 per cent leather and then primarily a polyester mesh material that allows air to flow onto the three central fingers and the back of the palm above the knuckles.

There’s a bit of doubling up of the leather and foam padding in some of the key areas, should you go sliding down the pavement, but the leather is pretty thin though, in order to keep the gloves lighter and cooler.

Overall the SPV gloves don’t inspire the confidence that they’d fully protect you in a nasty off.

On top of this, for the first several weeks, the leather’s black dye would bleed off onto my hands after even a short ride.

You’d think with the review so far that these would be the ones we’d toss aside in order to find something better, but they’re not.

The fact of the matter is that they fit me perfectly and proved to be extremely cool and comfortable. Most importantly, if I didn’t have them, there would be hot days where I simply would have ditched my Mad Max Klim gloves and rode bare-handed, as the Klim Element gloves (review to follow) were simply too hot.

The real problem with Scott gloves is that they seem overpriced for what they are. At $75 – $80 they are priced to almost compete with something like the Held Desert gloves, which in my opinion are a more protective and well-designed glove. That said, if you can find a deal on the SPVs, you’ll likely be quite happy with them after they stop making you look like you polished your black boots with your hands…

Klim Element Gloves (Long)

Okay, let’s get the biggest hurdle out of the way right up front – sticker shock! Once you’re done with taxes here in Canada, you’ll be looking at $300 for this pair of gloves. Yikes!

As the old adage goes though, you get what you pay for and these gloves feel like they could be an heirloom product. In fact, Klim guarantees their waterproof-ability for life. If they leak, send them back and you’ll get another pair. This guarantee also extends to workmanship issues as well.

By the way, the gloves have proven to be waterproof in the year and change that I have had them.

The feeling of protection these gloves offer is quite impressive. If you click through the to the Klim page you will see a list of safety features that will make your head spin. I won’t list them again here, but suffice to say, I’d be happy to go sliding down the pavement wearing these gloves. Wait, that doesn’t sound right…

As for durability so far, the only thing that has happened to the Elements under my tenure is that the silicon strips that are applied to give the glove a bit more grip on the palms are starting to wear off, although I haven’t experienced any lack of grip as a result.

This all seems rather glowing so far so I guess I’ll throw in a negative point or two. With the heavy-duty Pittards leather, Aramid Abrasion layers, Titanium knuckles, Gore-Tex layer and a fabric lining, well you can guess that these gloves are not well suited for the hot days of summer, thus the Scott SPV gloves above.

Additionally, the gloves are quite thick and took a while to break in to the point of being totally comfortable, which they are now.

Finally, when the gloves do get wet, although your hands stay dry, there is a bit clamminess in the gloves and the liners tend to stick to your fingers and feel like they may pull out when you’re taking the gloves off, although they have yet to do this.

In future, Klim may want to take a peak at how Rukka manages to bond all the glove layers together in several of their high-end waterproof offerings.

The above is truly nit picking though, as the Klim Elements are the most kick-ass pair of gloves that I have ever had the pleasure of wearing. I highly recommend them if your pockets are deep enough.

Definitely a keeper!

Scott Rubis Women’s Glove

If you’re keeping up, you’ll realize these are the gloves we ditched for the 2014 riding season. Their replacements will be announced shortly.

If you’re female and looking for a decent pair of motorcycle gloves that fit, it can be a challenge, especially if you are Fatima. You see, she has hands that are literally as long as mine, although about half the width. Maybe that’s unusual, as even these XXL women’s Rubis gloves did not fit her well.

Sure they covered her hands but the finger webbing was off for her, enough that she could not stretch thumb back fully.

On the plus side, with their Tri Phase membrane, the gloves did prove to be waterproof. As with the Klim Element gloves though, this made them too warm in the hotter months.

I was hoping they would work as three-season gloves, as the liner included something called Coolmax. Obviously, that seems to be a bit of a misnomer in the end.

As delivered, the Rubis gloves worked well to keep Fatima’s hands comfortable, temperature-wise, during the cooler parts of the season.

As for styling, you won’t mistake these for being a guy’s glove, with their flowing patches of leather and swirling-line printed pattern. That’s all well and good for the gals, but form definitely usurped function in their design. Key areas where you would expect the gloves to be at least leather, if not reinforced leather, they are simply polyester. The outer edge of the hand, from the pinky downwards, for example.

I suppose if you are looking for a pair gloves that you can use on a motorcycle, but don’t necessarily look like motorcycle gloves, these could be a decent candidate, if you don’t have long, thin fingers like Fatima.

To wrap things up though, we experienced form over function, not a good fit for Fatima, and too warm in the summer, despite the “Coolmax” liner.

Say goodbye.

Enjoy the ride.

Mr. Seck and Fatima