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Cool Motorcycle Pictures & Stuff Other motorcycle related stuff and some pictures.

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  #1  
Unread 05-15-2009, 03:01 PM
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Default Glove Shopping & Reviews

To kick off my thread about gloves I would like to share what I think is the most important thing when it comes to riding gear: safety 1st, quality in comparison to price point, then comfort.
  1. Safety 1st - Well every year motorcycle gear gets better and better. I want something that will allow me to walk away from a crash without a scratch. THAT is the goal. Now here is where quality and price point come in.
  2. Quality / Price - There is a big middle ground of GREAT gear that can be had for a good bargain... this is typically the gear that is a year old BUT is top of the line. I do not care if its the best looking gear. I bargain shop like mad, my parent taught me that. You can get the BEST gear for nearly half off which puts it in the "I can afford the best" category.
  3. Comfort - Some people would put this higher in the list but here is why I don't so much... It's not that big of a deal to find some gear that is comfortable. You can pretty much take any piece of gear, find your size and if it fits, GREAT. If it doesn't, get the correct size or just use it for a while and it will break in and be comfortable. Most every single piece of motorcycle gear needs to break in to be good and comfortable.
Now you have a pretty good understanding about what I look for and I think it represents a vast majority of other seasoned riders. We all buy gear strictly because we need helmets and we want to live when or if we take a spill on the bike, right? Then we all want a killer deal on an awesome jacket or a really technically advanced helmet that is super lightweight. And last the thing better be comfortable or you won't use it.
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Unread 05-15-2009, 03:16 PM
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So let's get down to the business of gloves. Leather and textile gloves were a normal affair to me that was all about utility when I was a young lad riding dirt bikes. THEN Axo blew the roof off the house with their rubber knuckled protection that also covered the fingers. All the other upcoming brands like MSR, Answer and JT Racing followed suit and started using plastic all over the gloves because it was the new wonder material. Fast forward and now what started with some catchy designs on the dirt bike gloves has taken over and now we have EVERYTHING we could want in any color made by TONS of brand name companies. You have full metal studded gloves that look like they are from medievil times and you have super soft form fitting kangaroo gloves that have gel in the palms for isolation from vibrations. Anything you want!

And thank goodness for the world economy as we now have all these brands and fancy gloves available to us at a normal price. Until I came around to my late 20's I had always used some extra dirtbike gloves or some cheap rain gloves in cold conditions. I didn't have any extra money and gloves were expensive because they weren't exactly mass produced and affordable for the quality that you received. When I started riding street fill time at 17yrs old gloves were $100-$150 for decent ones and money was worth a LOT more as minimum wage was like $6.75 to put things in perspective. $100 is NOT $100 anymore! And gloves back then weren't even close to as nice as they are now.

Now the gloves for sale are just awesome. They come in many colors, materials, sizes, shapes, thicknesses, vented or non, with wipers on the index, metal studs on palms, elastic, buttoned, velcro and etc etc. Why not have one for every occasion?

My first jump into the wonderful world of a glove for every day of the week was going shopping at http://www.motorcycle-superstore.com. I've been a happy customer of theirs from the days before their online shopping cart was built and they have never let me down once. They ship your order with a return packing slip just incase you want to return it for another size and they also often include a flyer for their customer specials and now they even hand out their own magazine publication. But lets not forget why I chose to order 3 sets of gloves from them for my first online purchase... the low prices.

Two of the pairs of gloves I still use:
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Unread 03-07-2013, 02:56 PM
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To continue with my "glove thread" I thought I would post my latest pair of gloves that I have high hopes for. I have been a pretty big fan of Icon riding gear for a long while now. I'm not sold on their bright and loud designs but their gear sure is super strong. I've put some jackets and gloves to the test on the street surface and I can say that the Icon gear is tough and designed for safety. I also like the rough feel of strong textile gear and heavy gloves. You know that soft and flexible gear isn't gonna be all that effective in a crash.

The chrome knuckle Icon gloves that I have pictured above is one of the toughest gloves I've ever owned. The stitching is super strong and when I burned through some of the threads I simply stitched new thread in them to bring the leather seams back together. The leather wasn't damaged from the road abrasion, just the thread but it was a REALLY good crash so that's expected. The only thing that would have helped the gloves survive the road slide even better is a couple tabs of abrasive material sewn in the palms. Enter the new Overlord gloves. These have the exact features I have in mind when it comes to the ultimate short glove.



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Unread 03-07-2013, 03:21 PM
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How did I even get on the new glove train again? I get emails from Motostrano that notify me when there are special deals going on or overstock that they are selling off. They even have a Motostrano Blog if you want to check up on anything new going on in their product catalog or at their very own outlet store. The Motostrano "snapshot" blog layout of the same blog lets you check out the blog entries by the pictures posted.

It's always fun to see if they have anything on sale since they have eyeglasses, clothes, riding gear, hardware, motorcycle wheels and other random stuff for sale. In this case they had a pair of Icon Overlord short gloves for almost half price in my size. Can't pass those up now can we? The Icon Overlords usually run a size large from what I have read around the net so size Large it is. I'll have to review these babies when they arrive. I wasn't completely sold on them because of the split knuckle styling. Watching video reviews educated me on a few things one of which was the flexibility of the glove knuckles due to the split design of the knuckle protector. On top of the fact that they are made from a Kangaroo skin palm they also have abrasion resistant synthetic material layered where you need it the most. It's obvious from the pictures too. The cuff is a layered design which allows for ventilation and movement and the fingers have mesh between them. They should surely flow some air which is uncommon for a glove with that much protection.

Why am I looking forward to this glove? Because I'm riding dual sport bikes more and more often now. The speeds are far lower on the dual sports and as soon as you go offroad in my area you are rolling under 25mph on average. My other Alpinestar short gloves heat up real quick when you slow down to that kind of speed. So the Icon gloves should be quit a different experience. We'll find out soon.
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Unread 03-07-2013, 04:25 PM
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Safety? Quality?? Comfort?

I mainly use my Triumph riding gloves, but I really didn't have any special criteria in mind when I bought them. I purchased a new Triumph riding jacket last year, and bought the gloves to match.

They are comfortable, and have lots of grippy stuff on the palm side. I didn't realize until I took the picture with my phone that the gloves also have reflecty stripes on them. Cool.

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Unread 03-09-2013, 04:48 AM
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Those are definitely a higher end summer type glove. Triumph material right there. Knuckle protector with synthetic grippy palm stuff and the leather material covering the cuff where you slide them on and off all the time. That's well thought out. I wish they would use that reflective material more on riding gear but I think I know why they don't. It's really expensive. I think 3m is the only place to get it. It's amazing how well some gloves are built these days.
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Unread 03-09-2013, 05:54 AM
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That reflective material is on my tank bag and motorcycle back pack, too. Amazing how reflective it is. I never know it's there until the first time I take a picture of it, then it's like a light show.
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Unread 03-09-2013, 07:45 AM
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Same with an older jacket I have. The material is black but it's reflective. More the better!

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Unread 06-18-2013, 01:51 AM
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Ryan, I am getting dozens of reported post notifications in my email about this thread, can you sort it?

Sam.
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Unread 06-18-2013, 07:05 PM
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Weird. I sent you a PM. I'll check it out some more.
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