MotoReveries

A motorcycle gear guide

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What to know when buying a pair of motorcycle gloves

📦 Affiliate Disclosure:
Some of the links in this motorcycle glove buyer’s guide article are affiliate links — if you click and buy, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. It helps support the channel and future content 🙌

Motorcycle gloves are a fundamental staple of a good rider safety system. Hand protection is critical. And, while I’ve heard the excuse that gloves take away the throttle feel, I respond with if you wear the right gloves, you should be able to feel the throttle just fine. Moreover, motorcycle gloves should enhance your grip on the throttle. There is absolutely no reason why you shouldn’t wear protection on your hands while riding a motorcycle. This motorcycle glove buyer’s guide will teach you which type of gloves to buy based on what type of riding you plan to do.

Protection for your hands is super-important. But most times, we don’t realize how important something is until we lose it. Now think of your hands. Losing one of them, breaking their bones or just merely losing some functionality of them can really set you back or even change your life permanently. Outside of sleeping, there isn’t an hour of our life where we don’t use our hands.

Now consider the vulnerability that we as riders face in every part of our hands. Consider the power of our motorcycles and the speeds at which our bodies move riding one. It doesn’t take much time for an accident to happen and it doesn’t take much force or pressure to make our hand bones bend in ways they shouldn’t.

On the other hand, no pun intended, motorcycle gloves shouldn’t interfere with your riding experience or deter your ability to operate the motorcycle. That is why you have to know which gloves to choose. Finding the best motorcycle gloves for you all comes down to the type of motorcycle you are riding and the type of riding you are doing. We’ll get into all of the details in the motorcycle glove buyer’s guide.

What To Look For When Buying Motorcycle Gloves

When it comes to motorcycle gloves, you mainly want protection, functionality, and comfort.

• Adequate protection will protect your knuckles, side hand bones, and palm bones from bruises and breaks.
• While glove material will protect your skin from road rash burns.
• Function-wise, look for features that allow you to navigate touchscreens and your phone, toggle switches and press buttons on your motorcycle.
• Weather-wise, look for features like waterproof materials for rain or heating to keep your hands warm in the winter. There are also motorcycle gloves designed specifically for keeping your hands cool in the summer.

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The Different Type Of Motorcycle Glove Materials

There are mainly three types of materials that motorcycle gloves utilize. This motorcycle glove buyer’s guide will cover all three. These three materials are textile, leather, and a combination of textile and leather that are used together.

Textile Motorcycle Gloves

This kind of motorcycle glove material focuses on providing the hands with more technical features for elemental conditions rather than focusing on falls and impact. You’ll find the most waterproof gloves are made from textile materials. There are also options for thermal heating gloves while riding in cold temperatures as well.

Pros

• Enhanced cooling and ventilation features for riding in hot weather
• Abundance of waterproof features
• Thermal features for riding in cold weather
• Ideal for more seasons than leather gloves

Cons

• Not as durable as leather
• Not as protective as leather
• Fit not as comfortable as leather

Leather Motorcycle Gloves

The classic yet timeless leather motorcycle glove is used by both race track enthusiasts for protection and cafe racer connoisseurs for style. Nothing matches the complimenting fit of a full-on leather motorcycle glove that only gets better with age.

Pros

• Durable
• The most protective material out of the three glove categories
• Keeps hands warm in the winter
• More comfortable fit than textile

Cons

• More expensive than other motorcycle materials
• Tends to lock in heat in hot weather
• Lack of waterproof options

Textile And Leather Combo Motorcycle Gloves

The best-of-both-worlds option for motorcycle glove material. The textile and leather glove strives to offer the benefits and features of both leather and textile without any of the two materials’ drawbacks.

Pros

• Good quality protection for both impact and slides
• Plentiful weather features available: heating, cooling, and waterproofing
• Versatile and handy in a variety of riding conditions

Cons

• Not as durable as the other options due to the increased seams needed to combine multiple materials.
• Does not provide as much protection as leather gloves due to the amount of seams and the fact that they are not full leather material.
• Issues with fits and stretch deformations due to seams and material combo

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The Different Types Of Motorcycle Gloves You Can Buy

Just as important as the material of a motorcycle glove, is its function and purpose. Some gloves are designed with gauntlets to offer protection for your wrists. Other motorcycle gloves focus on a lightweight feel and enhancing grip. It all depends on the type of motorcycle you are riding and the terrain you are riding on. This motorcycle glove buyer’s guide will demonstrate the key riding functionalities of gloves.

Street Motorcycle Gloves

Riding on the street requires protection from road impact and the abrasive effects of sliding on the road. This requires street gloves to utilize the durable strength of leather combined with padding and hard shell knuckle protection. D30 foam is a popular protective padding used in a lot of motorcycle glove brands. Street gloves also have to be compatible with touchscreen interfaces and shouldn’t feel bulky or limiting for finger functionality when it comes to everyday errands.

Pros:

• Highly functional for everyday tasks.
• Touch screen compatible.

Cons:

• Lack of wrist protection.
• Protection is not ideal for highway speeds or the race track.
• Not ideal for rain or cold weather.

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Motorcycle Racing Gloves

For motorcycle racing, you want gloves that provide an abundance of grip for pulling on the throttle at high speeds due to the wind force trying to push you off the bike. You also want full leather and as much protection as you can possibly get for hitting the pavement and sliding at high speeds. Racing gloves provide gauntlets for wrist protection and ample padding for knuckle and hand impact.

Pros:

• These are the most protective kind of motorcycle gloves that you can get.

Cons:

• Not so great off the race track.
• Doesn’t offer much functionality for touch interfaces or for using navigation buttons and dials.
• Most often, full leather gloves are not waterproof.
• Not ideal for summer or casual street riding

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Adventure Motorcycle Gloves

Adventure (ADV) gloves are great for riding on long tours through the different elements. These motorcycle gloves go hand in hand with ADV bikes. They offer a set of features that focus on temperature regulation, waterproofing, and finger functionality. The material is usually a combination of leather, textile, protection padding, and a list of many more useful features for the explorer motorcycle rider.

Pros

• Waterproof
• Cooling and ventilation technology

Cons

• Won’t offer as much protection on the street or highway as full-on leather gloves.
• All the seams required to put together the various materials and features come at the cost of durability.

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Touring Motorcycle Gloves

This type of motorcycle glove is similar to adventure (ADV) gloves but offers even more protection with full gauntlets for your wrists and thermal insulation for riding in cold weather. Utilizing both leather and textile material, these gloves also offer a bundle of useful features for navigating long travels in all kinds of outdoor conditions.

For a look at a pair of excellent winter gloves and thermal heating technology, check out my review on the ORORO Heated Gloves.

Pros

• Lots of features.
• Weather functionality for rain, cold, and hot temperatures, and screen functionality.

Cons

• Expensive.

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Dirt Bike Gloves

Made for off-road riding on dirt bikes, these kind of gloves are meant to go off the beaten path. They won’t provide you with much impact protection or abrasion resistance for that matter. Best to keep these gloves on the dirt and off the road; where they belong.

Pros:

• Provides the most amount of finger-feel out of all the motorcycle gloves.

Cons:

• Provides the least protection out of all motorcycle gloves.
• Lack of durability.

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Buy The Right Motorcycle Gloves For Your Ride

Whatever your riding intentions and conditions may be, you’ll be sure to make the best of it and it enjoy the experience to the fullest just by simply buying the right gloves for the job. Adequate hand protection won’t get in the way of your riding style if you pick the right gloves to serve it. The right pair of motorcycle gloves will enhance your riding style and make your riding journey a lot more comfortable and convenient. Just remember to keep all of the riding considerations discussed in mind when picking out your gloves. It’s all about the type of riding you’ll be doing, the terrain you’ll be riding on, and the weather you’ll be riding in.

Notable & Reliable Motorcycle Glove Brands To Buy

• Alpinestars
• Dainese
• REV’IT
• Klim
• Icon
• Helstons
• Fox Racing

If you enjoyed this motorcycle glove buyer’s guide, check out another article on motorcycle jackets. Also don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube and add me on Instagram. And as always, ride safe out there.

Signing off,

Moto Reveries

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Winter Motorcycle Gloves Demo: ORORO Heated Gloves