I saddled up my 2009 Yamaha FJR1300A and headed down to Georgia last Thursday. I needed to take a break and was anxious to meet up with some of my favorite people. I was also ready to put Apollo up to his first mid-distance road trip.

I have a rule: never install anything new or change anything a week before a motorcycle trip. I followed that rule (mostly), but did do a few upgrades before I left. The most suspicious was adding a set of auxiliary lights low on the forks. I did this well before my trip, but had finally gotten them positioned where I wanted them and secured with blue Loctite. Would the mounts hold up to over 1000 miles of highway travel? Would my ass hold up to over 1000 miles of highway travel?
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Here’s the problem. You stay pretty motionless while riding a motorcycle. This makes it hard for the body to generate heat to keep warm. This is a major problem while riding at high speeds in cold temperatures. I got frostbite my first year of riding on my toes because I wasn’t adequately protected from the elements.

It’s been a major struggle of mine to keep my hands warm in anything below 40°F at highway speeds. Heated grips and handguards help, but you really need special purpose gloves to keep your hands warm. The problem with buying winter gloves is that they tend to be very bulky. The insulation material makes the gloves look more like a ski mitt than a motorcycle glove, and the fine manipulation required to work the throttle can become lost. I own a pair of Tour Master winter gloves, and it feels like I am not touching the controls at all.

Rev’It makes several winter gloves. Thanks to Dennis over at Beach Moto, I selected the Fahrenheit H2O waterproof winter motorcycle glove. He helped me with the sizing, suggesting an XL that fit perfectly.

Would Rev’It’s high technology help me overcome my cold hand blues?
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I bought my first pair of Held Ninja gloves a little over three years ago. They had a manufacturing flaw where the stitching around the fingers began to give way. I returned them to the Held distributor, who sent me a new pair that was sewn together by Igor. Less than a year later, the right glove began to deteriorate near the wrist. A small hole developed, which eventually grew into a larger hole. If the gloves fell apart under normal wear and tear, what would happen in a crash? I started looking for another glove.

I researched a few other full gauntlet gloves with the help of Web Bike World, ADVrider.com, and the FZ6 forum over on sportbikes.net. I was chugging the Motoport Kool-Aid and bought a pair of the kevlar motorcycle gloves. I tried two pair but the fit was off (omen), and I returned them.

I purchased a pair of Teknic Speedstar full gauntlet leather gloves from NewEnough and have worn them for about 1500 miles. Priced at $99 on closeout, the Speedstars won out against the Alpinestar SP-1, Cortech Adrenaline, and Shift Carbine gloves. I considered some of the Rev’It gloves, but the lack of full wrist protection steered me away.
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I think gloves are probably the third piece of protective gear typically purchased by a motorcyclist. First the helmet, then the jacket, then gloves. Boots are probably fourth, with most bikers never getting specialized pants. I wear all of these things (and sometimes more) every time I ride. I use a keyboard and mouse to make a living, so I am even more paranoid about my hands than most.

Leather is typically the best protective material for abrasion depending on the quality, thickness, and type of leather (cow vs kangaroo vs goat, etc). Leather forms to your body’s peculiarities over time, which made my otherwise questionably-made Held Ninja gloves a fantastic glove to wear.

Unfortunately, leather’s protective qualities fade over time due to exposure to the elements. I am not sure how violent the quality degradation is, Cycleport founder Wayne seems to think it can be up to 20%, especially if the leather has been exposed to rain.

I purchased a pair of Cycleport (also known as Motoport) kevlar full gauntlet kevlar racing gloves. The gloves were $129 before shipping, which pits it against the upper tier of racing gloves from other manufacturers. Here’s my review.
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It was in the low 80s today, which of course meant that I hopped out on my bike for a little cruise. I hit the streets at about 4PM and as an experiment decided to wear my full-leather pants instead of my perforated ones of the same model. I wanted to see, without going too far, how hot was “too hot.”

Meatspace friends of DrFaulken will know that I am always hotter than everyone else in the room. Not in a Vin Diesel kind of way, but in a “omg it’s too fucking hot in here” kind of way. My buddies also know I become intolerably cranky if I get too hot. My gear test today wasn’t just about academic interest, it may mean the difference between life and death if someone pisses me off on the road. I wore some calf-high cotton socks, cotton boxer briefs, and a nylon compression short-sleeve shirt under my leathers. I did not wear my reflective vest today.

Because a ton of shit in Richmond closes early on Sundays (or isn’t open at all, like the coffee shop near us), I had a nice chance to test my gear out at low speeds. I spent probably 45 minutes at speeds of 40MPH or less. I specifically choose the busiest street in our area so I would get stuck at as many lights as possible. Sitting at lights gave me lots of chances to wave at all the other cyclists out today and to take note about what other riders were wearing.

For the most part, these jackasses are going to raise my insurance rates if they crash. There were plenty of “squids” with shorts, sneakers, a leather jacket, and helmets on, but I also saw one whackjob with a helmet and a leather jacket — completely unzipped. What the hell is an unzipped jacket going to do for ya in a crash, buddy? Hopefully wrap around your head like a garbage bag and suffocate you so you won’t pass on your Idiot Gene™ to any future riders. There were tons of Harley-type cruisers out there, too cool to wear anything but a wifebeater, denim jacket/vest, and jeans. One guy was wearing nothing but an open-faced half-helmet. Enjoy eating those bugs, tough guy!

I only saw one rider with full leather gear on other than myself, and he one-upped me by wearing a full piece suit. He was also riding a big ass liter bike and appreciated the consequences of crashing at highway speeds.

I tooled around for about 90 minutes than came back home. I didn’t feel particularly overheated during any part of my time out, except for behind my knees, the top of my head, and my hands. My full leather Held Ninja gloves were HOT. I can’t imagine what it will be like this summer with temperatures in the 90s and hot-ass-sun blaring down on me. I may have to look into some textile gloves for extremely hot days. I got home and pulled my suit off. I sweat a bit through my generic Cool-Max shirt, and as I had thought initially my legs were fairly sweaty. While my pants and jacket are lined, I am concerned about stanking up my suit once the temperatures really escalate. I am in the process of researching suit liners. It might make me a little warmer, but if it’s something that is machine washable then I’d rather be a little bit more uncomfy than have to worry about de-stinky-fying a leather suit.

I started a thread on my FZ6 forum to see if any of the more experienced riders have suggestions on what they do about the warmer months. I know at least two of my readers are/were motorcyclists, so I’ll update this post with any information I might find.

Like other aspects of motorcycle protective gear, there are roughly 10 hojillion different kinds of gloves out there. There are lots of combinations, but the basic attributes are variations on the following themes:

• Color
• Material — often tied to the different riding seasons; mesh, textile, leather, or a combination of these
• Heavily padded/armored or not
• Cuff/gauntlet length
• Insulated or not
• Water resistant, waterproof, or neither
• Heavily padded palms and fingertips or not
• Style — mostly broken up into cruiser, sport, and dirt
• Price

My requirements for a daily use glove were: heavily armored, leather gauntlet glove with a padded palm, good ventilation, no insulation, and would match my bike. For under $100. Oh yeah, it had to fit. Like a glove.

Believe it or not, despite the tons of gloves out there, it was hard to find a glove that fit all of my requirements.

Let’s take a quick sample of what’s out there, above and below the $100 target price point.

Most sport gloves do not have a full cuff, let alone gauntlet length. With a full cuff, if your sleeves retract from your gloves during a ride, your wrist is exposed. If you don’t have any cuff at all, then you’re even more exposed.

For example, here’s a very popular glove, the Alpinestar Air Carbon. Note the reinforced knuckles and the decent venting, both requirements of mine:

However, the Air Carbon lacks a cuff, and would leave your wrist exposed in the event of a dump if your jacket sleeves rode up.

Here’s the Joe Rocket Highside.

At $50 it’s a pretty good glove — full gauntlet, all leather. But it’s lacking a lot of the key features I needed. There’s no venting on these gloves. These gloves are padded, but not armored. Comfort and protection were my top two requirements, followed by price. I passed on the Highsides.

The Teknic Lightning Pro looked like a great glove for $80:

It’s an incremental step up from the Highsides — armored knuckles, full gauntlet, all leather, good padding on the palms. But no venting!

I rejected the MotoGP RPM gloves ($80) for the same reason.

Next, please!

The Teknic Violator Pro gloves are highly recommended by various motorcycle gear review sites. I almost went out of my budget by a mere $25 to get these gloves, widely regarded as very comfortable. But given my gripe about the last three gloves, can you pick out why I discarded these as an option?

That’s right, no vents.

Was I stuck with a mesh and leather glove that didn’t offer full protection? Would I have to give up my gauntlet requirement to get a full leather glove with venting?

I read a review of the Ninja glove online. The Ninja is made by a company named Held, and they weren’t sold through my usual suspects of Web gear sites or local shops. I found them at New Enough, whom I also bought my perforated leather motorcycle jacket from. But that’s another review. I placed my order.

So, how do they feel?

After almost 300 miles of wearing my gloves, I have to say I am extremely pleased. I haven’t fully tested the ventilation during the hottest weather, but it was in the 80s with high humidity the day our windows were installed and they did just fine. I have worn them for over two straight hours without any discomfort or sweat buildup. Granted, these were overcast days, but I was sweating elsewhere nonetheless.

Thanks to the numeric sizing scheme (typical for expensive fashion gloves, not so typical for protective gear) they fit me very nicely. Just a little hard to tug off of my fingertips, which I appreciate. I wear a 9, my friend Bond probably needs a 9.5 or a 10. We both wear a size “L” in the less-exact letter sizes, so you can imagine the importance of these more finely-tuned sizes.

Luckily for me, I haven’t taken a fall in these guys yet. Unluckily for the review, I can’t post any crash data to see how all the uber protection technology performs.

I definitely believe I’ll wear these gloves for three seasons at least: spring, summer, and fall. Who knows if they’ll make it into winter use, but I did buy some less expensive and less feature-filled winter gloves (more on those later).

Fist of Legend:

• Venting: Check. The first thing you’ll notice is that there’s not a ton more venting on these than the other models. But especially compared to the Violator Pro, the finger vents on the Ninja allow for a lot more airflow. Their positioning is ingenious — when you’re riding the bike the air zooms right into the vents.
• All leather: Check. The Ninja is made out of Pittard’s WR 100X special sheep leather, which is specially selected and treated to withstand rain and sweat. Normal leather gloves will shrink and contort when wet, and will not retain its original shape when dried. The sheep leather is also 27% more abrasion resistant than cow leather.
• Armored: Check. The Ninja has hard shell knuckle protectors made out of carbon fiber and Aramid Kevlar with padding underneath.
• Heavily padded: Check, with the bonus of a padded gauntlet cuff. Check out the little pads on the tops of the fingertips!
• Two adjustment straps at the wrist and at the gauntlet help to keep the gloves on. The strength of these ties was criticized in the review I linked, but I haven’t had this problem, despite having to cinch the straps all the way down due to my little bitch wrists.
• Price: Check — just barely skated in under the wire at $98.

Weak Grips:

• None, although given the permutations of what someone else is looking for in a glove they may choose one of the other (otherwise fine) gloves I rejected.
• Wish it was a little less expensive, but I did stay within my budget.

Held Ninja Gloves, I throw my hands in the air, wave them like I just don’t care, and give you:

Five out of five STFU mugs!

Things work out if you give life enough time and something to work with.

I found out today why Wachovia (my bank from 1995 on, when they were First Union) hadn’t called me back this week regarding my motorcycle loan.

They denied it.

I had to wrest this information out from another loan officer, the lady I worked with apparently knew yesterday and didn’t contact me. She was in a conference all day today.

I had to scramble for financing less than 24 hours from when I wanted to pick up my bike. The funny thing is, a week ago I paid off, canceled, and shredded my Citibank card, which had more than enough limit to just charge the bike onto. Take that, forward thinking!

To compound the issue, my leather jacket wasn’t going to be here until Friday. I had plans to borrow Bond’s jacket, and while he is a verifiable stud, he’s not the same size I am. I think he wears a 42 or 44 jacket, I needed a 48.

Well, sometimes you just have to roll a hard six.

I called the Yamaha dealership in Charlottesville and told them my lender was dragging their heels. They were, technically. Dragging them to a full stop and giving me the finger. But the dealer didn’t have to know that. “What can y’all do for me?”

Thirty minutes later, the head of the financing department called me back with a 2% better APR than Wachovia and a $99 a month minimum payment — similar to the types of financing you see at Best Buy or department stores for big purchases. The term? 60 months, just like Wachovia. Booya, bitches.

Problem one out of the way. Problem two was solved with a loud rumble outside my window and the FedEx man scampering away from my front porch. My jacket (and bike cover) arrived a day early.

I put it on to celebrate:

Here’s the jacket with my military spec reflective vest on. The jacket itself is all black.

Same setup with the flash on, see the difference with the reflective from the first pic?

Lady Jaye was cracking up at work — I was instant messaging her with my gear on and pajama pants. So I said what the hell and took one with my helmet on:

Bask in my dorketry.

By the way, the jacket is dead sexy. The smell of the leather is awesome, and is totally out of a Mad Max movie.

If I don’t have to use it on my way back tomorrow, I’ll do a write up on it when I return. Well, even if I do turf it I’ll write about it :)

Wish me luck,

Doc