Ever been at a Yamaha showroom where you want to buy a motorcycle and you are confused between the FZ and R15, wherein both have different abilities and uses, FZ is a total street fighter so I compare that to a regular set of gloves and R15 an amateur track bike to a full gauntlet gloves. You don't want the FZ since it is a naked bike and is hard to ride for long distances since it doesn't have a wind shield and will have too much wind blast and buffeting, at the same time you don't want the R15 because it is too hard for long rides and city traffic, but does a great job in canceling the wind. That is where the Fazer comes into aid, it is a semi faired motorcycle, and solves your purpose from both ends, so I compare that to the semi gauntlet gloves. So this time we are taking the semi gauntlet riding gloves from Biking Brotherhood Gears for review. After using it for a couple of days to state the following observations. It took a fair bit of time and riding for the leather gloves to break in to get its original feel and comfort. Since then, the observations were made and are stated below.
Looks and design:
The set of gloves look pretty good, considering the fact that it partially soles the purpose of full gauntlet gloves too. The glove is fully made up of leather and also gets touch capacitive feature for the thumb and index fingers. The top portion of the gloves get a metal finished knuckle protector over a carbon protection. It gets silicon reinforcements on the palm for more grip and protection.
The cuffs extend and provide a feel that you are wearing a comfortable and easy to use full gauntlet set of gloves. The cuff gets a nice biking brotherhood symbol printed in white color. The strap is made out of good quality rubber material. The slot for the pinky finger is crossed to reduce the impact. The palms also get a Carbolex protector.
All the fingers get bits of protectors to reduce the impact in the major areas. The overall quality of leather is good to provide the rider a fair amount of protection from heavy impacts during a crash. The glove comes only in black color and offers various size options like S,M,L,XL,XXL.Wearability and comfort:
It is very easy to wear these set of gloves, just wear it and strap it on the go. It is not hard to wear as the full gauntlet version, but is very easy and simple. The rider can easily remove it even at frequent stops. I was testing these gloves under the hot sun, yes my fingers did sweat a bit during heavy traffic, but it was cleared off as the vehicles moved. The air flow is pretty good.
The leather provides good grip and as I always emphasize it would be nice if the silicon bits are provided for the index and middle fingers to help the rider get more grip on the brake and clutch levers. There is very negligible smell that generally comes from leather.
The only drawback I felt was that the stitch linings were too visible at some portions, if that was improved it is a phenomenal pair of gloves. I also hope they launch more colors, since colorful is the new attraction in the modern era. For a price tag of Rupees 3000, it is a good deal, considering the fact that you are not going to ride on the track. But if you are ready to shell out 1000 more rupees and some time to strap the gloves every time you wear it, I would highly recommend the full gauntlet gloves.
Review By: Rishath Suresh