Gloves to replace Helimot Leather Racers?

[bpw]

I like my RS-Taichi, way more protection than the Helimots I briefly had.

 

[dtrides]

What do you use now?

I plan to buy some Held but I purchased some RST in the short term ( had to get ready for the race season on a tight budget)...then the covid set in and shut things down.
DT

 

[FoolishMortal]

I plan to buy some Held but I purchased some RST in the short term ( had to get ready for the race season on a tight budget)...then the covid set in and shut things down.
DT

I have tried two sets of Held gloves. Unfortunately, I didn’t care for either set; one felt like silly gimmickry and the other felt like a set of Mechanix gardening gloves.

I’m hoping for better with one of the other four pairs I ordered.

 

[FoolishMortal]

My list, now with notes:

• Held Steve - Far too light in terms of leather, padding and armor. Not sure what would make these worth $170.
• Held Chikara - Gimmicky armor with open venting. I could see getting a bee stuck in one (or more). Did not inspire confidence.
• Lee Parks Sumo R - not ordered
• Alpinestars GP Plus R V2 - not ordered
• Spidi Carbo 7 - Removed in favor of the Carbo 1, which have not yet been received
• Racer High Racer - not received yet
• Rev'It Stellar - not received yet
• RS Taichi GP-WRX NXT052 - Received in Large, which has fingers that are too short. Nice gloves, though, so if the others don't work, I may try the XL.

 

[FoolishMortal]

I got my shipments of gloves and a winner has emerged from the pack. I will write up my notes soon.

 

[FoolishMortal]

The final (for now) verdict:

• Held Steve - Far too light in terms of leather, padding and armor. Not sure what would make these worth $170.
• Held Chikara - Gimmicky armor with open venting. I could see getting a bee stuck in one (or more) of the knuckle vents. Did not inspire confidence.
• Lee Parks Sumo R - not ordered
• Alpinestars GP Plus R V2 - not ordered
• Spidi Carbo 7 - Removed in favor of the Carbo 1. These win! They have the best fit for my long/thin fingers with ample padding and protection on the palm. The knuckle armor floats, which seems to be a key factor. Armor on the fingers is foam, which is fine, and there's some protection for the thumb ball joint. They even flow a little air, which is nice when you're riding in 90+ temps. I would like for the gauntlet to be a little longer and for the pinkie/ring fingers to be joined, but I'll get over these niggles.
• Racer High Racer - Really nice gloves with the best armor of the bunch (but read further). The middle fingers are too short for me. It may be that I could get another pair in the same size (Large) and, due to tolerances, find that the fingers all work for me, but I needed to make a decision so I could ride to Reno and back over the weekend. Oh, and I really didn't like that there is exposed thread along the pinkie side of the glove - all that armor and exposed stitching, really? Maybe there's another layer under that, but I can understand the reviews that said the side of the glove blew out and exposed the side of the hand.
• Rev'It Stellar - Really nice gloves. The fit is snug, the fingers are long enough and they look the business. Unfortunately, the knuckle armor is not on a "floating" panel, and so I felt a fair bit of pressure across the knuckles when my hands were around the grips. Maybe that would have loosened up as the gloves broke in...but we'll never know.
• RS Taichi GP-WRX NXT052 - Received in Large, which has fingers that are too short. It's too bad, because these are obviously well made and would have given great protection.

 

[mark665]

I had a set of Helemont gloves I was really happy with and replaced them with Racer gloves. The Racer gloves have knox palm protection/slider. I like their solution a lot as it offers impact protection, and a slider so your hand doesn't catch.

 

[Gary856]

These are my current gloves, my third pair of Helimot Buffalo Pro. I used to have Helimot repair worn out fingers (they always wore thru like these), but since he's no longer here I had to do it myself this time. It would be cool if these could go another 6 months; maybe a year, even. I have a new pair waiting in the closet but these still work fine.

 

[pockomoth]

I've always liked Racer gloves. The High Racer is my go to glove.

Plus one. They won’t custom fit them (at least they wouldn’t for me) but they really remind me of Helimots. They are probably safer, as they have palm sliders and carbon knuckles, but they don’t really fit me so I still have my Helimots.