Firstgear Glove Review

On Sunday night, I picked up a pair of Firstgear Mesh-Tex 2.0 gloves from a friend. I've been looking for a pair of shorty gloves to replace my Harley-Davidson leather pair. The HD gloves are nice, high quality leather with a very good liner, but they aren't well suited to a sportbike due to the thick padding on the palm that makes it annoying to have any weight on your hands for any length of time. Another reason I've been looking for a new pair of gloves is the Harley ones have no armor or padding on the outside of the hand, leaving only a thin layer of leather to protect my knuckles in a fall.

The Firstgear gloves have not only a carbon fiber knuckle guard but they also have double layered leather on the palms over areas most likely to suffer abrasion from sudden contact with concrete. The leather used over the fingers and palm is thick but very soft to the touch. It's more like suede than the drum dyed leather of my Joe Rocket gauntlets. The back of the glove is a mesh material, but, between the liner of the glove and the knuckle guard, it doesn't do much in the way of letting air across the back of your hand. Fortunately, the vents on the fingers are quite effective at forcing air through the glove.

Today was my first chance to wear them on the bike. I was impressed with how well I could feel the controls in spite of the thickness of the palms. As I said earlier, I was happy to have the finger vents to cool my hands some on the ride home. It hit 100 degrees on the roads. The thick gloves could use better ventilation, but it's all a trade off for the added protection of the carbon fiber. Speaking of the armor brings me to my only complaints so far. One, the armor sits a little too far back on one of my knuckles putting a little bit of pressure on the finger, but not enough to be obnoxious. Two, I wish the seams were stitched differently. I've been spoiled by the gauntlets that have all the seams on the outside of the fingers. The Firstgear gloves have normal ones which leave a ridge of leather along the inside of your grip, rubbing uncomfortably.

All in all, though, my initial take on them is quite favorable.


On a different note, one more reason to wear full gear. This morning, as I rode in, the car in front of me hit a cardboard box in the roadway. The box got kicked up by the rear tire and smacked right into my arm at the front end of the elbow armor and then into my knee. As it wasn't all that heavy it didn't have much of an effect on me and I really didn't even feel it hit. However, I have a feeling that without my jacket on I could have had a little bit of trouble with it.