Gloves now made with more Awesome-ness*!
Although
Komodo's Pro Racer gloves
are not the most inexpensive glove on the market (nor the most
expensive), I think they should be filed in the Awesome category after
trying them.
I am constantly amazed at how far the
whole gear market has progressed since I have started riding a
motorcycle. Not that many years ago, you wore a pair of plain leather
gloves, with sometimes minimal padding on the back and hoped that they
were at least black, to look a little cool. If not, you wore the same
heavy leather gloves that are very similar to what you would see now in
the garden department. These are not those gloves. Fast forward to 2012
and this is what a company can build to protect your hands when riding a
motorcycle.
Komodo was started in 2004 and is still owned by those same two guys in Texas. They
only sell direct from their warehouse and stand behind everything they
make. They even discounted all of their pricing when the economy took a
turn, because they knew that everybody else was struggling, racers
included. As well known as they are around the racetrack, they are now ready to take on the street market.
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Pro Racer model in white |
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These
latest gloves from Komodo are their top of the line, track oriented
glove. They are made with hides from a few different sources and
designed to work both riding the motorcycle and in the case of a fall.
No glove can prevent injury in every case, but these sure make a good
effort.
The main body of the glove is built out of kangaroo hide.
This allows it to be just as strong or stronger in abrasion resistance
as cowhide, but using a thinner material to give you more feel at the
bars. They go on to cover the scaphoids with padded sting ray hide,
which truly laughs at things like a 100 mph slide on pavement, with
Kevlar on both the palm and sleeves and carbon fiber on other impact
areas. This model uses a full gauntlet with a Velcro closure underneath
and another protected strap around the wrist to make sure the glove
stays on your hand. All of this is stitched up with Kevlar thread.