First Gear Mesh Tex 2.0 vs Held Air Stream Gloves

[OrangeSVS]

Ok. I need a summer glove that flows a LOT of air. I've narrowed it down to the First Gear Mesh Tex 2.0 ($45) and the Held Air Stream ($130). I intend to use them whenever it's about 85 or above and I'm riding conservatively, particularly in low speed urban environments. I always have a second pair of gloves with me for when the temps drop or the pace picks up.

Anybody have any personal experience with either of these gloves?

I simply like the Mesh Tex for the cost. But it's features are really great for a mesh glove. I was having a helluva time finding anything close to race gauntlet-like full safety features with perf leather and mesh. The Mesh Tex seems to be a nice combination of the two extremes. The Held, on the other hand, looks like it's even better. However... I have had a pair of Held gloves already and was fairly disappointed with how they held up. It seems my Held Kryptons used a kevlar material in the fourchettes (the sides of the finger box) and that stuff started to go from black to yellow and developed a little fuzz within 3 months. Overall, I'd say I had less than 8K on the gloves (albeit mostly short trips, which are harder on gloves with the constant on/off), and the kevlar sides (assuming it is kevlar) is already wearing through. Yes, they've actually developed a hole on the side that the index finger can poke through and three other fingers have smaller holes near the tips. That's the strength of kevlar? really? I think that if there were real 'roo leather there rather than this worn-through space-age kevlar crap, the Helds would probably last another 20K at least.

Basically, the Held gloves LOOK really well made and the protective bits seem impenetrable, but come on 4 (correction: 5 holes.. I found one in the leather) in 8K miles? I don't feel ripped off by going with the Helds. For the 4 years of so that I used them, I always felt very good about their crash protection and maybe if I'd wrecked once or twice and they held up, I'd be singing a different tune, but I just don't feel I got my money's worth. 8K is a pretty short lifespan for $160 gloves.

I feel they are a safe glove, generally well made, and with the way my hands sweat and with as tight and good-fitting as the glove was, it's not really a surprise that they should give up the ghost earlier than some of my less form-fitting gloves. It's not like it was a floppy-loose cruiser glove that you could just slide out of. And, the Air Stream does seem to have leather fourchettes, so if that's a wear point for me, this glove shouldn't have that same problem. Nevertheless, I'm thinking maybe something that I replace every 2 years is better than a more expensive glove that you ride with until it gives up.

I do like a lot of the safety features on the Held. And the kangaroo palm is...      But still... 3x the price for something that doesn't seem to hold up as well as my other gloves and will only be used for the most conservative riding in hot weather? I mean, if the glove doesn't hold up to normal wear, should I really give all their safety features more credence than the First Gear stuff? By contrast, my normal touring/commuting glove, a pair of insulated Lee Parks Design gloves, have close to 20K on them and the way things are looking, I suspect I'll probably get 60K out of them no problem.

What I'll probably do is replace my Helds with a dedicated hot summer glove, and then get a really good race glove. So if I went with the Mesh Tex, it'd help put another $85 or so to a dedicated race gauntlet. OTOH, the Held is pretty close to both in one. But yet, I've been disappointed by Held once now... and they ain't cheap.

[OrangeSVS]

Actually, comparing the two more closely, I don't like the lack of a wrist strap on the Held Air Streams either...  :-/

And looking at the seams on my Held Kryptons more closely, I found a very minor rip in the leather, just below and running along a seam. Not impressed.

So unless somebody is looking to warn me off of them, or has a wizz-bang suggestion I hadn't considered, I'll probably go with the Mesh Tex for a hot weather glove, suffer a bit using the Lee Parks the rest of the time, and start shopping for a normal race-type gauntlet to compliment the other two.... Probably not by Held, but who knows(?).

[paddy_crow]

The Air Stream is a fantastic glove, if they fit you. I had a pair for awhile, I don't think there is a better breathing glove. Can't comment on durability, though, I sold them because the size I bought was too tight. They only make it in the whole sizes and I measure right on a half size.

[bungie4]

Actually, comparing the two more closely, I don't like the lack of a wrist strap on the Held Air Streams either...  :-/

I picked up the Air Streams about a month ago as I've been really happy with my other Held Gloves (currently, Sprints). Your right about the lack of a wrist strap, I only noticed it didn't have one after I had placed the order.

That being said, I'm impressed with the Air Streams. They flow a LOT of air and are comfortable. I'd give them an 8 out 10, throw on a wrist strap and they'd be a 9 out of 10.

[OrangeSVS]

Well, I decided to go with the Mesh Tex and put the $85 savings directly towards a pair of Cortech Adrenaline gloves. Kangaroo palms, goatskin everywhere else, a bit of airflow, in a dual gauntlet design with wrist strap. Should be a nice "slightly cooler" / "more aggressive riding" glove for $80... $40 off msrp. With the Mesh Tex there in the side case for when it's just too damn hot.

I really want to like Held, but they kinda blew it on the Kryptonite and there's PLENTY of cheaper brands that haven't let me down before.

Speaking of which... I know Joe Rocket is cheap crap, but I have to admit I've always gotten more than I expected out of them. While I generally don't bother looking at their stuff, I never rule them out if I come across something from them that seems to have the features I want...

My primary black leather riding jacket is going on ten years old and still functions perfectly. A lot of "better" gear from "better" names has gone by the wayside in that time, let me tell you!

[cognosticator]

I have the airstream glove and 100% happy with them.  I got them in Mar and have probably 5k miles with them, even in the rain.  they are very comfortable, flow a lot of air and I haven't found any quality problems with them.  I can tighten the gauntlet strap tight enough that I can't get the gloves off without loosening it.

When they got wet and dried they were tighter, but after a few minutes they returned to their original size.  The cost is crazy high and I just wonder how long they will last.

[birdrunner]

I have NEVER had a issue with anything from First Gear.

[MadMax96]

I've been trying to find a substantial glove for summer use.  I looked at the Air Streams but in general it seems (from various reviews on the interwebs)  that Helds just aren't what they used to be as far as quality, so I wasn't about to drop that kinda coin.  I honestly don't have a problem spending that amount, but if the quality has become questionable, I'm not taking the risk.  

The glove that just came out and seems to fit the bill is the Cortech Latigo RR:

http://www.motorcyclegear.com/street/gloves/street_or_racing_gauntlet/cortech_by_tour_master/latigo_rr_gloves.html

Peforated between the fingers and all over, external stitching and reinforced with kevlar in the palms.  Price?  $80!  I honestly think this glove is the current best bang for the buck.

For the same price there are the Joe Rocket Moto Air gloves.  I tried them on at the dealer and they fit pretty well, but they just don't look like they should go for $80. ($89.99 at dealers usually).

So I pulled the trigger on the Latigo gloves and hopefully will have them this coming week.  Hopefully they aren't a POS.

[OrangeSVS]

I've been trying to find a substantial glove for summer use.  I looked at the Air Streams but in general it seems (from various reviews on the interwebs)  that Helds just aren't what they used to be as far as quality, so I wasn't about to drop that kinda coin.  I honestly don't have a problem spending that amount, but if the quality has become questionable, I'm not taking the risk.  

The glove that just came out and seems to fit the bill is the Cortech Latigo RR:

http://www.motorcyclegear.com/street/gloves/street_or_racing_gauntlet/cortech_by_tour_master/latigo_rr_gloves.html

Peforated between the fingers and all over, external stitching and reinforced with kevlar in the palms.  Price?  $80!  I honestly think this glove is the current best bang for the buck.

For the same price there are the Joe Rocket Moto Air gloves.  I tried them on at the dealer and they fit pretty well, but they just don't look like they should go for $80. ($89.99 at dealers usually).

So I pulled the trigger on the Latigo gloves and hopefully will have them this coming week.  Hopefully they aren't a POS.

Well I went for the Cortech Adrenaline and they should be here Wednesday. Once we get them, we can do a comparison, if you like. They're almost the exact same price and it's hard to tell from the website which one is better... but the Adrenaline was a better "deal" FWIW.

[paddy_crow]

Anyone tried the AlpineStars SMX-2 or SIDI Coibuss gloves?

[OrangeSVS]

Anyone tried the AlpineStars SMX-2 or SIDI Coibuss gloves?

I haven't tried the SMX-2, but I did consider it. Things I didn't like, which caused me to choose the Mesh Tex include: 1. The SMX2 has mesh fingers with no sliders/padding/leather whereas the Mesh Tex has leather over most of the finger with the mesh underneath); 2. The SMX2 is a short cuff with minimal wrist protection (although I don't think the MeshTex offers much wrist protection either, but at least there's some more fabric up there that the asphalt will have to get through before reaching my wrists); 3. It costs twice as much as the Mesh Tex ($45 at motorcyclegear.com).

With that said though, Alpinestars has a great reputation and that SMX2 looks like it flows a ton of air. If the Mesh Tex winds up not flowing enough air for me, I would consider the SMX-2.

I hadn't seen the Sidi Coibuss before. That's a neat looking glove and definitely would have made my short list. In fact, I might have gotten those over the Mesh Tex if I'd known about them. The features look pretty close to spot on. We got padding on the top, wrist closure, lots of perforations, padding on the fingers, knuckle guard, a bit of mesh. That looks just about perfect. However, after my experience with Held, I'm a little bit leery of fabric fourchettes. I think that taking a glove on and off a few hundred times could wear this stuff down... however, that's just speculation.

I'll tell you though. after being spoiled with the wrist/outside hand protection of the Helds, and seeing how much thought/effort/design is put into the wrist and pinkie portion of motogp gloves, I'm a little annoyed at how few companies show pictures of this area of a glove. Heck, I keep seeing pics of one glove on top of the other, with the thumb side of BOTH gloves pointed toward the camera... Grrrr

[OrangeSVS]

MESH TEX 2.0 Mini Review

Well I got the Mesh Tex 2.0 in yesterday. The fit is ok except for really loooong pinky fingers. Weird, but ok. And the hard leather embossed carbon-fiber-look knuckle protector is really hard and kind of presses against my knuckles a bit... but I think that will stretch out a bit.

I was surprised that these gloves have a fleece liner. In practice, they seem to wick away moisture when stopped, and once underway, the glove flows enough air to cool your hands. But it's definitely not a glove I'd want to be in bumper-to-bumper traffic with. I also dislike the short cuff... I thought the gauntlet was a touch longer than it is. It's alright though. And given that my hands sweat a lot, hopefully with the fleece lining and evaporative cooling, the leather palm won't be as abused by sweat and they'll last awhile.

Wind gusts really don't flow air through this glove. You need to be up and riding at at least 20mph or so to get any effect because of the fleece lining. It feels tolerable, if a bit warm at 30mph, and when you start to hit around 40mph is when you really start to notice that this is definitely a mesh glove. Unfortunately, the protection afforded by this glove seems to be more of the low speed variety though. I'm not sure this is the glove I'd choose for riding distances on the freeway. As I get more experience with the glove, we will see if the fleece lining keeps wicking away moisture as your hands get sweatier. If it does, it could still wind up being a decent glove. More time will tell.

I wouldn't call it an ultimate hot weather glove though. It's more like adequate minimal protection that works pretty well in hot weather. I'm sure there's something better out there though. Maybe that Coibuss.

[MadMax96]

I thought you got the Cortech Adrenaline gloves?  Or did you get both?

Cortech Latigo RR gloves super-mini review:

I just got my Cortech Latigo RR gloves yesterday and had a chance to use them on my commute to work.  It was a cool 66 degree ride and I was able to notice the air flow easily and it's excellent.  The perforations between the fingers let a nice amount of air through, more so when you spread your fingers.  The plastic knuckes don't have any holes for ventilation.  My former daily leather glove was the previous generation Icon Ti-max short glove.  They had no perforations and only a few tiny holes on the metal knuckle.  My hands got hot in extreme temps, but I dealt with it.  These should be great when the temps jump back up. (90 yesterday,  75 today.. gotta love Chicago)

The leather is very soft and feels great.  The medium is what I usually wear so I got them in that size - and it's spot on.  Sometimes fingers can be a little too long but on this glove they are nearly perfect.  This is the first guantlet glove I've owned so I was concerned with how it'd fit and feel over my jacket cuff.  Turns out it's fine and won't be a bother at all.  Because of the softness of the leather, the break-in period will be very short.  

Fit and finish seems to be good too.  No noticable flaws or loose threads have been found.

Overall I'm really happy with the purchase - the fit, features and price make this a great choice for what I was looking for.

[OrangeSVS]

I thought you got the Cortech Adrenaline gloves?  Or did you get both?

Yup. Just got the Adrenalines in today.  

Cortech Adrenaline Gloves

Holy cow, does Cortech know how to make a comfortable glove! MadMax's experience and mine are about the same. This thing fits incredibly well! This is hands down, the best fitting, best feeling sport glove I've ever had on. Sure, cruiser-type gloves, winter gloves, etc, that can be more bulky all feel very comfy, but this is just as good... AND you have 'roo leather fingers and palms for better control feel. There are also flex points (corrugations) of leather on every finger except the pinky, so when your hand moves, the gloves extend a bit, rather than stretching and bunching up in weird places. Works amazingly well. Oh.. and the seams are on the outside of the glove where they belong, rather than the inside, rubbing up against your fingers as you work the controls.

The wrist strap has a generous amount of velcro and should cinch down tight on the thinnest and thickest wrists. And there's enough of it there that it shouldn't lose its grip anytime soon. It's also a double gauntlet design, so should be able to fit over pretty much any jacket you can imagine.

The plastic knuckle guard is completely unobtrusive, you don't even feel it. It has air intakes in the knuckles, but they're strictly for show (and yet they're actually quite ugly)- there's a solid leather backing and some foam padding beneath it. The fourchettes (sides of the fingers) are perfed, but I still doubt it's going to be a great hot weather glove. There's a small patch of metal mesh toward the back of the hand at the top for airflow as well. But a sole mesh panel and a 8 or 10 perforations on the leather of each finger (4 or 5 per side) isn't going to be enough to make this a true hot weather glove (not that I was expecting it to be).

It lacks a face shield wiper, although it does have some silicone grippy stuff where your index finger and palm meet the throttle. You might be able to use that for wiping water away in a pinch, but with the perforations, this obviously isn't intended as a rain glove.

It has hard protection on the fingers, wrist, and both sides of the forearm.

At $120 MSRP, I guess this is a "value" glove. However, it seems like it's going to fit even better than my Helds. And while the protection isn't all there like for more expensive gloves at twice the price, it doesn't seem very far off at all.

Sooo in conclusion? Let's put it this way... if Cortech made a racing glove that was another $100 more expensive, I'd return these tomorrow and take a chance spending more money on them. The Cortech Adrenaline Gloves are at least a 7 out of 10 for me... with the points of longevity, actual crashworthiness, and how it feels on the bike still open questions. This glove might actually be a solid 10/10, I just haven't had it long enough yet to say. But I think my next glove purchase or two will probably be Cortech. Scarabs for the winter maybe?  Or... perhaps I'll check out the Latigos for more airflow, depending on how these work out...

[chosemerveilleux]

I'm not one who typically recommends Rev'it gear (due to how many durability issues I've had with their jackets) but I've had nothing but good experiences with their gloves.  Right now I use their Airvolution for the summer, which is a perforated all leather glove.  Excellent fit and finish and they flow a surprising amount of air.  I actually went from the Adrenaline to these and its 1000% percent improvement in comfort, fit and ironically enough, air flow.  Granted, they're pricier at $109 (I got mine NWT for $70 off ADV forums flea market) but I'm also not worried about my hands if I get off the bike unexpectedly.

I'm about to pick up a pair of the Rev'it Dirt gloves, which is a textile/leather glove.  Having checked them out in person I think they are what the Adrenaline should have been;  A high quality textile glove that flows a TON of air yet has a serious level of protection (Hard knuckle pro, palm slider, long leather wrist cuff).  Just my 2 Krugerrand, mind you

[OrangeSVS]

Thanks for tossing in another hot weather option.    


As I've lived with the Adrenalines a bit longer, I have to say that part of the benefit of the 'roo skin palm is taken away by the dual-layers that tend to bunch up a bit in odd places. The extra layer on the pads of my hand simply tend to bunch up. Not the best really. However, I still say they are nice gloves for the price, and I have no regrets. But you're right, they aren't hot weather gloves at all.

The Airvolutions look decent, definitely. However, they also lack a wrist strap and I'm still of the mindset that mesh can be effectively utilized in a glove to make great hot weather protection. I think something better than the Airvolution CAN exist.. however, I can't say that I've seen it. They look alright for the price....

[chosemerveilleux]

The Airvolutions have a wrist closure.  By "wrist strap" do you mean something that goes across the wrist, through a metal hoop and then back across?

Yeah, I can see why you would want that, but I will say that while the Airvolutions don't have that I can't pull mine off without first releasing the wrist closure.  On my Rev'it Tempests, Fahrenheits, and my Gerbings T5s (all cool to cold weather waterproof gauntlet style gloves) I can pull them off with some effort.  All of them have a wrist closure, and all are sized appropriately.  Now my Rev'it GT H2Os, which are a "racing fit" summer waterproof leather glove, it's impossible to remove them with the wrist strap on.  I think that snugger fit of the all leather gloves makes them a bit harder to remove.  But luckily I haven't tested any of them by throwing a yardsale while on my bike, so I can't really say how any of them will do.  But if I had to pick which ones to go down on I'm going with either the Airvolutions or certainly the GT H2O's (bomber protection, all leather + superfabric).  But the chance of me wearing the GT's over 80 or 85 degrees is somewhere between slim and none.  I just ordered the the Dirts so I can rotate them with my Airvolutions.  Those don't have a wrist strap either, but I'll let you know how I like those when they get here.

[OrangeSVS]

Oh.. I see the velcro closure now... I didn't see it when I looked at the pics earlier. Yeah... with the short cuff, the velcro seems like it's low enough on the forearm to provide a good closure around the wrist.

I'm surprised they flow a lot more air than the Adrenaline though... they don't look like they would.

I'm not doubting you here, just surprised that that's your impression. But I found this video.... looking at it there, it looks like a good hot weather option.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xplk01ZqIR4&feature=player_embedded

[chosemerveilleux]

The hottest I've ridden with them on was 105 degrees last summer.  Even sitting in traffic they've never been so warm as to make me want to take them off.  Once you're moving they're very nice.  The thing I like about them is that I've had them on on rides where I started out in the morning in the high 60's/low 70's and was comfortable all the way up to 100+ degrees.  I felt that the Adrenaline's comfort window was much smaller, say 75-90 degrees.  I would wear them every day but all of that sweat makes them bottom out.  And while I follow Held's recommendation to wash leather gloves (to remove the salts which destroy the leather) and condition them, I rode so much last summer that I ended up washing them three times (its crazy when you see how dirty the wash water gets from all of the salt and grime you remove) which was a pain in the ass.  I figure if its good to give leather shoes a rest day between wearings it can't hurt a leather glove to do the same-which is why I'm picking up the dirts.

You know, I didn't think about how rough the sweat is on leather gloves until now, but I have a pair of deerskin work gloves that I've had for years.  Never washed them, and I had to replace them last week.  They had literally started to disintegrate around my wrist and back of my hands-not high wear areas, mind you.  It was where I had sweat the most through them over the years.  The leather became paper thin in those areas and started to tear.  Who would have thunk?

[Big D]

"Positive retention strap", a strap that once fastened prevents the glove from being forcibly removed. I wouldn't own a pair of gloves without one, I have even added them to gloves.

Thanks for all the reviews.

[chosemerveilleux]

Just for shits and giggles I put my Airvolutions on and closed the wrist closure as tight as I normally do when actually wearing them.  Four people including myself failed to forcefully remove them from my hands.  All we succeeded in doing was making my palms hurt due to all of the pressure from the cuff.  That, is officially enough reassurance for me that they won't run away and hide during a get off.

[OrangeSVS]

Well, just posting up an addendum here, folks. I did a couple hundred miles up to WI for coffee this weekend and got to give my new glove collection a work out! I saw cool 70 degree temps, a bit of nasty rain, and some high-80's, low 90's stuff on the return trip. It was just hot enough, wet enough, and nice enough to justify switching gloves numerous times.... Sooooo... here's how it went.

I started out with the Cortech Adrenaline gloves. A damn comfy, nice, sport glove, man do they feel great! But as it started to heat up, they sure weren't flowing much air, just as a poster had mentioned. Man, are they comfy though. But they sure aren't waterproof! If I could choose my glove for straight out comfort, these would easily be the ones I want! However, it started to rain and my hands were getting wet, so I switched over to an old pair of Hein Gerickes that I got back in the day. Well, there's not much in the way of protection there and they have a plastic loop-around that provides lockdown pressure on the wrists.... BUT that plastic piece isn't secured, so it tends to go sideways and reduce positive pressure on your wrist strap within a minute of being on the bike. They're an annoying piece of crap, but that's what I have right now and they do keep the rain off quite handily. And then the rain stopped and the temps started to climb, so I was happy to switch to the Mesh Tex 2.0s. I still found them to be rather uncomfortable. And I'm still not enthused about their protection., despite the leather "carbon fiber look" knuckle protector that kept reminding me of its presence by digging into my hands. And frankly, they weren't all THAT cool to ride in. They're alright, but if I were you, I'd probably look elsewhere for a hot weather glove.

Don't get me wrong, the Mesh Tex are alright. And for as rarely as I wear them, the discomfort is justified by the low price. Still though, if you really wanted a good pair of hot weather gloves and are willing to pay $100+, I'd look at a few of the other options mentioned in this thread. Those Cortech Adrenalines are damn fine gloves though, as long as the temps don't get out of control!!!

[paddy_crow]

I wound up buying a pair of the Sidi Coibuss. I think they are a pretty good compromise for when the temps get up there. I would rank them about equal to the Held Airstream. One thing I prefer about them is the two piece knuckle guard, allowing a hinge point in the middle makes them more comfortable.

I also have a pair of Dainese Huge Air gloves, they are about as minimalist as they come as far as protection is concerned. They also flow more air than any glove I've owned. I don't like riding with the lack of protection, though, so I'll be unloading them at some point.