In terms of motorcycle equipment, beginners (and not just them) are often scared by the choice and variety of products on offer. All you need is a glance at the glove section of a dealer or even a props or a “big box” of motorcycle equipment, there are gloves “leather” and others with carbon protections everywhere, from black to flashy yellow, all padded that keeps warm to the end that lets through the air, leather or textile or a mixture of both.
How to navigate?
Basically, the choice of a pair of motorcycle gloves must take place according to two main criteria: their capacity of protection and their adaptation to the climatic conditions for which you will use them.
The functions of gloves
- Protect your hand from projections: insects flying in the air (especially when the weather is nice and warm), gravel thrown by the vehicle you are driving, pebbles lost by the dump truck in front of you, twigs, butts, etc. For this, a simple leather glove or light textile is enough, it just takes a layer of protection on the skin.
- Protect your hand from bad weather: rain, wind, cold, heat. The hands, like the feet and the knees, are very exposed to the wind relative to motorcycle. It will therefore be necessary, depending on the case, an impervious glove, lined, ventilated or, conversely, hermetic, warm or ventilated, breathable.
- Protect your hand from injury in the event of a fall, slipping, shock and there is inevitably a compromise, the more a glove is thick and rigid, the more it will be protective, but the less comfortable it will be.
Last but not least, if you’re having trouble driving your motorcycle or scooter, check your gloves. One often underestimates the importance of these in the sense of orders. Thick gloves protect, but hinder to drive. A water-repellent material is sometimes slippery and “ripped” on the levers. Always ensure that your gloves give you good grip and sensitivity on the handlebar controls.
The importance of hand and wrist protection
Gloves are as important as the helmet. The real reason to be gloves, scooter or motorcycle, in the city or for long journeys, it is good to protect hands from contact with bitumen. As fragile as it is useful, the hand must be covered with a real glove of protection, and not of pageantry.
- The first reflex during a fall, even at low speed, is to place your hands in front of you to cushion the shock and protect the head, the face, the ribcage.
- But bitumen, asphalt, tar are necessarily abrasive, it is necessary for the tires to adhere to it. Suddenly, when something rubs on it, the friction quickly causes a warm-up.
- Experiment, at a standstill: gently rub your hand on asphalt.
Another experience: put the palm of your hand on sandpaper grit sandpaper, 000 grit, on a sander running at minimum speed. This will give you an idea of what the friction on the bitumen can give. From 15-20 km / h, the heat caused by the heating will burn, melt the skin, the first layer of the epidermis: first degree burn. Spontaneous healing, within a few days and without scarring.