CBR Forum - Enthusiast forums for Honda CBR Owners - Velocity Gear Exhibition Pro CE-spec gloves

I bought a pair of Exhibition Pro gloves in a recent group buy over at ADVrider. These gloves, like all of Velocity Gear's, have been tested and pass all the performance aspects of CE certification. They have not, to the best of my knowledge, been tested for the non-crash-protection or politically-based things CE certification contains (i.e. testing for certain compounds either in the gloves or used during their manufacture).

Pics of these gloves are here:
the JUGGERNAUT MOTORCYCLE BODY ARMOR
I would have preferred one of their gauntlet styles (Formula or Prodigy), but the group buy on those didn't generate enough interest with that demographic.

I've been wearing these gloves for a few weeks now, commuting 35 - 40 miles each way. That's what I mainly do with my CBR. First, the good:

* Outstanding, nearly believably soft and supple leather. Dramatically better than my Spidi STR-1s and everything in the local Cycle Gear, except for the $350 Daineses. My Exhibition Pros' leather is softer than the Dainese leather, but it's not massively, dramatically so.

* Quality of stitching and assembly. Remember the retail price point of these gloves (see the link above). My Spidis are not sewn/fitted as consistently as these Velocity Gear gloves, and they retail for about the same price.

* Fit is much more appropriate to my hands/fingers than the typical Italian fit. Spidi and Alpinestars tend to have too fat of palms for me, yet their fingers squeeze down along the length of the finger, causing them to be somewhat too tight. This squeeze doesn't go away after break-in, for me. The Velocity Gear gloves have none of this. They're built and proportioned properly for my ex-farmer hands, excepting that I'd prefer a little more length both in the palm and fingers. Not a huge amount, but a little. Or, I'd like the wrist retention strap moved back a little.

* They're CE-compliant gloves, and you can get them here in the USA! Actually tested by SATRA, and passed all performance tests.

* Even at full retail price, these gloves are the same or less money than most of the 'majors' mid-level gloves, and they're nicer/softer and protect better than the top-of-the-line Dainese gloves! How can you not love that?!

Now the down-sides:

* They are big. Beefy. Massive. They use an inner 'glove' or liner made of ...kevlar? that makes them feel like you're wearing a thin to medium knit glove inside your leather gloves. That means you don't have nearly the tactile feedback you get from, for example, Joe Rocket mesh + ultra-thin clarino-palmed summer gloves. Break-in helps here, but I think it helps you acclimate more than it alters the actual glove itself.

* The short cuff is too short for the width of velcro they have on it. This makes the wrist retention strap and cuff velcro pieces stick to one another sometimes.

* They're only available in black. I realize that's what most people buy these days, so I understand why they do that.

That's what I think of the Velocity Gear Exhibition Pro. Velocity Gear says they're shifting their sales model some going forward. They say they're going to buy stuff to have in stock and ship, rather than basically making-to-order. I hope that's true, as it did take a loooong time for the group buy to manufacture and ship. Still, these are really outstanding gloves.

So, if you want leather quality that outdoes Dainese, but that has actually been tested and passed CE performance tests, take a hard look at Velocity Gear.