Riding throughout the winter months needn’t be a chore – it helps you become a better rider by being smoother on the controls and anticipating situations before they have even begun to happen – but you need to have all of your concentration on the road, so wearing the right kit is important. Belgian company Richa describe their Mountain GTX gloves as offering “everything a true winter rider needs” and I’ve put this to the test over 4,000 miles since the beginning of December.
Available in two colour variants, plain black and black/fluorescent, the gloves have a long double cuff, to ensure the inside of the glove stays dry. The palm, inside of the fingers and part of the back of the glove are leather, the rest being a textile material. A waterproofed zip opens to allow the outer cuff to be pulled over the jacket sleeve and a Velcro®️ buckle is used to keep the glove snug to the wrist. A visor wipe is provided on the left index finger. Insulation is provided by a PrimaLoft®️ layer, a synthetic micro fibre material originally developed for military applications and waterproofing is taken care of by a partially bonded Gore-Tex®️ membrane.
That’s the construction, but putting the gloves on for the first time I was immediately struck by the light weight and suppleness. The use of PrimaLoft®️ helps in this respect, but also the use of D3O®️ protection for the knuckles, as opposed to rigid armour. All this translates into supreme comfort whilst riding and fantastic feel at the controls.
Out on the road down to reported temperatures of 5°C and up to and including motorway speeds, the gloves gave good protection from the cold. This is on a machine without heated grips but with ineffectual hand guards. Below this temperature I always add silk undergloves, allowing comfortable use down to temperatures hovering around freezing. The only times my fingers got cold were when I had stupidly let my core body temperature drop, but even then, it wasn’t the literally numbing cold experienced with other gloves and it never intruded upon my concentration. In the last four months’ intensive use these Richa Mountain GTX gloves have proved to be 100% waterproof, as one would expect from a product employing Gore-Tex®️.
These are a supremely comfortable glove that have given me one of the best winter riding experiences in my 36 years of riding and although expensive, I highly recommend them. Shop around. I got mine at www.megamotorcyclestore.co.uk for £109.99, but for full list of stockists click here.
Review by Andy Hudson
www.richa.eu
Sizes S – 3XL £139.99
