Arc-on Competizione Summer Gloves – Review

Falling in Glove again..

What’s the first thing to touch down in a spill? Chances are it’ll be your hands – you know, the ones you use to work, hold a pint and (ahem) caress the Significant Other with. Given the importance and vulnerability of your pinkies in a crash, it follows that one of the most important safety items on a bike must be a good pair of gloves. But what constitutes ‘good’? Protection is vital, but is not the whole story; good gloves must also be easy to get on and off, must allow precise and delicate control inputs and must be comfortable to wear. No point making them out of diamond studded titanium and then wondering what happened to throttle control.

As any racer knows, protection is more than a list of trendy features; it’s about how the gloves are physically put together and the quality of materials used.

Cheap knock-offs covered in bling from some factory in China may be superficially attractive and cheap, but they can dissolve in a crash, leaving you open to life changing injury. To get something that works, you need to buy from people who work with the best materials and test them everyday in real world riding or racing.

Enter British firm arc-on. They’ve been making a name for themselves providing quality gear to BSB and WSB riders, and no sooner had our tester put his mitts inside a pair of their Competizione gloves than he came over all dreamy. Either they’ve been curing the leather with some strange substances or he may just be in love…

Comfort

In fairness to Dave, the first thing that strikes you about these gloves is indeed the supreme comfort of the fit. Your paws will feel like they’re in heaven. Supple, soft, but firm in only the way that leather can be. You feel cocooned with protection but crucially, thanks to the pre-curved design, fingers retain ease of movement.

Technology

An impressive specification starts with full kangaroo leather construction. Why Kangaroo? Because the little devils only sweat through their tails, meaning that most of the leather is without pores, allowing thinner leather to be used for the same abrasion or tear rating. That helps explain the comfy feeling but retention of full control.That’s helped further by concertina stretch panels on thumb, fingers and wrist.

Even the hide of old Skippy himself isn’t tough enough to prevent road rash if you crash at speed, and vulnerable areas get an extra layer of even tougher Stingray skin (Being fish they don’t sweat either, Ed.). There are palm sliders as well to stop the leather gripping the track and twisting your hands.

Where you need grip – like on the palm, there’s Kevlar. For hard armour there’s titanium and carbon aplenty and the two outer fingers are linked with a leather web to stop your baby pinkie bending back and breaking in a fall. Wrists are protected by a triple closure system and padded flaps.

Construction and know-how

Good materials alone are not enough though. A maker has to know how to use them. Arc-on say that all their gear is developed in real world track testing environments, with seams being ‘class 300 lockstitch’. Specific stitches are used for key areas of the garment, inseams use the same specification thread as outseams and all stitching passes through all thicknesses of material, for high levels of burst resistance. This is exactly what you WON’T get from a cheap imported product.

Racer Gabrielle Burne crashed in her arc-on Corse gloves at and 85mph. She went down on her right side and put her hand down as she fell. The pictures show that the glove wasn’t compromised, the armour did it’s job and the rider was uninjured. The heat and friction of the crash and abrasion has melted the logo on the right glove but no seam was compromised and no leather penetrated.

Sizing and fit

The sizing is pretty true to normal, though if anything the cut suits larger, broader hands. Great for Dave’s clumsy old mole paws. Numbers and sizes are:

8 = S, 9 = M, 10 = L, 11 = XL, 12 = XXL, 13 = XXXL

Real world tests

So far we’ve only had a few weeks with the Competizione Gloves; a mixture of touring and general riding that Dave has logged on our long term tester, Kawasaki’s ZZR1400. Later, we’ll take them round Castle Coombe racetrack to get a feel for how they are when the pace gets a little faster.

But as the Competizione are racing gloves, we checked them out right away with fellow rider James Nutt, a professional motorsport photographer, who’s fond of a trackday or two and who has ridden with both the Competizione gloves and the full matching set of arc-on leathers. James says;

‘I used the gloves for 5 sessions at Oulton Park and found them even more comfortable than the Alpinestars GP Pro gloves I loved beforehand. The cut of the glove fits my hand amazingly well with no bunching of material. Fingers are pre-curved, making the gloves naturally want to hug the grip which helps reduce fatigue, being handy as I am still being a relative track novice and I grip on for grim death.

The cuff closure system is easy and the extra length of the cuff helps to stop any problem with the leathers popping out as I had with other gloves. Material is thin enough to give good feel but thick enough to give a sense of protection.

The stingray skin patches should help to protect the glove in the event of a crash which I hope I never have to test. It’s the same principle applied to the arc-on Evolution suit which I did unfortunately crash test but found that the raised Stingray patches did protect the leather around it. Arc-on are cheaper than comparable Alpinestars/Knox gear and I can’t see myself using other leathers from now on.’

Verdict

Wearing the Competizione gloves, there’s no doubting the quality. They feel better and give you more confidence than a pair of cheapies bought online. It’s good to know (as your bike’s rev counter passes the red line) that arc-on’s retail products are exactly the same as those used by BSB racers. They feel good and look darn good too.

Where they really score though is in being an excellent compromise between protection and useability; rugged, yet flexible enough to allow refuelling with gloved hands or working buttons on sat navs or cameras.

They’re not meant to be waterproof, but we got caught in showers, and nothing got through.

If we could find fault we’d say that ventilation could be improved, possibly by vented knuckle protectors. They get a tad warm in the height of summer, though that does mean they are great in spring and into autumn.

If ever there was proof that you get what you pay for, then these gloves are it. There’s many a cheap copy out there, but if you ride a fast bike, and you really care about protection levels for your hands, then these are the real deal. At £140 a pair they’re worth every penny.