Air Mesh Kevlar Pants & Gloves Review

[VEGASRIDER]

I recently purchased a pair of the Air Mesh Kevlar Pants and Kevlar Gloves. The pants are custom made, took about six weeks. I pretty much ordered all the bells and whistles.

These pants are much heavier than the normal textile pants I've been wearing in the past. That's probably the most noticeable difference. They don't really flex very well, meaining that it's very diificult to go to the toilet, unless you take them off.

The pants have a zipper along each side of the pants which is then covered by a layer secured by velcro. However, they are on the bikeside which I find it rather annoying as I have encounteed parts of the lining getting caught on my foot pegs. But don't get me wrong, if I ever hit the pavement, I want to go down hitting it wearing these pants.

I bought the Kevlar Racing Gloves and find them fairly lightweight and it seems to breath better then leather. They are designed for warm weather riding. There are a couple of things that I find the gloves awkward. The direction in which the velcro fastens to my wrist is backward. Every glove I owned, it fastened the other direction.

2nd, the gloves grips on the control lever is on the slippery side, despite having the Rhino Lining on the finger tips and palm. I think I prefer leather gloves. But with pretty much a lifetime guarantee on the gloves, no matter if they happen to rip in a crash, it will be fixed or replaced. So this could be the very last glove I ever have to purchase. How many gloves have you had to replace because of normal wear that resulted in holes or lost stiching?

 

[Red Wazp]

+1 Cycleport. Had mine 3 years

 

[mercm3]

Vegas did you wear full leathers before? If so how do you compare the comfort level of the kevlar pants to the leathers?

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Vegas did you wear full leathers before? If so how do you compare the comfort level of the kevlar pants to the leathers?

Negative, I've only worn textile, except when it comes to gloves. I need to wear things that have good ventilation since the weather here is hot most of the time. Therefore, the air mesh kevlar was my obvious choice, especailly looking at those tear abrasion numbers vs leather. Plus, I like the idea that I can wash them as much as I want without compromising the strenghth.

I'm currently wearing these mesh kevlar over my shorts. Eventually, I'll be wearing them over jeans when the temps start to cool down. I have also bought the liner for extra warmth for those extreme cold days.

 

[mercm3]

thanks, how do the pants breathe? what textile pants did you have before to use as a comparison?

 

[VEGASRIDER]

thanks, how do the pants breathe? what textile pants did you have before to use as a comparison?

Since I have so much armor placed inside the pants, it actually doesn't breath as well as my other mesh textile pants, which were $100 pair of Motoboss pants purchased from Cycle Gear. As far as protection, there is no comparison. Remember, I'm riding in over 100 degrees heat on a daily basis. Somtimes over 110 degrees. Not too bad in my opinion.

My other textile pants were made by Rev 'it. A good quality company which is from Europe. These were not mesh so I wore those during the colder months. But with the Mesh Kevlar, since I bought the waterproof liner, they will replace both of my textile pants.

 

[Mancolt]

$143 later, and I have a glove that was well worth it. I'll second most everything Vegas said about these gloves. Very well made, and a lifetime warranty to boot.

I bought the Kevlar Racing Gloves and find them fairly lightweight and it seems to breath better then leather. They are designed for warm weather riding. There are a couple of things that I find the gloves awkward. The direction in which the velcro fastens to my wrist is backward. Every glove I owned, it fastened the other direction.

They are relatively lightweight, especially for the amount of protection they provide. I rode for about 20 mins last night on the highway at roughly 75mph in 48 degree weather while wearing these. My hands were cold, but not so bad that it was unbearable. I probably could have done 40 - 45 minutes before they got really bad. As far as the velcro goes, I never would have noticed it but Vegas is absolutely right...it is the opposite of how gloves normally are.

2nd, the gloves grips on the control lever is on the slippery side, despite having the Rhino Lining on the finger tips and palm. I think I prefer leather gloves. But with pretty much a lifetime guarantee on the gloves, no matter if they happen to rip in a crash, it will be fixed or replaced. So this could be the very last glove I ever have to purchase. How many gloves have you had to replace because of normal wear that resulted in holes or lost stiching?

As these are the first real pair of gloves I've purchased, I don't have much to compare them to. They are a bit slippery, but not so bad that they're difficult to use. The only other pair of gloves I have is a cheap $30 pair of air mesh gloves that fall apart more and more each time I wear them and offer no where near the same level of protection.

The only other thing I'm not a big fan of is the cycleport emblem. The rest of the glove is a subtle black color, but the emblem is bright and tacky. If I can remove them, I'm probably going to. I'm normally right in between a XL and XXL glove in most brands. I traced my hand and sent an image of it to motoport and they sent me the XXL. It might be *slightly* large, but I'm guessing the XL would have been uncomfortably tight. The gloves are easy to secure tightly on your handed by 2 velcro straps which you can see in Vegas' pictures.

I think these gloves would do a fantastic job protecting my hands if I ever go down. I wouldn't hesitate to buy from motoport/cycleport again and am considering saving for their pants (that would be at least a few months off though).

I sent the scanned image and my order in on a Sunday night and received tracking information on Monday. The gloves arrived 4 days later on Friday and overall I couldn't be happier with my experience so far.

 

[Motogiro]

I solved the slippery palm problem by wrapping Bontrager rubber bicycle handlebar wrap on my levers. Works great! That's where the slipperiness really bothered me. In hot weather when riding with some of the group I ride with the gloves are a hinderance in that they don't have the dexterity of my other gloves and I can't get them on and off as quickly. Other than that they are great protection and for me I try to be as responsible as possible when it comes to wearing protective gear.

 

[Mancolt]

I solved the slippery palm problem by wrapping Bontrager rubber bicycle handlebar wrap on my levers. Works great! That's where the slipperiness really bothered me. In hot weather when riding with some of the group I ride with the gloves are a hinderance in that they don't have the dexterity of my other gloves and I can't get them on and off as quickly. Other than that they are great protection and for me I try to be as responsible as possible when it comes to wearing protective gear.

I haven't ridden with them long enough yet to notice if the grip is going to be an issue. If it bothers me, I might try this suggestion, thanks. My other gloves were too small and took forever to get on and off. I can get these on and off in probably 1/3 of the time so that's not a big issue for me. I'm interested to see how hot they are when the temperatures warm up here in the summer. Hopefully they remain cool enough that my hands aren't dripping with sweat by the end of a ride.

 

[Norbert]

Well you guys are convincing me to get some of those kevlar gloves.
My crappy Joe Rocket gloves are fraying already!
I HATE JOE ROCKET!

But what about the gauntlets? I don't see much armor on them......

 

[Gcontroller]

Looks like nice gear. I like the MSF discount as well. Be sure to post a report once you get a few thousand miles on the gear.

 

[Mancolt]

Well you guys are convincing me to get some of those kevlar gloves.
My crappy Joe Rocket gloves are fraying already!
I HATE JOE ROCKET!

But what about the gauntlets? I don't see much armor on them......

That's what prompted me to buy some nice gloves. I ordered a cheap $30 pair (I can't remember who makes em). But the mesh part would get stuck to the velcro every time I went to undo them and they are really frayed after 2 weeks (probably only 4 days of riding) use. Buy something nice and it usually costs more $$, but you only end up having to buy it once (or at worst, much less frequently). Especially if there is a lifetime warranty.

I don't have the gloves in front of me right now, but I don't think the gauntlets have much padding or any "armor". But the whole glove is made of a Kevlar blend. I believe this would protect your wrists from road rash, but probably not from breaking a bone in a particularly bad accident.

As nccoder mentioned earlier, dexterity isn't 100% in the gloves. But I think they'll just take a little getting used to. Compared to my other thin gloves that offered little to no protection, the feel of the grips are much different with these gloves.

I don't have any other nice riding gloves to compare it to but I am impressed by these. I think Vegas probably has more experience with other brands of riding gear since he's been riding for much longer than me.

 

[Motogiro]

Well you guys are convincing me to get some of those kevlar gloves.
My crappy Joe Rocket gloves are fraying already!
I HATE JOE ROCKET!

But what about the gauntlets? I don't see much armor on them......

I do have some Joe Rocket gauntlet gloves and they're okay.
Yes the Kevlars lacks that extra pad or thickness on the outer wrist section and I took that ugly diamond shaped tag off. The material on the palms and spots on the upper finger area are more Kevlar than the rest of the glove. The rest of the clove is a nylon mixed with Kevlar stretch material and the stitching is supposed to be some really high tensile strength thread. Out of all my gloves I have the most confidence in these for protection. I also like the wrist cinch cuz in a slide your gloves will stay on better.
Man! I need the Kevlar GP pants for the hot weather coming. Right now I'm okay in my leathers but soon it will be to hot. Over 100 f and I switch to a textile jacket with decent armor and keep the leather bottom.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

Nice thing about ordering gloves that are a tad too large, for the winter, you could insert some windproof liners that you can get at some outdoor sporting good store.

I wear a medium, and I'm thinking of getting a pair of large so that I can insert some liners.

One thing about the gloves, they are not waterproof! They will get soaked if you ride in the rain. But they dry pretty quick, throw them in the dryer.

 

[Motogiro]

Nice thing about ordering gloves that are a tad too large, for the winter, you could insert some windproof liners that you can get at some outdoor sporting good store.

I wear a medium, and I'm thinking of getting a pair of large so that I can insert some liners.

One thing about the gloves, they are not waterproof! They will get soaked if you ride in the rain. But they dry pretty quick, throw them in the dryer.

I do that. I found these almost to small, tight, thin gloves to wear inside the regular riding gloves in colder weather and they work great!

 

[Norbert]

I'm thinking about getting the motoport gloves.
Are you guys still liking yours?

How comfy are they?
I'd like to get gloves with flat seams or external seams.

My spidi gloves are getting old. Great for a track day, but not for touring.
I put 18,000miles on those gloves. I don't want to spend $200 every year on gloves.