Wednesday, November 28, 2007

The Perfect Motorcycle Gloves?

Here's a quote from one of my favorite motorcycle books, "At no time, though, are you more joyfully alone than when it's raining...which is pretty damn ironic, since there can be no greater danger than riding in the rain."- Melissa Pierson, from The Perfect Vehicle.

Which reminds me of a couple of things. First, I've had a hankering to read the book again and I can't find my copy. I must have loaned it out to someone and they forgot to give it back. The other is gloves. Waterproof gloves to be exact.

I was perusing through a motorcycle gear catalog and found that a pair of waterproof riding gloves were $67.00 and if you didn't want to go that route you could get a pair of rain covers to go over your leather gloves for just $47.00. Hmm, $67.00! - $47.00! I don't need no stinkin expensive gloves! For me that's a lot of money.

In my jacket pocket I keep a pair of those thick dish washing gloves (size XL) that can be found at the dollar store for, are you ready for this? You guessed it, $1.00. That's right $1.00. When it's raining I just slip those babies on over my leather gloves and I'm good to go.

My leather gloves are the same ones I've had since they were issued to me by Uncle Sam 27 years ago. As far as I'm concerned, for my kind of riding anyway, they do the job just fine. During the warm months I just wear the leather shell, and the cold months I put in the wool liners. Works for me! I'm guessing a pair like that could probably be had at a military surplus store for around $10.00. I checked ebay and found quite a few available for around $7.95.

So, there you have it. As far as gloves go, I'm set up for 4 seasons of riding for almost nothing. For those who have big fat wallets, God bless, go forward, and get those $67.00 gloves, a pair for each season would be nice and so would the added armor. But for me, I'll spend that extra money on something else, like maybe fuel. That would be gas and coffee!
Motorcycle and Scooter Talk at Kano's Coffee House

Amazon Book Link:The Perfect Vehicle: What It is about Motorcycles

ebay link. Use keyword search- gloves, leather, military surplus

Subscribe in a feed or email:

Subscribe to Motorcycle and Scooter Talk at Kano's Coffee House

7 comments:

Conchscooter said...

I can't get my leather gloves inside rubber dishwashing gloves- so I use the $50 (plus tax- don't forget the tax!) Aerostitch things. They do work even at that price! For showers I spray my boots and gloves ( and saddlebags) with waterproofing silicon spray.

Steve Williams said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steve Williams said...

HIt the publish button too quick....

You must have been looking at the latest Aerostich catalog. I looked hard at those same 67 dollar insulated raincovers.

I spent more than that last year for the expedition mittens I ride with in really cold weather. They are supposed to be good to -20 F when backpacking. While riding the wind can get your there fast. At 10 F I can ride maybe 15 to 20 minutes before I have to stop and warm my hands with those. Everyone tells me that I have to have electric gloves but they just seem so fussy with too many wires....

We have a big Army surplus store in town. I'll have to have a look.

Conchscooter gives some good advice. I need to spray everything I have. The water resistance is fading on my gear...

Steve Williams
Scooter in the Sticks

Heinz N Frenchie said...

Hey Kano, If your rubber gloves are yellow then they would also serve as safety equipment. Cool.

Kano said...

conchshooter-That's a good idea and I need to get some of that silicone and spray my boots down. If I did more wet weather riding I think I would invest in some overboots.

Kano said...

Steve-I love looking around those military surplus stores, all kinds of useful treasures waiting to be found!

Maybe you could get some heated grips on your Vespa? Those BMW riders sure like theirs. One guy said that he wouldn't have it any other way.

Kano said...

heinz & frenchie- they are yellow. Puts fear in the faces of people as I'm walking from my bike towards the door at 7 eleven. They think I'm some kind of space alien!