ALPHA MOTORCYCLE GLOVES

I want to preface this with some context. I'm hunting the Unicorn Glove. For me, that is a glove that is windproof, warm, and flexible while maintaining protective features. The Alpha glove seemed to be that, but it’s falling short, and I've been a bit disappointed so far. Still, take everything with a grain of salt.

Warmth: This is the thing I need the most. Unlike the sane, I ride all year, and in PA USA, the morning commute for me dips to 32F for a full 45-60min ride. I have heated grips, which helps, but only the palm, as wind whisk aways everything else. These gloves, to be fair, are probably perfect for someone who just wants to cruise midafternoon in the fall- say 45F and above. In fact, I've worn them in that weather, and they perform well. The Thinsulate liner is just fine combined with a pure leather palm that really keeps the dexterity I wanted and isn’t the problem. It seems 100g Thinsulate is about industry standard, so no surprise there.
The problem is wind. The top of these gloves aren’t leather, but the material does its job. The culprit to frozen fingers is the stretch gussets in between the leather palm and waterproof backing. They do stretch and flex, which is nice, but wind rips right through them. This gusset is stitched all the way around each finger too, leaving tip to webbing exposed to freezing air. This was easily the most disappointing thing to discover.

Weather: Stay Dry is the motto, and that I did. Let me praise Akin for their waterproofing. I absolutely adore my Alpha Jacket (hence this purchase), and the gloves have been just as resilient so far. It rained this morning and both garments kept me bone dry.

Protection: Well, I haven’t crashed in these, but I trust them. Leather palm? Check. Knuckle protecter? Sure. I don’t really get it on the street, and I hope I never figure it out firsthand, but these have it. Safety rating? Uh, no. But, having crashed in their Alpha jacket, I trust when it says, ‘abrasion resistant.’

Other stuff: Comfort and style. Style wasn’t vital to me. I think they look fine. They bunch a little like snow gloves, and the three accordion panels are really the one accent. They’re black gloves, and that works for me. Comfort is good too. Pulling them from the bag and trying them on gave me high hopes. The fleece and leather combo felt good- really flexible. Those are a massive plus in a world of stiff cowhide, plastic palm sliders, and carbon knuckles. (Although a palm slider done right would be more enticing to me than the soft knuckle insert)

Fit and design: this pains me to write, but the fit is very off. Take into account your hand is not my hand, but I was pretty sure I have a pretty average hand generally speaking. For reference, I measure around at 8.5” which landed me perfectly in the sizing guide in an XL. I’m almost always an L (even according the guides on other Akin gloves) but they also say to size up, so I wasn’t afraid of it being too big. Well, you can see where this is going- sort of.
They fit perfectly at the 8.5”. Even the fingers are the right length. And look, I know my wrists are a little scrawny, but man are my palms swimming. So much so, that the wrist strap is more of a joke than anything on my hand. And the real problem is that, since my palm is so loose, the whole glove rides up, leaving space in all the fingertips as I ride, with no way of fixing it. All this too, with the thumb loops of the Alpha Jacket liner inside the glove. I doubt the glove would stay on a slide because of this, but ultimately, I’m more concerned with how annoying using a mashed thumb is on my visor or the turn signal.
Design: First, the seams are inside the fingers, which, I’m no glove maker, but they feel thick. If the overall fit wasn’t so loose, maybe I wouldn’t notice. Second, the stretch gussets. I’d do leather. It’s soft, comfortable, less likely to rip (I assume), while being more wind resistant. Third, the accordion panels. Even when I hold the glove on my fingers, are they really working? They feel more of aesthetics than anything. And finally, the fingertip design. I would prefer the ‘sharper’ style where there the palm side connects at the tip to the backing instead of the barrier of stretch gussets. The same goes for the AX connect panels. They function perfectly but make the pointer and thumb tips feel bulky. The thumb in particular added a piece at the end for the touchscreen compatibility that I’m not fond of.

All that word soup just to say, three out of five stars. I don’t hate them; I just wish I liked them more. They aren’t falsely advertised, or poorly constructed. And I would never take stars away for personal fit. That is completely subjective. All in all, they feel like great gloves, but maybe not for me. They are a solid cold weather choice, but not my unicorn.

Was asked to review after a week of riding with the gloves so here it is.

After a week of riding these gloves are ok, maybe my hands are more sensitive to the cold but any temp under 5° still feels quite cold to me even with hand guards in place. The Velcro strap could be longer for a tighter fit and more adjustment, along with the neck being longer. Not baging out the brand as I have other products from this company which are good but $110.. dunno about that.

I wore these gloves over two days of torrential rain! My hands stayed warm and dry both days. The outside of the gloves was a little wet, you could even say water logged on the saturday, they dried out over night and were just as warm and dry on the sunday. The gloves aren't super bulky and felt great to ride in. I could still use my phone while wearing the gloves which was great as well. Fantastic gloves! As with the anorak, well worth the money!

Bought these gloves along with the Akin Gorm moto anorak for an upcoming trip, things may get a little wet! I didn't own any wet weather gloves so I thought it'd be best if I invested in some just in case.

Gloves are well made and nice and toasty! Really like the short, sporty style cuff. Usually wet/cold weather gloves seem really bulky to me but these are great, they look and feel like a "normal" glove. The goat skin palms on these gloves are really nice.

I'm usually a L in gloves, used the size chart and got a L. They do fit more snug than a tradition size L glove. I don't have massive hands but a L fits me well like a glove! definitely use the sizing guide though.

I've found my go to wet weather glove.

Finally able to test these over the past month. My gear was lacking a warmer pair of gloves. Purchased these when they were released and have been riding in temperatures between 0 and 10 degrees Celsius. They are exactly what I was looking for. Comfortable and they feel very natural. Dexterity is perfect. I was worried about using a thicker glove. I normally wear the Grenade gloves. Thankfully, it was an easy transition. They held up very well in cold, pouring rain. That's a win. Another successful AKIN purchase!