Ever since I started riding motorcycles regularly I’ve always looked up to the Alpinestars brand as something I wanted to own one day but it was either not available in South Africa or prohibitively expensive on special import.
So when my Frank Thomas summer gloves finally gave up recently after a good five years of service it was time to do some shopping. To be honest they were probably still fine if I went through the effort of having the Velcro replaced, but as these things go boys want new toys and all that.
Being a recent BMW cultist my first stop was having a look at their range but there was nothing that quite fitted the look and feel I was going for and the price was simply outrageous so off I went to Trac-Mac in Bellville and to my surprise there was plenty of Alphinestars stuff on the shelf and not unreasonably priced either.
I’ve only ever had gauntlet race gloves and this time I thought why not try the more urban friendly shorties and ended up uhm-and-aahing between the Alphinestars Spartan and the RST Urban Air II‘s that were almost identical in price and seemingly specification.
Went outside to my bike with an A* on the left and an RST on the right and decided what the hell I always wanted Alpinestars and they simply looked sexier.
I paid my money at the till, immediately cut off the tags and off I went on my way to work. Stupidly I didn’t take the entire pair back to the bike for testing and immediately something felt a bit odd across my right thumb and index finger as if there was too much material or it was too short somehow.
For a lack of time and event though I believe gloves should “just work” I soldiered on and figured I would give them a day to break in and if it really wasn’t working come back and hope that a return wouldn’t be too cumbersome.
I really liked the way these gloves were breathing across my entire hand as if I wasn’t wearing any gloves at all, but it wasn’t the complete free flowing you get from the usual mesh stuff and I still felt very protected.
My previous set of gloves convinced me never to get gloves that fasten at the top ever again because the wind drag just knackers the Velcro over time, but with the new bikes being less naked I thought maybe this isn’t so bad and they’ll last.
After a couple of kilometres it became apparent to me that the left thumb was way too long and completely disproportionate to the right thumb and this interfered with my ability to switch the indicator on and off.
By the next day it was really irritating but at the same time the fake suede on the inside of the glove had completely collapsed/flattened as suede tends to do and they already seemed thoroughly used having done less than half a tank of petrol. I reckoned getting them swopped out now would be an exercise in futility so I just carried on.
Fast forward to the following week and four riding days later the left thumb was coming apart completely at the stitching. Crazy considering it’s not a stress point and that it was already too long so it’s not like the fit was too tight and my thumb was pushing it apart.
Sure I could have just cut off the excess fibres and carried on hoping it would stop there but after only four days it was frankly ridiculous when you consider the gloves I just replaced lasted years and didn’t show any of these signs.
Back to the shop I went expecting a fight, but to their credit they were equally in agreement that it’s not up to standard and immediately blamed the cheap Chinese manufacturing until I pointed out that these were actually made in Vietnam according to the label.
They offered me another pair of the same but I decided not to risk it and opted for the RST’s that I had scoped out before and only shot down because of my perception of Alpinestars. I didn’t take into account that my winter gloves were two seasons old and also RST and they were still in perfect nick apart from the logo wearing off.
Let’s try again…
I got them in plain black and without the TT branding and they look somewhat different to the picture. Immediately they don’t look nearly as sexy but from the moment I got on the bike they were perfect as if I’d been wearing them for years.
They don’t ventilate quite as evenly as the A*’s due to the mixed mesh and leather design, but unlike those this glove actually has some leather while the other is completely synthetic in every material.
Even though they are priced almost identically the RST’s simply feel like a better glove overall for the sum of it’s parts.
Comparing the two in the shop and the manner they are stitched it’s obvious that the Alpines would wear out exactly where mine did and wouldn’t last near as long before becoming frayed.
On the “shortie” factor I need to say it’s quite refreshing to have that little gap across my wrists between the gloves and my leathers where a little bit of air sneaks in. I’m a little bit worried about sun burn there but so far it hasn’t been a real issue.
The RST’s fasten on the inside of the hand which makes a lot more sense overall from a wear and tear perspective, but again it shows up the design not being quite as sexy as the Alphinestars for being more square cut. That being said they seem more practical in that they are easier to get on than the Spartan’s while one hand is gloved so it’s the usual case of form follows function.
After 10+ years of looking down at RST as a cheap alternative brand and holding Alpinestars on high I can honestly say that at least in this segment they make a much better product for almost the exact same money.
South African Motorcyclist 