Tested: Richa Atlantic Short GTX motorcycle gloves review

Date reviewed: Sept 2019 | Tested by: Steve Lamb | Price: £119.99 | www.nevis.uk.com

With the kind of spring weather we've been having this year, a waterproof summer glove is a good investment. Cool and thin enough to give the control you need while still keeping you dry when the inevitable downpour happens.

I've been wearing these Richa Atlantic GTX gloves for over 1,500 miles over the last few months on a variety of bikes including a KTM 1290 Super Duke GT, a Suzuki Katana and my own Ducati Scrambler.

I've been wearing the black gloves with red trim, but they are also available in grey leather with yellow trim.

Fit and feel

As a size 9, I usually take a size large in glove, but despite being labelled as an extra-large (10), these gloves fit me very nicely – once on. While the dimension of the hand part of the glove seem to be in line with normal sizing, the narrow cuff is very restrictive, to the point that BikeSocial's Consumer Editor, John Milbank, who usually takes a L, couldn't even get them on. As with all gloves, fit is subjective, but I really would recommend trying on a few pairs of these to make sure the fit is just right.

Once on though, the length of fingers and width of palm are all just right ensuring a very nice secure fit.

Billed as a summer glove, the Atlantic GTXs are constructed from a mixture of materials including leather and a range of synthetic fabrics comprising polyamides and polyesters under Richa's name of 'supafabric'. Claimed to have better abrasions resistance than leather with half the weight, the panels are restricted to the edges of the fingers, back of the hand and the thumb, where flexibility is key. The palm is leather and features a ray-skin-like panel on the heel and little finger – places most likely to touch down in the event of an off.

Warm and cold weather use

The Atlantic have no ventilation so you may be tempted to use these as an all season glove,  but they offer very little in the way of warmth. Even at around 10ºC, after an hour of motorway riding my hands were cold – not freezing or dangerously cold, but cold to the touch.

At temperatures between about 15°C and 25°C, they come into their own, keeping your hands a constant temperature and allowing you to forget all about them and just get on enjoying your ride.

Once over about 25°C though, that lack of ventilation means they get clammy and sweaty very quickly. I found that once my hands got hot and slightly swollen, getting the gloves off and on again became even trickier and an hour of riding was all I could realistically manage.

To be fair though, most gloves will struggle at these temperatures, and riding in the midday sun in hotter climates is probably best avoided where possible.

Protection and certification

These gloves are CE certified to EN 13594-2001 level 1 and provide knuckle protection (as denoted by the KP mark). Protection is provided by D3O soft armour ensuring a comfortable fit with no rubbing or restrictive movement.

From April 21 2018, all new motorcycle clothing is deemed to be Personal Protective Equipment (PPE). To meet this legislation, it must be tested to a recognised standard. For more information on the law, click here.

Fastening

The Atlantics are secured via a wrist strap with hook and loop closure for adjustment and a cuff flap to prevent draughts and rain ingress from your jacket.

While the cuffs are not very accommodating, they will fasten over tight leathers, but I did struggle to get them over textiles jackets. In wet conditions though, it’s best to tuck the glove cuff under your jacket cuff, to prevent rain running down your arm and into the top of the glove.

The strap ends are flared to prevent pull though and a portion remains unfastened to ease undoing them with a gloved hand.

Wet weather use

Richa's marketing information states these gloves as being 100% waterproof and I had a good opportunity to put this to the test on a recent trip to take my Ducati Scrambler for its MoT. A good hour of motorway speeds in torrential rain, followed by a mix of A-roads and B-Roads home and the glove outers where entirely wetted out. But on removal I was amazed to feel that my hands were completely dry; cold, but dry. Even after allowing them to warm for a few minutes and then putting the gloves back on, they were complete dry inside, with no dye transfer or liner pull out.

The Atlantics do have a visor blade on the left-hand index finger, which did allow for some clearing of my visor during the downpour, but I’m always reluctant to use these for fear of scratching my visor.

Lining

The Atlantics are fitted with a Gore-tex gore grip liner. Effectively this means that the layers of the liner are bonded together to prevent movement between them. Not only does this mean that you can grip better (the same technology is used in ski gloves to help you grip the poles), but it also means that there is no fear of pulling the lining out when you take off the gloves.

Conclusion

To say that I have been impressed with these gloves is an understatement. At £129 they are not cheap by any measure, but I really do feel that they perform well enough to justify the price. With heated grips on your bike, they could be the only gloves you need for year-round riding, but even as a three-season glove, they represent great value and provide true waterproof performance.