Still Sold on REV’IT! Gloves After A Decade

How often do we rely on the advice of others when it comes to goods and services? A friend recommends a restaurant, we try it. A total stranger suggests a scenic or curvy road to ride, we seek it out. When the automatic transmission in my pickup recently began slipping, advice from others quickly guided me to a shop that deduced and fixed the problem for a fair price.

It was 10 years or so ago that I was searching for riding gloves. A friend suggested that I try a pair made by REV’IT!. I bought them from a dealership and liked them so much that I later went back and bought second, more insulated pair that were designed for cold weather riding.

That first pair (pictured at right) have served me well. I’ve worn them for tens of thousands of miles to the point where now, at least a decade later, they’re faded and the seams are splitting. A few years ago, I bought some Doc Bailey’s Leather Black and rubbed it in. It proved to be a vain attempt to restore them to their original color. The pigment change was negligible.

As for the gloves, it’s an understatement to declare that I’ve gotten my money’s worth out of them.

As luck would have it, last fall I contacted REV’IT! with an advertising pitch. While it didn’t result in a sale, a relationship was established, and the company offered to make its products available for review. I suggested a fresh pair of gloves and requested the Vapor H20 model. They arrived promptly – just before winter descended.

It’s now spring and I’ve finally had the opportunity to wear them several times while riding, although I suppose I could have tested them behind a snow blower in the dead of winter.

What first caught my eye was their stylishness. While my original pair came in basic black, the Vapor H20s are flashier with some contrasting white panels and both red and white stitching. Carbon armor panels across the knuckles and TPU palms provide protection. The goatskin itself seems heavy-duty, too, and key areas are reinforced, more so than with my original pair. 

As I anticipated, the fit is snug yet extremely comfortable, just as it should be, but what has impressed me the most so far has been their warmth on cold mornings. They’re not designed as hand-warmers but they’ve been sufficient down into the upper 30s and low 40s, at least for a 30-mile ride to breakfast. If I’d have had them 10 years ago, I might not have needed a second pair.

While I also own a pair of traditional “glove” gloves to loan to occasional passengers, I prefer gauntlet style gloves for myself. I pull them over the bottoms of the sleeves of my riding jacket to prevent the wind from ever sneaking up the arms.

There is a problem here, though. The Velcro adjustment straps on the Vapor H20s may match the size of the receptor panel when not being worn but (as partially demonstrated by the hand model in the picture at left) they barely make it half-way across that area when I wear them.

The tab to the wrist zipper and the snap on my jacket are bulky, making it impossible to truly snug the adjustment tab on the gloves. A little wider strap would be an improvement, but this shortcoming is merely an annoyance, not a deal-breaker.

REV’IT gloves are not inexpensive. I’ve found the Vapor H20s online for $179.99. However, if past experience is any indicator, these gloves should prove to be extremely durable. The company says they’re waterproof, too, although I didn’t test them in the rain. It’s still too damn cold to venture out in wet weather.

Having promised to return the gloves after testing, it looks like it’s back to the old reliables that have served me well. I’m actually curious as to how long they’ll hold together. Excuse me, but I need to look for duct tape…