My requirements were quite straightforward – a waterproof glove (preferably Gore-Tex) that was short enough to wear under an adventure jacket sleeve and offer a degree of through summer and into late autumn.
Enter stage left, the Richa City Gore-Tex glove.
Until owning an adventure jacket, short gloves were not something I’d considered because, during an off many moons ago, a clutch lever managed to go up my sleeve and cause a bit of excitement.
Shorter gloves lend themselves to sitting under the cuffs on textile jackets and the City Gore-Tex is no exception. The gloves were comfortable from the off with the cuffs tending to sit halfway down the back of my wrist, allowing water to channel off without fear of being soaked into my sleeves.
The gloves are constructed from a combination of leather and textile. The back of the hand and thumb are made from a man-made synthetic while the palm, underside of the thumb and fingers plus the finger tops are all made from leather.
This combination of materials works well as the gloves are relatively light in weight but protect the areas most likely to meet the tarmac should you be unfortunate.
Photography: VERSTOMD
Armour is limited to the knuckles with a small padded area covering your scaphoid. An extra layer of leather is stitched into the palm at the bottom of the fingers.
The gloves’ key feature is the Gore-Tex membrane and I’m pleased to report that this works well. I’ve ridden through several deluges wearing the gloves and they’ve kept my hands bone-dry each time.
The presence of the membrane meant I found these slightly on the warm side, but it’s difficult to be critical of the breathability due to using them through the abnormally hot summer of 2018, which left me sweating in even the lightest of gloves.
Fit-wise, these were very comfortable from the word go with the accordion panels on the back of the wrist and fingers giving a nice amount of flexibility. They also give a sufficient amount of feel for a waterproof glove.
The fingers feel compact, have just about the right length for me and are not excessively bulky like other gloves can be.
Both index finger and thumb tips have material incorporated into them to allow the use of touchscreens, this seems to work.
The gloves are secured by a good strong Velcro strap and, for rainy days, a wiper is provided on the left index finger.
Being physically compact, the City gloves are ideal for stashing in a tank bag or back pack as a wet-weather back-up for your usual thin summer gloves.
They offer a surprising amount of warmth on a cooler morning but can become quite hot when temperatures soar.
Some Sportsbikeshop customers have said in reviews that these gloves worked for them in winter, but they have no thermal lining and, in my opinion, there’s simply not enough bulk to protect against the cold when the temperature plummets.
To sum up though, the Richa City Gore-Tex are comfortable, light, waterproof and offer good build quality.
Fit & Comfort
The gloves fit me really well and are very comfortable. Sizing was pretty much bang on for me. They can be a tad warm in hot conditions and at the other end of the spectrum, I think they’ll struggle when it gets seriously cold.
Protection
Solid armour lives on the knuckles, but there’s little else apart from a bit of padding and an odd extra layer of leather. I’m sure they’d be fine during a low-speed slide but anything above that, the jury’s still out.
Waterproofing
Kept me dry on all occasions – nice one.
Build quality
Very well put together gloves.
Features
The City Gore-Tex gloves aren’t packed with features, but they still do a good job.