It takes very bad weather for me to move away from my preference for lightweight, well-ventilated riding gloves – and a trip to Latin America meant I was sticking to my usual with these Richa Turbo gloves.
They’re made using a combination of goatskin, on the palms, and polyester mesh for the back of the hand to maximise ventilation, with hard knuckle armour and rubber protection on the fingers.
There’s extra padding at the heel of the palm, which isn’t detailed in Richa’s skimpy literature for the gloves, and the gloves are closed with a Velcro fastener at the wrist.
They’re simple, which is how I like it, and they are also a good fit for my hands. My only minor complaint was that a seam on one finger was noticeable from the inside, but this didn’t detract from the good levels of comfort while riding.
I wanted lightweight gloves with good ventilation for my trip, and that’s exactly what I got. The mesh was very effective at keeping me cool in warm weather, which perhaps wasn’t a surprise.
Photography: Will Brodie
What did come as a surprise was the ability for the gloves to keep me warm enough while riding in lower temperatures than I expected. They’re still light, summer gloves, though they cover a wider range of conditions that I’d anticipated.
The goatskin leather palms allow good feel and touch on the bike controls and the overlapped panels on the hard knuckle armour ensure the gloves remain comfortable when the hands are folded around the bars.
I covered a lot of miles in a short space of time with these gloves and they’re something I just put on and forgot about. They were easy to slide on or off and were comfortable to ride in.
They were a good choice for the majority of my trip, which also included stretches of very wet and cold riding that weren’t suited to these gloves, and they were very easy to live with during long days on the road.
Fit & Comfort
The pair I tested are a medium, which is the size I would have expected to fit me. The comfort is good. They give a good feel of the motorcycle controls. The articulation of the hard armour on the knuckles keeps them comfortable when your hands are folded around the bars.
Protection
These are not a heavy glove with lots of armour and multiple layers of protection; that’s fine for me as I made my choice based on lightness, dexterity and ventilation. There’s no CE marking, although it feels like the glove would give reasonable protection.
Ventilation
These gloves have good ventilation that allows air to flow around my hands, keeping them relatively cool in the hottest of conditions.
Build quality
The build quality is good and after 4000 miles they still feel like they will last well into the future.