HELD Rain Storm Gloves

In June, I had received a set of the HELD Rain Storm GORE-TEX® gloves from Angel-Wings Trading Inc. in Ontario.

The HELD Rain Storm glove has some great features to it.

• Palm in soft WR (water-repellent) goatskin.
• Back in stretch fabric with leather detailing.
• 3M Scotchlite® reflective piping.
• Gore-Tex® gloves with X-Trafit fabric technology extra-durable breathable waterproof membrane.
• X-Trafit by Gore-Tex is a laminated waterproof lining system - the lining will not pull out with your hand; laminated layers give single layer feel.
• Pique Push Pull lining in 100% polyester.
• Pique Push Pull lining is laminated together with the X-Trafit waterproof liner; this special fabric wicks perspiration away from the hand so that it may "breathe" outward through the lining more effectively.
• Adjustable hook-and-loop wrist and cuff straps.
• Visor wiper.

They are a good fitting glove that allow a rider full movement of their thumb thanks to the elasticized thumb joint design. 

They have high density foam padding across the knuckles and the pinkie finger and side of the glove have extra leather and foam as well. 

The over fabric is abrasion resistant and the palms are made of goat skin. 

The inside thumb area is double reinforced.

The heal of the hand area is protected by a foam panel covered with SUPERFABRIC® which is filled with ceramic etched plates that offer 14 times more abrasion time than Kevlar and they don't produce heat.

RevZilla has a great video that goes over the features:

Riding on hot days, they stay cool thanks to the coldblack technology.

The technology reduces heat build up due to sunlight and is especially effective on dark coloured textiles.

These are great gloves on many levels...Riding in rain however, is another story altogether.

In spite of their claims and the name Rain Storm, these are NOT WATERPROOF gloves.  

After riding in moderate rain for about an hour your hands become so wet and so cold that you feel like your fingertips are on fire. In really hard rain, they barely last 15 minutes before your hands are soaking wet.

When I do product reviews of a product that doesn't in my eyes, live up to its claim,

I Google search the product to find out what others say. 

I like to ensure that I am accurate in my reporting and that I have not done something that would degrade the ability of the product to do its job. There are very few reviews on the Rain Storm glove by HELD from anyone who has actually worn them in real riding conditions other than the one review I link to below - the rest tend to be new product walk arounds.  

HELD Rain Storm Gloves  - A review

Because the review above was written by someone who had similar experiences to me,  I went to the Gore-Tex® site to do some more research.

From the Gore-Tex® web site:

If you're feeling moisture inside your GORE-TEX® garment, it could that you are experiencing 'wet out,' a condition that occurs when the outer layer of garment fabric above the GORE-TEX® membrane gets saturated with water. While the inner GORE-TEX® membrane isn't leaking, the outer fabric can become heavy, leaving you feeling damp and cold. This can happen when your garment's durable water repellent - or DWR - outer fabric treatment needs restoring. This naturally occurs as your garment ages and the DWR treatment on the outermost fabric layer is exposed to normal wear and tear, especially across the shoulder and upper back area. See Restoring Water Repellency for instructions on how to restore the DWR treatment of your garment's outer fabric.  

I read up on how to restore that water repellency and that did nothing to restore my faith - the gloves had been dried in the drier on low and that did not improve their ability as a "Waterproof glove."  

During my recent crash, the HELD Rain Storm did its job safety wise - ALMOST.

The Macna jacket I was wearing during my crash had nice long sleeves, and I wore the gloves with the gauntlet on the outside of the sleeve.

As the bike pitched right, my right arm went almost straight out, and my arm, just above the cuff of the glove became exposed thanks to the short gauntlet. I did have the top of the gauntlet tight to the jacket sleeve, but once my arm became over extended and the fabric of the jacket began to tighten and pull from the force of the slide - it pulled the sleeve tight and my skin became exposed.

I believe that if this glove had a full gauntlet instead of a three quarter or short gauntlet I wouldn't have gotten a cut from the side mirror glass I rolled through.

At 56 seconds into this video about my crash, you will see where my skin becomes exposed just above the wrist area:

The gloves themselves held up really well in the crash and protected my boney knuckles.

In fact other than a wee bit or abrasion on the left glove at the wrist and on the knuckle pad, you'd never know they had been in a crash.

In spite of the 2 issues, I loved the fit of this glove - it truly is a comfortable glove, and the left index finger visor wiper feature is an absolute winner.  It offers great abrasion and impact protection and when your hands are damp, sticky or wet, the liners really do not pull out of them because of the Pique Push Pull lining and lamination with the X-Trafit waterproof liner.  It's a comfortable glove in warm weather too.

I'd wear these gloves all day long in the sunshine, warm weather and cooler weather but NOT in any heavier rain than a light shower and even then not for very long. They should be labelled as water resistant not waterproof and the name should be changed as it is in my mind somewhat misleading - these gloves did not hold up in any Rain Storm that I rode through.

The short gauntlet and less than stellar results during rain riding left me a tad disappointed with the HELD Rain Storm gloves.  I give them a 7 out of 10.

Angel-Wings Trading Inc. is the distributor for HELD products in Canada.

The news feeds over at BeltDriveBetty.com have some interesting articles that you might find of interest:

NORTHERN Tasmanian motorcyclists are urged to join their Southern counterparts in Hobart on Sunday as part of a nation- wide protest against Queensland's association laws.

The AMA in the US is challenging the CDC's call for a federal helmet law in the US.

MAG in the UK has a powerful person join them -  Former Liberal Democrat MP Lembit Opik has joined the organization as its director of communications and public affairs.

If you love Motorcycle racing then you might be interested in knowing that Valentino Rossi has given himself an ultimatum

There are lots of other articles of interest from around the world so be sure to visit www.beltdrivebetty.com where "Our work is keeping you informed!"

Tomorrows Busted Knuckle Chronicles has coverage from my Conga this past summer - read all about the Yarmouth to North Sydney NS portion of my trip tomorrow. So if you are a subscriber, make sure you look for your newspaper in your inbox!

And on a parting note - we have a new contest to announce...

Paul Jamiol, creator of "The Bikers Are Animals" book series for children has created a riding partner for Rita and this male beaver needs a name...

So, its time once again for Name Belt Drive Betty's Beaver mascot, details about that are also in the week's Busted Knuckle Chronicles.

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Have a great Hump day everyone.

Belt Drive Betty

Editor Rider