‘Banish chilly digits forever’
Tested by Richard Newland for two months/1800 miles
Riding with cold hands is exceptionally dangerous. Numb fingers, cold muscles, and the pain of cold digits can all lead to distraction and even a loss of control. Heated grips are a good start – but heated gloves are a far more valuable and effective solution. I’ve used Keis G501, Furygan Heat Blizzard 37.5 and Dane Fyre gloves in the past – but these new G701S gloves are already hot (sorry) favourites. The S stands for ‘Shorty’, as they have no internal battery compartment and a shorter, narrower cuff – enabling them to easily slip inside your jacket sleeves. The supplied wiring harness connects the gloves to your bike’s battery via supplied leads (or a separate Keis battery pack from £55, or a 12v plug-in power lead at £20) and the shorty design means that you can route all the wiring inside your jacket – banishing any external flappery – with just one connection from jacket to battery lead.
The G701Ss conform to the required EN 13594:2015 standard and are 1KP rated and once plugged in, there are three heat settings denoted by green, amber and red illumination of the power button on each glove. Progressive clicks let you cycle through the settings in order. I’ve used them down to -2°C (ambient) at prolonged motorways speeds and suffered no chills at all.
Construction is a Ballistic Spandex outer with a bonded Hipora waterproof / breathable membrane (no sweaty hands), there’s a scaphoid slider, 3M Thinsulate insulation, a visor wipe and smartphone-friendly finger pads. Comfort is superb, protection is good, they’re pleasingly devoid of bulk, and retain warmth when not plugged in. Apart from the cost – which is pricey, but entirely fair – and the green settings light being very bright at night, I can’t find anything else to criticise. Quality ★★★★★ Value ★★★★★ www.keisapparel.com