What are they like to use?
We decided to carry out two tests on these gloves; our usual on-bike riding assessment, over a variety of roads and then, measure the temperatures within each glove using digital thermocouple-based thermometers to assess the cooling effect of each design while riding.
On the hands
As I found when trying the LS2S in the August issue, they are supple, with an elasticated section by the wrist strap which made getting them on initially easy and they fitted nicely, albeit with a slightly long thumb.
The Alpinestars came up small — I had to go a size up from my normal Medium — and were very stiff out of the box. presumably a function of the materials and construction. They needed some breaking-in before I even climbed on the bike.
On the bike
The LS2S felt as they did when we tried them recently; they were comfy, with a good fit and decent feel for the bike’s controls, though the left thumb was beginning to become annoying as it kept catching the indicator switch. The initial suppleness also began to swing towards bagginess in certain areas as well — the thumbs, for example, though long, were also very wide which meant they lacked precision. The fingers also felt like they were becoming looser with time, which was a little disconcerting.
Switching over, the Alpinestars still felt much stiffer but were loosening with use. They were much closer fitting and were clearly built for a purpose. I could feel the seams at the end of the fingers the same as I could in the LS2S but the Alpinestars had a single join at the bottom of the fingertip. The fingers and thumb were narrower so the overall feel was more secure but the stretch panel at the base of the thumb meant opening the hand was still easy.
Feel was excellent and using the controls was no issue at all, with no catching on the buttons. The finger bridge was similar to that on the LS2S so felt no different, though there was some unwanted pressure on the second knuckle on each little finger under where the joining piece was fitted.
The Supertechs also felt considerably less bulky than the LS2S, particularly at the cuff. You'd think a large TPU panel would take up a lot of room but they were easy to do up and were narrower than the LS2 counterparts, making them simple to get under jacket cuffs while still going over effectively.
By the numbers
We fixed a digital thermometer thermocouples to each hand to assess the gloves' cooling abilities. We used a sticking plaster to separate the sensor from the skin to prevent each being skewed by body heat.
The LS2S didn’t feel warm or cool but the middle finger was cooled more than the Alpinestars while the back of the hand wasn't cooled as much as the finger. For the Alpinestars, the figures showed they also cooled the hands; not as much as the LS2S on the finger but more so on the back of the hand.