Shift Torrent Storm Gloves Review

[YoshiHNS]

Well, just put these gloves through the paces. To cut to the chase, if you're looking for true waterproof gloves, move on. Keep reading for the details.

Bought them on DennisKirk for $40 on closeout, so they didn't cost me very much. For a pair of waterproof gloves, that is pretty cheap. I don't own waterproof boots or gloves, so for the price, I jumped on it.

FIT

Gloves fit fairly nice. A little bit tighter than I was hoping, but once your hands are in there it feels good. My right thumb is a bit swollen from breaking it a while ago, and I can feel that it is a bit more snug around that area than my other hand. The thumbs also feel a bit short. Could have used another 1/8"-1/4" of length on the thumbs. Finger length is perfect for me.

PUTTING THEM ON

The biggest problem I have with my normal riding gloves (Alpinestar SP-1) is that they are a pain to get on and off. The area around the wrist is pretty tight to get your hand through, and borderline impossible when your hands or gloves are even the slightest bit wet. From the pictures I could see that the shift glove's gauntlet was fairly small as well. And in fact they are only slightly easier to get on than my SP-1's.

The glove essentially has two layers. Outside layer is the first layer of defense. Inside layer is essentially a glorified liner. It's made of nice feeling material, but there is no waterproof plastic/gore-tex/ or anything, so once it gets wet that's it. Both layers have a gaunlet section, where the outer layer is a little bit longer than the inner layer. The inner layer stretches out to cover your wrist and a little bit more. And that is where the problems begin. The inner layer is a bit too thick to easily tuck under the jacket, while the outer layer was too small in diameter to easily wrap around the jacket sleeve.

I found the easiest way to get them on was to fold the outer layer of the gauntlet back so the inner layer is easier to get to. You have to pull on the inner layer to get the gloves on. There is a small bit of material on the underside of the layer for you to pull on which helps, but it would have been great if they put one on the top side as well. Once the glove is on, I pulled my rain jacket sleeve over that layer, and then folded the outer layer of the gauntlet back over my rain jacket. The wrist area is a bit tight, but not too tight to be a problem.

PERFORMANCE

I was disappointed and pleased with these gloves at the same time. I am looking at these gloves from two perspectives. First, do they work as waterproof gloves for stormy weather, and second, are they better than just using my normal gloves.

After about 1:30-2:00 hours of riding in weather between heavy drizzle and moderate rain, I could feel my fingertips getting wet. Up until that point they felt dry. I did have the heated grips going on medium, as it did get a bit chilly on the ride today. However, my fingers never really felt like they were sitting in a pool of water. At my first gas stop, the glove came off quite easily. I noticed how the area around my wrist was damp, which was fairly disappointing being as I hoped the jacket under the glove would prevent that.

The big test was getting the glove back on. First off, grabbed a bit of paper towel to dry my hand off. Again, my hand didn't come out soaked, but it was a bit wet. Took me a couple of minutes to get the glove back on. I only took the one glove off. The biggest issue to getting the glove back on was getting a grip on the liner to pull the glove on. It is just a bit too tight and hard to get a grip with. The dampness of the glove really didn't seem to be the problem.

Here's the saving grace of the glove. Even though water did get in, my hands remained warm. And yes, I did have the grips on, but that's not the reason. Even with the heaters on high, my hands would still get cold around the fingertips and top of my hand from my normal gloves. I never once thought about my hands being cold, even after four hours of riding in the rain and high winds.

So they're not perfect, but they're good enough that I'll be keeping them around. Until I find a pair of truly waterproof gloves (and boots), that is.

[timmythecop]

these are truely waterproof. and I got em on ebay for 10 bucks

they dont offer total protection like a roadrace glove, but they do not leak. They do get heavy and waterlogged, but no leaks so far.

for total and complete waterproof ness and protection you can beat these over your normal gloves

total of 8 hours in rainstorms in these and not one drop. They are so good, a frog asked me if he could borrow them. They do take some getting used to though.

[Monk]

Are these the ones you're talking about?

http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/product_catalog/Product.jsp?skuId=3569558M&store=Main&catId=&productId=p3569558&leafCatId=&mmyId=

[YoshiHNS]

Are these the ones you're talking about?

http://www.denniskirk.com/jsp/product_catalog/Product.jsp?skuId=3569558M&store=Main&catId=&productId=p3569558&leafCatId=&mmyId=

That is it.

[hondalover]

Not sure if it makes a difference for you Yoshi, but you might try keeping your outer rain jacket sleeve over both layers of the glove. That is if there is enough wrist room in the sleeve. When my first set of Joe Rocket rain gloves leaked, I was asked if I had tried the gauntlet both inside and outside of the sleeve. I was told in instances like you experienced with the rain jacket, the rain is most likely running down the sleeve and into the glove. Just thought I'd throw that out there for you to try on your next wet ride.