Castre Road Racing Gloves

Castre Road Racing Gloves

EVALUATION

It figures that a guy in the glove business who road races for fun would come up with superior racing gloves. In the case of Casey Kohler, president of Castre, that's exactly what happened.

Starting out a product evaluation with such a strong statement—that Castre gloves are superior—may be unusual. But after wearing and crash-testing Castre gloves, we feel that’s warranted.

For years, the first thing many people

looked for in a road racing glove was thin leather, the folklore being that thinner leather promoted better “feel.” The trouble with ultra-thin leather gloves is that

they don’t do a very good job of protecting your hands when you crash.

The Castre gloves are made of thicker leather than other road racing gloves

we’ve tried, and to avoid bunching when

the rider grips the bars, the Castre gloves

are built to fit the hand in a normal

curved, bar-grabbing position. Many

gloves are built straight, and when the

rider Hexes his hands, the leather folds

over and creases along the palm and under

the fingers, a problem which many have

started all that concern about “feel” a dec-

ade or two ago.

The Castre gloves follow not only the

curve of the fingers from hand to fingertip, but also the palm from left to right and the

knuckles on top of the hand as well. For better crash protection, the Castre gloves

are reinforced with extra leather on the

palms, have elastic, leather ribbing across

the knuckles and have seams reinforced

along the index finger/thumb joint. The

long leather gauntlet covers the joint be-

tween riding suit and gloves to keep out

the wind and avoid any exposed wrist skin.

The gauntlet is held closed with a Velcro

The overall result is a glove with thick

enough leather to do some good in the event of a crash, without intruding or

hampering control and comfort when rid-

ing. We knew we liked the gloves because

they fit and felt right, but it wasn’t until an

editor crashed on the racetrack (hitting oil

dropped by another bike in a 70-mph

turn) that we fully appreciated the protec-

tion offered by the gloves.

The rider’s hands were in perfect condition afterwards except for a heat blister on his left hand little finger from the heat of sliding along the pavement and trying to steer away from an Armco barrier by pushing down hard with his left hand. His gloves were used up, in essence sacrificed for his skin. The reinforcing did its job. “The gloves are junk now,” the rider said later, “but buying new gloves hurts less than nursing abrasions. I’ve crashed in all types of gloves, and this is the first time my hands weren’t hurt.” The gloves are good for warm-weather

street riding, too, since the long gauntlet keeps wind from ballooning up a wind breaker or jacket. Castre C-2000 Road Racing gloves are available in black, tan or a combination of gray/black, $29.95 a pair from local deal ers and racin2 sirnnlv houses.