Below is the first part of my review for webbikeworld. The full review is available here:
https://www.webbikeworld.com/alpinestars-sp-air-gloves-review/
Introduction, and a Thank You
Spring 2020 is here and the world has certainly changed quite a bit over the past several weeks. The outbreak of COVID-19 has drastically altered the way people go about their lives all over the globe. Before getting into the review, I want to acknowledge all the vital work that is being performed every day by staff in the various industries that continue to be hard at work through this crisis.
Also, while I usually keep my webBikeWorld “world” and my “work” world separate, today I’m knocking down that wall today to give some well deserved appreciation. I want to say thank you to my colleagues and leadership at my place of work, HCA Healthcare. During the recent weeks, the clinical education team, of which I’m part, has had not only more work to do but also have to be very flexible in order to react to the rapid procedural and policy changes happening in the clinical space.
It’s been a great source of pride to be part of the HCA Center for Clinical Advancement as we work together and produce updated education materials our clinical staff needs as the situation has evolved. I also want to recognize our HCA senior leadership for their inspiring behavior during this crisis. They have truly demonstrated our mission of “Above all else, we are committed to the care and improvement of human life”.
Thank you.
So where was I? Oh yeah, a glove review 🙂
With warmer weather finally arriving, I wanted to find a new pair of summer weight gloves for 2020. I believe for most people, choosing a pair of gloves isn’t a difficult or lengthy task. For me, this means a lot of searching and comparisons can occur over several days or even weeks. However, in this case, it only took a few days to narrow down my choice.
The reasonable amount of research time is partly due to the fact I wanted to find a summer/hot weather glove that offers a full gauntlet and good protective features. The gauntlet aspect really limits the number of options for a hot weather glove so in a short time I landed on the subject of this review.
Let’s dig in.
The Alpinestars SP Air Leather Gloves
At first glance, the SP Air gloves look very similar to Alpinestars other sport-oriented gloves from their vast lineup and I don’t use the word “vast “ here lightly. Alpinestars has 81 gloves in their catalog at the time of this writing, and that’s just the road gloves! One of which is a women’s version called the Stella SP Air which is very similar in design to the gloves reviewed here.
Above images from Alpinestars showing the available colors
There are four* colorways available for the SP Air’s with a Black (with white lettering), Anthracite (black with grey lettering), Black/White, and Black/White/Yellow. I purchased the Black/White version we’re looking at in this review as I prefer brighter colors for gear designed to beat the heat. I do like the yellow accents on the Black/White/Yellow version as they do add a bit of extra daytime visibility and it was a close call.
* Note: The Stella SP Air gloves are only available in Black and Black/White.
The SP Air gloves follow the typical sport riding glove design with a gauntleted cuff, a hard knuckle protector, and some extra protection on the tops of the fingers. Being designed for warm weather there are a lot of details designed to provide ventilation while still maintaining robust enough construction to provide a CE rating (Cat 1).
Head over to webBikeworld.com for the full review.
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