Komodo Gear has been producing motorcycle racing gloves for the public since 2005. Later that same year, we introduced the Meso racing glove. I’m going to spend a bit of time on the Meso race glove, because it was our very own design and was a labor of love. It took a while to actually bring the Meso to life because we were working with several different people (racers, designers and our factory). We made several different prototypes as there were a lot of “hands” on board in this glove design. Intellectually, the design of the Meso glove was truly our own. In looking back, the Meso glove actually proved to be very effective in testing and was adopted by many profssional racers starting in the beginning of 2006. This also means the glove was being harshly tested (crashed) heavily. The fact that the racers didn’t return them and used them for the full racing season said a lot about the quality and overall design of the glove. Komodo took a big risk with the Meso because it really was a new idea (a clean canvas design) including the fit and different use of materials. Like a lot of creative ideas, they either go big orgo bust; thankfully, the Meso was a huge hit!
The Meso actually incorporated Kevlar stitching throughout the entire glove, it was constructed of all leather, used commercially available TPU on the knuckle and on the fingers. The gauntlet was huge, it covered the full length of the wrist and offered a lot of protection for the racer. The main ingredient of success was the careful executio of the overall design and fit. The Meso glove was also comfortable. Instead of just using leather overlays on the palm, we actually found a way to incorporate a large Kevlar panel that covered the majority of the lower palm (including scaphoid) without inhibiting feel or function for the racer. This was a key safety feature because it’s a natural tendency to put your hands down during a crash where the palms take a lot of punishment and heat. Incorporating the Kevlar palm made sense and the design worked as planned. The Meso design was proof that Komodo was going in the right direction, it was a well received glove that was in use across the world in road racing. This included racers in the AMA, WSB, CMRA, WERA, CCS and even British Superbike! When you create a product that works, you really study it to find its faults so you can evolve it. Why start over whenyou have a solid design that is working? As you can see in the pictures, we took the Meso from an idea (we actually drew it up), then began making prototypes at our factory and then getting them into the hands of professional racers for use and review (that was a real test). Once the racers gave us the nod of approval, we then put the finished product into production for use by real privateer racers once we knew we had a really solid glove.
Naturally, a year of hard racing from dozens of pro racers on 3 different continents will quickly help you find your weakness. The lessons learned were quickly put into R&D and more testing ensued, and that is how we came up with our next generation glove, the K-FX, which was launched in 2007. As you can see in the pictures, the K-FX was an evolution of the Meso glove. We tuned the fit, added more TPU in critical areas and also incorporated the now famous KNOX SPS protectors on the palm in combination with the Kevlar panel. This wasn’t an easy task. We actually sat down face to face with the Geoff Travell, the owner of KNOX, and discussed our strategy for the K-FX glove. Thankfully, Geoff liked our idea and approved our use of his new design, the SPS. It’s our understanding that Komodo was the first company in North America to actually use the SPS protection system in a production race glove. The relationship with KNOX proved to be invaluable. The K-FX glove was truly a success as we sold the glove all over the world. Like any product, the work is never complete. You continue to see the glove succeed, but also get plenty of feedback from racers and customers. You can never be content with a design, regardless of its success. After three years, we have now decided to further evolve our glove line.
New for 2011, Komodois officially introducing the new, “Pro Racer”, glove. Like it’s predecessors, the Pro Racer shares many of the same safety features, but also incorporates a few new safety features such as a Kevlar upper.
It is a fresh safety feature that already compliments an extremely race proven design. Komodo worked very closely with a professionaldesigner on the Pro Racer glove to retain many of our proven safetyfeatures. As you can see in the pictures, we were able to retain the same palm, but instead of using the KNOX SPS system, we are incorporating stingray. Stingray is nothing new as it’s been in use for many years, just like Kangaroo has been used for years. The difference is that Komodo is able to use the both stingray, Kevlar and kangaroo in combination and keep the price point at a level that is reasonable and acceptable for the club racing community. As mentioned, you can never be content with your position, so we also refined the fit on the Pro Racer even further. We also designed new TPR moulds for a more custom look and continue to use commercially available Carbon/Stainless steel knuckle moulds. Our customers have complimented the new look and also have told us it’s our best fitting glove, yet. That in itself is quite exciting since many of our customers have told us our last generation K-FX glove was the best fitting glove they have ever worn. So, take a few moments to study the new Pro Racer glove and you will see it’s heritage from the Meso and K-FX glove along with a few new additions for a completely new look – and feel! Take comfort knowing that you have access to a glove that uses all the technology you can find in MotoGP, now available to the public for under $200.00!
