So you are ready to hit the track and want to know what to look for in  high quality motorcycle race gloves? Yes, I said race gloves! When you take your bike to a track, you are in the big leagues and that requires “professional grade” equipment such as Komodo Gear.

You will need a glove that offers higher levels of protection than an everyday street riding glove.  Racing safety guidelines mandate that all race gloves have Kevlar components.

Here is a list of things to look for in high quality motorcycle race gloves

• High quality Leather  ( the highest quality race gloves have Kangaroo Leather palms)
• Carbon fiber technology on knuckle, wrist, top of fingers.
• Reinforcements for impact against abrasion
•  Good ventilation
•  Padding and  impact shock protection
• Kevlar padding and overlays with reinforced  stitching

Another good suggestion is to make sure the motorcycle race glove is made with C.E. rated components. “C.E. certified” means the product has been tested to do what it said it would do.

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!

Here’s an honest to goodness real “testimony” from Jim Cox, a Dunlop tire distributor on the West Coast. We had the privilege to catch Jim track side and get his personal comments on his experience with Komodo Gear

TESTED: KOMODO SPORT R/T SUIT

Author: TrackdayMag.com Staff

Komodo builds the most durable and protective racing leathers we’ve yet tested, so we were excited when they announced their intention to offer a suit aimed at the trackday/street rider.  It got more interesting when    Komodo asked TrackdayMag.com to consult on the project during the design phase. While this magazine’s opinions are not always taken seriously by some suit manufacturers,   Komodo was one company which we felt sure would give consideration to our suggestions.

With many brands, the terms “Race,” “Trackday” and “Street” often seem to denote descending rungs on the ladder of protection. We heartily disagree with this  philosophy.  Does a track crash offer less    potential for bodily harm if trophies aren’t at stake?  Wouldn’t it seem that there is a much greater chance for a falling rider to be smashed, sliced or abraded on public roads than in the sanitized environment of a racetrack?  Our design statement to the company was simple: Regardless of its mission, your new suit needs to crash like a Komodo.

The Sport R/T is aimed at track riders who also use their bikes on the street and want a no-compromise suit that works well in both environments.  If you’ve used a one-piece on a road trip, you know the embarrassment caused by bashing everything in sight with your sleeves when your leathers are pulled down to your waist. Worse is when the suit slides to your knees, exposing your Sponge Bob undies for all to see!

The Komodo Sport R/T is, for this reason, a  two-piece design. Obviously, a jacket and pants joined by a torso-encircling zipper will never be as strong as a one-piece suit, which is why Komodo advises that this gear is not intended for racing use. In reality, we’ve seen plenty of one-piece race suits that were less robust than the Sport R/T and after looking it over, we’re pretty confident that it would pass tech inspection with most racing organizations.

As with Komodo’s other offerings, the Sport R/T is built for the worst case scenario from 1.4 to 1.6mm full grain leather, which is far more protective than the thinner top grain leather used in most  competitor’s race suits or the totally uncrashworthy goat hide used in many street-oriented items. This is old school leather that reminds us of the days   before armor, when thick cowhide and some token foam padding was all the protection you got. Modern armor has made it possible to build a protective suit with thinner leather, but Komodo refuses to compromise and instead builds gear  that can be considered multi-crash survivable. The tradeoff for this is that the Sport R/T is one heavy set of leathers.  Two hundred feet down the asphalt, you’ll consider that to be a good thing.

A suit with Road/Track in its name should be tested in both environments. We sent Editor Paul Onley on a mission to evaluate this gear’s split personality. He said, “I found the suit to be quite comfortable.  During an 8 hour street ride, it performed perfectly both on and off the bike.  There is a nice complement of     zippered pockets, including one on the front of the pants, two in the usual “hand warmer” position on the jacket and one large zippered breast pocket perfect for a wallet. At the track I was happy to find that even while wearing my full-sized back protector,

I never found the suit to be tight in any position.

I was able to get down into a full aerodynamic tuck and drag the pucks with no issues. The knees and elbows of the suit stayed in position nicely, not dropping down or twisting out of place. The zipper between the pants and jacket circles the entire torso, which should satisfy the safety requirements of most track organizations.  I would describe the fit as roomy compared to the skin-tight cut of full race leathers, which is a good thing if you’re looking for street comfort as well as track-worthy protection.  Anyone who’s walked around the paddock hunched over like a gorilla due to the confining fit of a race suit knows that a competition cut is not ideal for real world riding.”

Many trackday riders own a race suit for their racecourse adventures but resort to a jacket and jeans for road trips.  Do you feel unprotected going down the street like that, yet don’t want to look like a hooligan while idling around town in an “arrest me now” 1-piece?  Would you like to avoid having to invest in multiple outfits to suit various missions?  The Komodo Sport R/T was designed for you. Featuring the thick, tough, full-grain leather and stout armor that has become a Komodo trademark, the Sport R/T surpasses most street-oriented gear in  protection and is quite comfortable, yet has the moves to take it to the track as well.  If you’re the type of rider who schedules week-long tours between track events and wants one suit that will do it all, the Komodo Sport R/T is the gear you’ve been waiting for.  Best of all, should the worst happen, you can rest assured that this suit will “Crash like a Komodo.”

The Komodo Sport R/T retails for an extremely reasonable $599.95 when purchased separately or can be combined with Komodo’s Ceno Race Gloves and FX Boots for a package price of just $831.15.  Visit www.komodogear.com to see their full line of race and street gear.

Customer Review of the K-FX Racing Gloves By Komodo Gear. To View other Komodo Gear Racing Gloves Click Here.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=URXSSdsDp_0