Nankai Pro Racing Gloves
It's only natural to grasp at the stars.
King Kenny, Fast Freddie, Wayne Rainey, Kevin Schwantz, Mick Doohan. These are the people normal riders often wish they could be, even if it's just for a day. In true Walter Mitty fashion, you might have even envisioned yourself being King Kenny wobbling into turn one at Daytona on a fiercely fast Yamaha TZ750, while you're actually just entering the on-ramp that is part of your daily commute. It's only natural to grasp at the stars.
Although this shouldn't be your reasoning when purchasing protective gear, I had to admit it did run through my mind when I saw the Nankai Pro Racing gloves. Nankai is a name familiar to American consumers from watching GP stars on television; they aren't stocked in many local shops around the proverbial corner -- Nankai goods have achieved a certain status because they seem exotic and are somewhat rare. Sure, there are several distributors in the States that import Nankai products, but nowhere near the scale of companies like AGV or Dainese.
Underneath, the palm is solid white, with padded "heel" areas. A nice feature of Nankai gloves is that they also have a continuous leather strip over both thumb and forefinger -- prime throttle area -- where it would be cumbersome to have multiple intersections of stitching and leather. A smooth lining on the inside top of all their gloves compliments the comfy feel of the leather.
Unfortunately, while they were very comfortable and allowed me to retain a high sense of feeling, my Nankais started to deteriorate almost immediately -- the gloves pictured here have less than three months riding time on them. They started to discolor after my first ride, which is not that unnatural for white-palmed gloves. What concerned me most was the amount of split seams and worn areas that developed in the gloves. Not only did the gloves wear through four seams and five holes -- with one of the holes over an inch long -- but the areas that wore through were quite uncommon. That is, the sides of two fingers wore out, as well as the left palm. Pinholes in the center of several fingers developed, and in multiple areas the seams split, or were starting to unravel.
More by Todd Canavan
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