Tried and tested: Weise Apex motorcycle gloves review

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Lots of people favour full length gloves for every ride – the additional protection they can offer over the wrist makes them feel more reassured. I, however, tend to prefer shorter gloves particularly in the warmer months and while my usual go-to summer gloves are proper ‘short’ design, these mid-length Weise Apex gloves are a great compromise.

When I say mid-length, I mean that they have a degree of wrist protection, but they are not full-length gauntlet style, so they will sit under jacket cuffs a lot more comfortably than a longer pair, that may need to sit over the outside.

This can be particularly useful on those warmer rides, where you want to get some airflow up your jacket sleeves in addition to whatever else airflow you can get through vents, for example.

The Apex’s feature an elasticated cuff with a wide Velcro closure. This makes them easy to get on and do up so they stay on without wrestling large wrist sections or tightening jacket cuffs enough for them to fit over.

I have slightly odd-shaped hands – a wide main section and short, stumpy fingers and thumbs – but these fit me perfectly. They are snug without being overly tight – I’d far rather have gloves, particularly like these in leather, that start tight and then give in use than ones that are too large to begin with and only get bigger.

The result is that there is no annoying extra length in any of the thumbs or fingers, which can affect feel for the levers or the indicator switch, for example. The little and ring fingers are joined with a bridge to prevent the pinkie getting hurt in a tumble and while some people don’t like that (you can always cut the leather to free them up) I don’t mind it though it does take a little getting used to.

Related: Best waterproof summer motorcycle gloves

The TPU hard-knuckle armour, designed to look like carbon fibre, sits in exactly the right place and gives loads of confidence while there is soft padding down the entire length of the thumb and in two positions on each finger.

There are also two padded sections on the back of the wrist, one under the knuckle armour, one padded section over the scaphoid and a hard TPU slider on the heel of the palm – the landing zone.

Movement with the gloves on is excellent – there are stretch panels on each finger and the pre-curved design make them very comfortable when on and easy to use. The single-layer leather on the fingers means feel for the levers is excellent and there are grip panels on the palm, though these seem to offer little more grip than the leather itself.

There are also smartphone screen-compatible sections on the forefinger and thumb though only the thumb on the right hand seems to work on my iPhone 11 with a hard glass screen protector fitted.

The leather is perforated for a decent bit of cooling on hot rides and this helps in preventing the hands getting too warm or sweaty. The lining is plush and feels lovely against the skin and the seams are on the bottom of the fingers and outside, so they don’t interfere with the fingers – it’s one on my pet hates when seams lodge themselves under the fingernails…

Verdict

For warmer and dry rides, these gloves from Weise are very nice. They fit well, give great feel for the bike’s controls, are reassuring in their protection and are not too obtrusive.

They sit nicely under a jacket cuff so you can get some airflow up the sleeve and at less than £60, are excellent value too. You can get them in all-black but I like the relief of a little white in the colour scheme.

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