HELD AIR N DRY GLOVES – THESE ARE BRILLIANT

Handsome, beautifully made and effective.

Once in a while, a special bit of riding kit comes along, and you think to yourself: ‘This will take the world by storm. I should buy shares. Think of all the expensive women I’ll be able to afford. How do I do this without the wife finding out?’ And so on and so forth.

This is very much the case with these amazing Held Air N Dry double gloves. That is correct. There are actually two different gloves happening here simultaneously.

The glove is made with two chambers – a top and a bottom.

The bottom chamber of the glove is your all-round, great feel, well-vented and super comfortable touring-and-scratching-and-riding-like-a-boss glove.

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Slide your hand into the top chamber for lots of air, or into the bottom for dryness. Or when you turn the glove the right way up, the top chamber becomes the bottom and the bottom chamber becomes the top. You’ll work it out. There’s only a 50 per cent chance you’ll get it wrong.

But when the weather turns bad, the temperature starts to drop and the evil wetness begins to fall from the sky, you shove your hand into the top chamber. All Gore-Tex. All dry. All warm. Still the same great comfort and feel that Held is rightly famous for, but now your hands are not turning blue and wet like a corpse dropped into a river.

Held is originally a glove company. So if it knows how to make anything arguably (but not very arguably) better than anyone else, it’s motorcycle gloves.

And when it decides to perform a clever magic trick by making two different gloves out of one pair of gloves, you can bet the effort is going to be pretty special.

The concept is just so practical and clever, it can be nothing but German.

I have been wearing these for a month now. I have toured in them in temperatures in excess of 40 degrees, and I’ve belted around with them at night when it wasn’t very warm at all. When I tell you they’re ‘well-ventilated’, they are really well ventilated. Lift your hand off the bars and the air whooshes through them. Perfect for stinking hot days.

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Look! A technical diagram because German.

Likewise, I wouldn’t imagine I would need a warmer or dryer pair of gloves all year unless I was heading for the high country and the temperature started to work its way south of 10 degrees. While no glove is utterly or ultimately ‘waterproof’ because high-velocity water is a tricksy bastard of a Hobbit, these are as good as it gets.

Yes, I have used them.

Nolan helmet held by Held.

They come in this colour-combo too, if there is too much black in your life. Though how that is possible, I do not know.

The palms are made of kangaroo hide and the rest of the glove is a double-stitched and reinforced masterwork of leather, Cordura and those knuckle-protectors that go through car windows. The left-hand forefinger comes with a visor wipe, and Velcro straps secure it to your wrist, high and low. The gloves can be had for long-fingered monsters or short-fingered dwarves, and ladies can have them in delicate lady sizes. Your colour choices are black, or black-and-white.

They are truly the last word in comfort and practicality.

HOW MUCH? $250

You may order them HERE.

Tags: Gloves, Held, Product, Review

About the Author

Boris is a writer who has contributed to many magazines and websites over the years, edited a couple of those things as well, and written a few books. But his most important contribution is pissing people off. He feels this is his calling in life and something he takes seriously. He also enjoys whiskey, whisky and the way girls dance on tables. And riding motorcycles. He's pretty keen on that, too.