Lee Parks Deer Sports Gloves

[triangleforge]

Figured some of you might be able to use a quick review of the Lee Parks Deer Sports gloves, which have been my main glove for the past year or so, using them for all but really cold or really hot weather riding.

In general, I almost really love these gloves, but a couple of nagging things keep me from giving them the full five stars.

PRO:

o   I just love the feel & color of deerskin (elkskin too), both of which perform better than cowhide at abrasion resistance; don't know how they stack up against kangaroo. The feel against your hand is really quite luxurious, and just gets better with time & use.

o   The seams are really well thought out and don't cause any discomfort, and the construction of the body of the glove is splendid.

o   They work for a really wide temperature range; I've got atrocious circulation in my fingers but can wear these comfortably down to around 45 before switching to the winter gloves, and up to around 95 before I start grabbing the "it's summer in Arizona" ventilated ones.

CON:

I really wish I could wholeheartedly recommend these, but a couple of annoying issues with design & construction prevent it.

o   The biggest issue is that these aren't "pre-curved" the way lots of motorcycle gloves are constructed -- they're mostly flat when new. Because of that there's too much material in the palm, which causes a big wrinkle between the palm pad and the fingers (see photo below). It gets annoying after an hour or two and becomes one of those things you're constantly noticing once it's in your head. Not painful, but a pain.



o   The wrist strap is at least 2" too long -- I've got some leather-working tools here at home and eventually hope to get around to shortening them, but it doesn't seem like something I ought to have to do on a $100+ pair of gloves.



o   Also on the wrist strap, it appears they spec'ed the wrong size slider ring, so it doesn't lie straight -- doesn't affect performance at all, but it's a detail that's just as easy to get right as it is to get wrong



o  As good as the stitching is on the body of the gloves (where it really counts), it's sloppy on the wrist & gauntlet velcro closures, as if they're done by completely different people, which could well be the case.

Overall, these are very nice moto gloves; the unfortunate part is that it wouldn't cost the maker a penny more to make them really outstanding.

[10/10ths]

I have the Phase Change Insulated version of these gloves and they are THE cold weather glove for me.

Absolutely fantastic.

They are awesome with heated grips for those of you who tour, the phase change material draws the heat around your hands.

Cheers.

[yoreese]

They need to be all black.