Alpinestars "Stella" SP-3 Motorcycle
Gloves
by "Smalls" S.G. for webBikeWorld.com.
More:
Also: See the wBW
Women's
Motorcycle Clothing Page
Summary: A well-made pair of women's leather gloves from the
Alpinestars "Stella" women's motorcycle clothing line.
The Stella SP-3 gloves have plenty of
padding and reinforcement.
Ladies, if you are like me, you’ve found it frustrating
to find the perfect gear specifically designed for
women.
I live in a small town and the pickings for
women’s motorcycle gear are mighty slim to say the least.
Many
times I’ve been told to try a men’s small, but the fit
isn’t the same – whether it is boots, gloves, riding
pants, or jackets.
While I don’t want something foo-foo,
I do want something feminine, and men’s gear will not
cut it for me. I mean, I want everyone to know it’s a
girl on that bike!
Gloves were the easiest item to find. The hunt for a
jacket and pants was tiring, and the quest for a
helmet…well, that’s another whole story to come soon.
In
the meantime, I
was so happy to find a pair of gloves that had most of
the features I was looking for but which still fit my
budget.
After trying some men’s gloves (which were too
wide in the palm) and a few pairs of women’s gloves, I
purchased Alpinestars’ Stella SP-3 Gloves.
Glove Fit Tips
But first, here's how to get the proper fit:
When trying on gloves, you should be able to pinch a
small amount of material at the tip of each finger and
thumb when the fingers are extended. This extra room
will be taken up when you grip the hand grips.
Next, do
just that; wrap both hands around some hand grips. In
fact, throw a leg over your bike, especially if you ride
a sport bike.
The feel of the gloves is different if you
are just standing holding a grip versus if you are
leaned over the bike with a little weight on your hands,
so go ahead. It’s an excuse to sit on that dream
machine you’ve been wanting!
Once you stop drooling over the bike, focus on the
gloves. How do they feel? Does the material sit smoothly
under your hand?
Some gloves I tried bunched up in the palm just below
the fingers. While a little wrinkle under the palm may feel fine
when sitting in the shop, in a
couple of hours it might lead to irritation and possibly
blisters. The glove should fit snugly to provide a good
grip on the handlebars.
Pay particular attention to any
pressure on the fingers or fingertips – this can cause
said appendages to become numb while you're riding. If
a seam is pressing into your fingers, try another size
or another pair.
Glove sizes may vary slightly within each brand, or even in the
same model from one year to the next; the Stella GP-3 gloves I
purchased are an older version.
I tried on the new
GP-3 gloves and the fingers were slightly shorter -- not
much, but just enough so that when I wrapped my hands around the
controls, I could feel pressure on my fingertips.
It may
have just been that particular pair I tried on; the
store only had two pairs in size large. With the exception
of finger length, the feel and cut was the same between
the older and newer models.
Alpinestars Stella SP-3 Women's Gloves
OK, so let’s talk features!
The Stella SP-3 gloves are light weight leather; perfect
for street riding. The gloves provide a nice grip on the
bars. My hands get a little cold when the
temperatures drop to around
45-50 degrees (7-10 Celsius); however, I often have cold hands, so
this is subjective.
With the weather in the 60's (15-18 C), my hands feel fine. It hasn’t been warm enough this year in
northwestern Montana to comment on how these gloves will feel
on a hot day, but when I get the chance to find out,
I’ll let you know. C'mon, summer!
The Alpinestars Stella gloves sport a full gauntlet,
which is 3 ¼” long (8.2 cm) on my size
large gloves. The gauntlet includes padding on the outside of the wrist,
adding extra protection for the wrist bone in the event
of a slide.
Gauntlets are a feature I need, because
most jacket sleeves run short on me. The gauntlet
on the Stella gloves extends past the cuffs on my jacket to protect my wrists
in case of accidents, as well as offering protection from
the elements and bees (A couple of friends actually had
bees go up their sleeves and sting their arms and backs; I’d rather skip that party.)
The hook-and-loop closure allows a customized fit over
jacket sleeves and the diameter of
the gauntlet on the Stella gloves is 5 ½” (14 cm), which fits easily over my jacket’s
tapered sleeves. There is room for a bulkier sleeve, but
that would depend on how bulky the jacket actually is.
The Alpinestars Stella gloves are made from full grain leather with a
padded, Kevlar-reinforced leather palm. The outside of
the pinky also includes leather reinforcements, while the inside of the
thumb and bottom of the index fingers feature
reinforcements made from suede.
An extra layer of leather would have
been nice on the ends of the first two fingers to
prevent wear from clutch and brake levers. And
additional leather reinforcements on the palm, just
below the fingers, would have been a great addition
also.
Alpinestars Stella SP-3 gloves have pre-curved fingers.
The fingers of the Stella gloves are pre-curved to provide a natural hold on
handgrips. A 5mm EVA foam layer protects knuckles,
the back of the hand, and the wrist and the fingers and thumbs have an
extra layer of leather with foam padding for added
protection.
While the leather is light weight, impact
areas have been reinforced with extra layers of leather
and padding, all secured with double stitching. Even
with all the padding, these gloves flex easily and are
very comfortable.
The seams are on the inside of the glove, rather than on
the outside. Sometimes, depending on fit, this can lead
to irritation during extended rides, but the longest I’ve
ridden in these gloves is two or three hours and the
seams were not an issue for me.
There is a thin layer of
knit fabric inside the gloves; the best way to describe
this is as a fabric backing for comfort. However, Alpinestars
does not indicate that the Stella gloves are lined.
A true liner
would be a complete inner glove attached inside the
outer shell and all seams would be enclosed between the
two layers. The fabric inside the GP-3
gloves is sewn in a way that all the seams are still visible and
would be touching the skin (see picture below).
Inside the Alpinestars Stella SP-3 gloves.
Elastic on the bottom of the wrist helps keep the glove
in place. Over time this elastic will eventually stretch
out, so I would have preferred the addition of a thin
strap here for more security in keeping the glove
secured on my hand. However, it fits well and feels fairly secure.
And embroidered logos give the glove a finishing touch.
According to the Alpinestars sizing chart, I would need a medium,
but the store where I found them only had a size small and large, and
the large fits great.
I didn’t have a medium to compare
it to, but since the fingers fit perfectly on the large,
I think the medium would probably be too short in the finger
length.
The most recent versions of the the Alpinestars Stella
gloves have a few variations: the color of the
embroidered "SP3" is grey rather than white; the leather
reinforcements and padding are styled differently and
the finger padding extends to the finger tips; the wrist
padding reinforcement is perforated leather; the wrist
elastic goes all the way around the wrist; and there is
an added leather reinforcement on the palm just below
the fingers.
These additional features also add $20.00 to
the list price.
Conclusion
The Alpinestars Stella SP-3 women's motorcycle gloves
are a well-made pair of leather gloves with plenty
of padding and reinforcements. Although I would
like to see a
couple of additional things added, with the current feature
set and price I don’t think the Stella SP-3 gloves can be
beat.
I picked mine up for $45.00. If you are
budget-conscious, but don’t want to sacrifice
protection, check these babies out!
