Newsflash
|
Bad News Dept: Montreal's Top Challenge is Cancelled. The '08 edition of this multidisciplinary event has been cancelled, according to event organizers, who reported,"A new comitee to protect the Parc du Mont-Royal has convinced the city to stop allowing permits for events that last more than 24 hours..." This reduces the major events for '08, leaving only Munnsville for large, East Coast races. |
|
Front Page  Gear & Accessories Generation 2 Gravity Pro Slide Gloves
|
Generation 2 Gravity Pro Slide Gloves |
|
|
|
|
Wednesday, 01 November 2006 |
|
With the production of their “version one” slide gloves far past, Gravity has been working hard to revamp their line. I’ve had a lot of time on several sets of the old-style gloves and, recently, had the opportunities to really put Gravity’s new sliding gloves through hell. In this review, I’ll take a look at the contrasts between old and new, the intrinsic ability these gloves apply to the slider and how well they endured the ride. Taken to the hills, both mellow and gnar, we shredded gloves till the sun stopped shining on the hills.
Gravity Pro Slide Glove
Construction
Puck Size: L:4.3”x 2.7”
Leather Percentage on glove 75%
Leather Front Glove
Leather and Neoprene Glove Backing
Neoprene Wrist Strap
Velcro Wrist Clasp
Velcro Puck Attachment
Graduated Edged Delrin Pucks
Retail: Gloves 40$
Visit Gravity Skateboards
Buy Gravity Slide Gloves Preorder till Nov 15th
The new version full finger gloves appear primarily different from the first Gravity gloves in the material which make up the glove. A great deal more leather has gone into the design and the leather wraps up along the finger to the top edge of the stitching. Pulling the glove inside out proved the stitching on the gloves to be deeper into the material which, as far as appearances go, makes us think they will be more durable.
All black with the Gravity Wings on the wrist strap, the edges of the wrist seams are wrapped and stitched. The palm Velcro is affixed by full adhesion to the glove and the Velcro on both fingers and palm is stuck on securely with the stitching offset from the edges to prevent the Velcro from releasing. The fingers are separated in a Vulcan V and both the twin fingers and thumb have Velcro affixed.
The pucks are Delrin with rounded edges. The palm puck is significantly thicker than the finger pucks. All finger pucks are individual shapes, with the index and middle finger being larger than both the pinky/ring and thumb pucks. The pucks are solid matte black with no seams or mold lines.
Sliding
The initial response of all riders was that the gloves were “super-low drag”, even to the point of being excessive with the amount of speed. No great deal of speed loss was felt with the deck in line with the hill when the hands were down. One failed spin attempt left one slider rolling backwards with both hands on the ground and the expression on his face plainly reading, “Wtf? What do I do now?”
With other slides, especially extended rotations, the effect of the Delrin was very pronounced. Series of flat spins were extended by as many as two or three rotations with only the gloves being the new factor in the slides. As well as the gloves slid, they were functionally able to resist wear.
On all but the most extreme and aggressive surface conditions, wear was roughly the same as would be expected from most high quality UHMWPE sliding puck materials. The wear patterns on our UHMWPE pucks were quite similar to those on the Delrin.
The pucks are fully swappable from hand to hand and for rotation to extend the life of the Pucks. Wear patterns differ between people, but all of the skaters I was with were able to make use of the pucks and extend their life by rotation between intense sessions.
The rounded edges of the puck faces, along with the difference in puck height provided a very accomodating slide surface. The glove had no instances of fingers rolling over or puck catching on aberrant road conditions. The most severe cracks and divots in the road were little more than a pulse as the gloves floated over the cracks.
On the gloves themselves, the primary wear areas were one point between the thumb and wrist joint, as well as a small patch at the base of the wrist where the wrist meets the palm of the glove. During the duration of the testing no seams were exposed and the wear points did not accelerate the degradation of the gloves to any degree. Some peel away was seen in the velcro attachment to the pucks.
Evaluation:
Gravity has put a great deal of effort into the puck system used in these gloves. Did it pay off? In the case of the pucks, yes. To a greater degree what was under examination was the nature of the glove. The previous gloves generated a great deal of comment due to their short-lived nature. Gravity has made specific improvements to overcome these points.
The gloves themselves functioned quite well and their sturdy nature shows that many of the aspects of the previous gloves were revisited and changes made. The primary cause of glove degradation in the previous models was due to the finger pucks catching, fingers rolling over and glove material becoming exposed and seams breaking. This was not the situtation with these gloves. They stayed solid. The only downside seen in them would be the lack of a burly wrist strap that the half glove from Gravity has.
It would be expected that, under normal riding conditions, these gloves could hold their own for much more than the duration of one puck set of life. The pucks themselves slide very fast accentuating high rotations and complement the trick slider well. The minimal damadge to the gloves is to be expected from sliding and the velcro seperation is easily repaired. Gravity isn’t setting out to make a high-priced slide glove; they’re trying to make an affordable glove that still has the inherent level of quality Gravity would like to be known for. As far as their goal is concerned, it looks like they have accomplished just that. The full finger is an affordable glove for the aggressive slider looking for a very slick surfaced puck and a glove that can survive the basic rigors of sliding. |
|
Last Updated ( Wednesday, 28 February 2007 )
|
|
|
