Slide gloves are an essential part of safety gear, as your skills improve you will at some point find it necessary to take it to your hands and if you have a good set of gloves it can save a good deal of skin. Even people getting into longboarding in general find it helpful to wear gloves. Knowing that if they do fall or get out of control they can just drop to their hands and save themselves some pain. Advanced sliding is becoming an aspect all its own and with gloves that match your sliding level it can really enhance your sliding prowess. We had the pleasure to get a number of the leading slide glove manufacturers involved in this slide glove test. From the Gravity camp we have the fingerless slide glove. Hailing from the north the sliders of Motion in Montréal, bring us the Motion Slide Glove. We also have the UK entry from the sick sliders of Lush Longboards; The Lush Slide Glove. We take a good look at what they are made of, how well they work, and what you are getting for your money.

Lush Slide Gloves

Construction

The Lush gloves have the appearance of a solid bomb proof robot-battle fist, the carbon Kevlar armored knuckles stand out and give the back hand a very solid look. The Velcro on the gloves provides more than enough room to move the large graduated edged puck around to your liking as well as the finger tip, recycled kayak material pucks. The large palm puck is a type of reinforced polycarbonate that seems very shatter proof and fully clear upon receiving with a lush logo recessed behind the puck showing through the shiny clear material. The newest model of the gloves that were tested even have a terry cloth back hand to remove errant sweat, garage boogers and dust from your face. The glove material is breathable neoprene backing with a rubberized palm. The surrounding area of the reinforced knuckles is also rubberized. The gloves have a small wrist strap and come in sized M, L, and XL. As stated before these gloves look sleek and indestructible.

Sliding

On the hills these gloves glide with little to no reduction of speed, the puck material is hardly scratched by a full slide session and is a very lasting material for it’s thickness. The graduated edges of the pucks prevent the puck from catching on cracks and road deformations. The heat build up when sliding is great and on extended slides you can smell the burn of the pucks. Even with the heat generated you do not get swamp hands due to the wicking nature of the neoprene. The gloves keep you cool while the sliding is hot. The wrist strap is good for maintaining the tight fit that enables the glove to react to minute hand movements. Anyone used to wearing larger garden style gloves will be amazed by the agility the gloves provide. The finger pucks are great for drifting and save the fingers from being torn. The gloves have more than ample Velcro for all types of configurations and moving or swapping pucks is a breeze. Even with the glove on simple tasks such as grabbing the deck and picking stuff up is possible. For more advanced tasks taking off the gloves is necessary and easy.

Conclusion

The gloves are higher priced than many sliding gloves however you get what you pay for. A long lasting puck and gloves when used to slide properly will last a long time. It is best to get these gloves when you have a bit of sliding experience for two main reasons; the neoprene can tear if you flub a slide and don’t get any of the many pucks down to catch you; also these gloves slide fast as there is little loss of speed when you use these to break. A slide properly laid out will be the necessary brakes you need but these gloves I believe were designed not to have any drag and they accomplished that. The only thing that could make these gloves better would be a nice burly wrist strap. Without it these gloves are smooth, slick, and race ready and I believe the lack of one helps to make the gloves cooler. Touted as “The most advanced hill sliding gloves available today” These glides are just that, serious slide gloves for serious riding on, at the top end of the scale these are gloves worthy of sick slides.

Motion Slide Gloves

Construction

Solid leather gloves and a webbed fabric backing keep these gloves looking sturdy and solid. The circular puck is made of 100% recycled Polyolefin and the rounded edges allow placement as you see fit. The gloves themselves with the sturdy leather are solid and durable. These gloves are no frills slider gloves. The pucks seem to have a much different makeup than most slide gloves with a resonant high density. The stitching in the gloves is exacting and all of the seams seem quite solid.

Sliding

While sliding the pucks on these gloves seem almost oiled the slides peel out with an ease and shredding of the pucks is minimal on one of the hotter days these gloves were tested thin strands of melted puck actually drifted from the edge of the puck. Even with the wear the ability to rotate the puck as needed and switch them provides ample sliding wear before replacement. The leather on the gloves is dense enough to protect from finger drag during drifting turns and drawn out slides. At this point the pucks are large enough to prevent finger drag as long as you keep your fingers slightly extended. The pucks when being slid and struck on hard surfaces make a very high pitch clack. Great for getting peoples attention when you need to evacuate a garage quickly. Slides are smooth and the pucks have little catch due to the round nature of the motion pucks which is shear brilliance. Drifting slides are solid as the puck makes a good contact point for a tripod stance. Reviewers noted that even though they were hot their hands stayed cool due to the webbed backing, which also helped to facilitate putting on and taking off the gloves. The gloves have plenty of room for grabbing your deck and simple tasks the gloves are only moderately burly so they are not cumbersome to wear.

Conclusion

These are a great all around utility slide glove, the reviewers felt the round pucks which prevent catching and the cool factor of the temperature when wearing them were huge benefits. As well as being all around comfortable to wear. The gloves are solid and maintain well on slides they had slight wear on the fingertips after a few tests sessions and the pucks were hardly shaved at all. The rotation of the gloves makes the pucks last far longer then most pucks would last. Where the puck would be worn through these pucks can just be rotated. The only downside the reviewers felt the gloves had was the minimal wrist strap a nice burly wrist strap would help to give a solid brace during slides but would also make the gloves far hotter to wear and most likely less comfortable. After the number of sessions that these gloves were reviewed the wear on the leather was very slight however for extended use I think an addition of a kludge fix to reinforce the fingertips would help to extend the life of these slide solid utility gloves. One of the reviewers started playing favorites with these gloves and chose to buy himself a pair. For the price and the quality you get these are great gloves.

Gravity Fingerless Slide Gloves

Construction

The main body of the fingerless slide glove is made from high quality leather and breathable foam. The leather is solid and the foam covers the gloves quite well making them resemble kick boxer gloves in some sense. The puck is angulated on the wrist side and is connected to the Velcro via two grommets. The glove side Velcro is also connected via a twin set of grommets. The gloves have a burly Velcro wrist strap with the gravity logo. The gloves come in M/L and the gloves they sell now are made for this size. Larger hands may have some size issues so check with gravity to see when they have new sizes. For reviewing we made the gloves slightly larger by sliding a tapered rod into the finger holes to accommodate larger riders. The leather seems to be very solid quality and the stitching on the gloves is solid with no stresses even after expanding the fingers.

Sliding

Half finger gloves are often a matter of rider preference, having your fingers extended is often the style of someone who wears half fingers. Slapping a slide and arching your fingers letting the puck take the slide. Most of the riders that used these gloves to slide felt safer with Coleman slides and drifting, although these gloves more than hold their own with more aggressive slides. The puck themselves seem to be a softer material and long drawn out slides will kill the puck material in a few sessions. These gloves are perfect for smaller pucks and having these gloves on does everything to provide hand protection and wrist support while being worn. Even with a smaller puck the gloves provide for slides that glide. Replacement pucks are available and anyone complaining about having to replace pucks has not been sliding very long. These gloves are well suited for sliding in situations where you -have- to slide, where minimal sliding is requires, and in perfect concrete pavement situations. The foam backing on these gloves, coupled with the half glove nature make these a very comfortable air conditioned slide glove. The gloves hardly impair movement with pucks attached or removed.

Conclusion

These are great all around gloves at a killer price. This cost effective glove is only a few dollars more to make than the most basic garden glove slider. You are getting much more than that with these gloves. If you choose to buy new replacement pucks or make your own pucks these gloves are solid and will stand countless sessions. The set the testers used have been being ridden on a constant basis for almost six month and only have slight cosmetic wear. The wrist straps were a favorite aspect with the review team who felt that it supported them well while sliding. In sudden jars it helped to withstand shock from bails. This is a great glove for urban skating, where you may need your hands. Removal of the glove is simple when removal may be quickly necessary. The sturdy nature of the gloves and the ease of replacing the pucks make this a great value for people getting into sliding who don’t want to bother making gloves or die hard sliders looking for a glove that is a bit more mobile. Great gloves at an awesome price. **Editors Note*** Since writing the article, I have seen a newer set of the fingerless slide gloves, the two biggest changes are a much thicker puck and more leather backing both of these changes do nothing but enhance the quality of the gloves.