Motorcycle
Glove Reviews

Sidi Power Glove Motorcycle Gloves Review

Italian company Sidi has a very good reputation for making quality motorcycle riding/racing boots; the same pair that a professional racer wears is available for you to purchase and use – there is no difference. The company entered the glove market with the Sidi Power Glove as their top of the line offering. Though mostly geared towards street use, the Power also has many of the features found most often on premium race hand covers.

Goat leather makes up the bulk of the Power Glove; the hide is lighter and more abrasion resistant than cow skin which allows it to be thinner as well. Goat is also significantly easier to break in and a bit softer to the touch than your standard cow. This is all stitched – double-stitched in every exposed area with Kevlar reinforcement - together on the outside of the glove itself so that the fingers are more comfortable as the leather is closer to the skin with no rough edges along the inside. The palm is a complex construction on which a goat skin strip, which is actually quite thin, and a slightly rubberized section integrate into the areas where you want to feel the handlebars and stick to the grips.

Armor is in true abundance with the Sidi Power as the tops of the knuckles are covered with a split-base thermoplastic protector set. Below those sit similarly constructed protectors which also serve as air intakes to keep things cool – very nice for a race-bred glove. The flex of the top part of the glove is greatly improved in this manner making it far more natural in fit. There are more hard plastic protectors on three of four fingers and on the outside of the wrist cuff. EVA foam pads the thumb, palm bottom, and much of the wrist. The Power has a short gauntlet, but they may fit better underneath some jacket cuffs.

One noticeable facet of the Sidi Power Glove would have to be the interesting sizing; simply order a size larger than you might normally – try them on if you are able. The goat skin really is as “plush” as Sidi states, but pulling them on can be a bit of a chore. This is good and by design so that they will not be thrown of your hands should you be in a high-speed fall (it does happen and it is not pretty). This glove does not have any obvious stretch panels, but the hide used here is stretchy, and it feels nice on the hand.

In motion, the air scoops on top of the Power work well even in temperatures above 85F, even if these are not really summer gloves – they can be used as such unless you are in Malaysian heat and traffic. They do feel very good when in a crouched race position, and they are comfortable throughout the range of motion needed to operate the controls. They simply feel like well-made gloves and even incorporate retroreflective material into their design for conspicuity on the road – yet another safety feature.

There have been some complaints of bad stitch work on some of these shipped worldwide, but there is reason to believe this was a problem which Sidi may have resolved. The pair used here had no such issues, but look closely to be safe.

The Sidi Power Glove does have all the necessary parts to be a true race glove – it fits well, it is well-protected from the harshest treatment, and it allows great feel through the hands. The price though, is rather high for a glove sewn in China at US$185, but that is not outside of the range of its competitors. The Sidi Power Glove will not let you down should your hands be put in harm’s way. With a few minor improvements, these gloves might someday achieve the level of respect that riders have for Sidi boots.