Held Titan Race Gloves - Review

I jumped at the chance to bag a set of Titan gloves from Held after being so bowled over by their Slade race suit reviewed early 2011, at the very top of the tree in terms of price can the protection on offer really justify the cost of them? Only one way to find out, wear them for ages and see how I get on!

Initial Thoughts

I get a phone call from those nice people at Held UK offering me a set of their top of the line gloves to review for the summer, only having recently been acquainted with Held products and actually being blown away by the sheer quality of the suit I had to review I snapped their hands off and ordered my usual XL size in my now preferred black and white. A few days later the deliveries came in and with it my set of Titan gloves - top stuff! Other people who wear these gloves have given a glowing report based on their experiences and actually a lot of them are either professional racers and those fast group junkies at trackdays - basically people who crash a bit and ask a lot of their gear.

One report I had given to me was they didn't take any breaking in, while I would love to say the same I have to admit that while break in time is not quite as long as others and certainly there was no pain involved, any leather product is going to take a certain amount of breaking in time which is simply the time it takes for the material to stretch and contour to the shape of your hand (in this case). Kangaroo leather is used exclusively for the construction and with that a thinner grade can be chosen in comparison to cow hide while keeping up the high levels of durability, by choosing kangaroo you do get a fast and comfortable break in period.

Construction

Let's start by analysing the overall construction of this range topping product, we have already touched upon the exclusive use of kangaroo leather for the construction, this keeps the glove feeling light, supple and seriously improves your feel of the bars and as a result overall feel when riding your motorcycle, they are also unlined which really aids in this. As you look around the entire gauntlet you cannot help to prod and stroke the bobbly protectors dotted around the fingers, knuckles and wrist in area's you would expect to see Carbon Fibre lashed around, these sections are Stingray leather - yep those shark relatives that normally swim about!

Stingray is at the forefront of exotica when it comes to protection manufacture, not only because only limited numbers of stingray are actually allowed to be culled but primarily because gram for gram it is the most abrasion resistant form of leather known to man, the feel is somewhat akin to a resin or plastic and you feel instantly how smooth the surface is and understand the reason why it is used on areas such as the ball of your hand - to aid sliding, reduce friction and ultimately reduce the chance of your hand taking the force of any impact with the ground.

Behind the stingray panels Held have incorporated a shock absorbing foam to further enhance the protection spec on this well thought our glove and coupled it with carbon fibre around the scaphoid and then clad even more carbon with a heft of Titanium on the knuckle for the ultimate in protection, when you weigh up the materials used in the construction you cannot fail to be impressed! fastening the Titan is a two stage affair with a twist, normally your tunnel velcro strap runs under the wrist and quite often you notice it dig and pinch if you have it snug, the Titan flips this the other way and fastens from the top while still pulling in nice and tight and believe me, this is really comfortable. The wrist closure is standard velcro but gives around1.5 inches of adjustment from fully open and is ample for use inside or outside of your leathers - I prefer outside but each to their own.

The pinky fingers on the Titan from Held are bridged and this can take some getting used to if you have never experienced this before, Held say that the bridge can be cut down the middle if you really do not get on with it but the idea is to avoid finger roll if you land on your smallest digits, this may very well be the difference between snapped fingers and getting back on to ride which I really like the sound of. You also get a squeegee on the left index finger to wipe your visor, something that is usually kept for touring gloves but equally useful for any rider in the UK where the wet stuff is plentiful, it works well in practice and reduces your chance of scratching your visor to high heaven when you just need to see a bit more.

Ventilation is average to medium on the street but perfectly adequate when on track or higher speeds, this is done via the preferred punched panels on the inside fingers and exhaust perforated leather on the back of the hand, pre curved fingers aid comfort and stretch panels on fingers and the back of the hand keep the glove in place regardless of your hand position - all in all a very well thought out design.

In use the Titan gloves are reassuringly solid and comfortable, they offer perhaps the best protection spec available on the market today and with that comes the cost, now I know a lot of riders who grumble at paying over £60 for a set of gloves so if you are one of these the Titan's will not suit your taste, priced at £216 a pair they are the very pinnacle of what to expect to pay but for that you know you have a superbly made product, using top of the range materials and construction techniques and backed by Held who will do repairs for you for between £15 and £50 depending on how nailed you get them, that said I have seen crashed gloves, often multiple times that are still in great condition with only minimal scuffing so you get what you pay for.

The criteria we use is value for money and this is subjective, do I think that you get a lot of glove for your money - yes absolutely, do I think this is in reach of most average riders, well probably not, if you can afford a set go and give them a try and you wont be shocked by the price but will be amazed by the quality.