SHIFT Racing Womens Empire Glove Review

SHIFT is well known for producing great gloves, jackets and suits for racing or the street. What about all those women that want to rev their engines high and lean into the curves? SHIFT has got you covered with their great line of gear designed specifically for women. If you are a girl with motor oil running through her veins then read on to see how the SHIFT Empire glove holds up!

Gloves are a vital piece of your protective armor that you should wear while riding. When you fall your most natural reaction is to put your hands out to protect the ol' noggin from any potential harm. If you aren't wearing gloves then you can literally grind your flesh to the bone! You don't even have to be going fast, 25 or 30 miles an hour is more than enough to have your hands bandaged up for weeks if you aren't wearing anything when you crash. Although protecting your hands is their primary purpose, gloves need to be flexible enough to help you avoid the crash by not interfering with your range of movement. If you are constantly readjusting your grip just to hit the turn signal you are not going to be nearly as focused as you would be by wearing a better designed glove.

Features

Lets start off by saying that the Empire glove is a full gauntlet racing glove. What that means is unlike a pair of work gloves they don't stop at the bottom of your hand. Instead they go over your jacket about 4 extra inches to make sure there is no bit of skin exposed to the road even if your bend your wrist. I definitely prefer full gauntlet gloves for the safety factor and for keeping wind out of my jacket.

The glove is made of leather with extra leather and reinforced padding on the palm. I've had the opportunity to crash wearing a different pair of SHIFT gloves with this same sort of padding and even though I caught myself with my hands the damage never made it past the outer extra layer of leather on the palms. I am confident that these gloves would also hold up very well in a crash.

On the flip side you will see a polycarbonate knuckle plate to protect against broken bones and skinned knuckles. The plate definitely serves a function, but it also looks badass like futuristic pair of brass knuckles. It is mounted on a separate piece of leather to allow you for an incredible amount of movement in your wrist and hand. A nice touch is the Shift logo written in a script font on the pointer finger of each glove: classy and subtle. The glove closes with a zipper and a loop of leather that Velcros around the wrist. No way is this glove falling off, even in a serious crash.

Conclusion

So how does the glove appeal to women? I am obviously not a woman, but I've ridden with the glove, and I've had female passengers wear it as well. The glove fits very snug which is ideal for most girls that have longer more narrow fingers. If you are a woman with bigger hands you might want to try this glove on first before you buy. The only other complaint is there wasn't a lot of room if you had longer nails. Keep in mind this is not a defect in the glove design, I think it would be silly if SHIFT included an extra centimeter of glove just to accommodate girls that happen to have gotten a manicure that day.Two thumbs up from me!

Pros

• Very secure and protective glove
• Classy and fashion forward (especially in white!)
• Full gauntlet is always a plus

Cons

• Even the large size might be small for some women with bigger hands.

Specifications

• Long gauntlet-style leather glove
• Women's specific fit
• Injection molded polycarbonate knuckle for impact and abrasion resistance
• Open-back stretch knuckle panel for added flexibility
• Premium leather palm with reinforced padding
• Premium leather finger sidewalls
• Hook and loop wrist closure.

Buy the SHIFT Racing Womens Empire Gloves!