It also usually provides better feel for the grips, a plus in racing.įor more information about this type of leather, Packer has an interesting explanation of the benefits of kangaroo leather, along with photographs and illustrations, on their website. Kangaroo leather is said to be lighter but more abrasion-resistant than cowhide and for that reason it’s frequently used in higher-quality motorcycle gloves. Many race gloves use kangaroo leather in the palms and cowhide elsewhere but the use of kangaroo for the entire glove seems unusual.
The SL-1 gloves are made from 0.8 mm thick hide, according to Spartan.
I never thought much about differences in kangaroo leather quality or types - thinking that kangaroo was kangaroo.īut Spartan says the leather used in the SL-1 gloves comes from Packer Leather, apparently a leading source for quality Australian kangaroo hides. But in this case, the performance matched the expectations.įirst is the use of all kangaroo hide in the SL-1 gloves. Of course, first impressions can also mislead, but being serious about product evaluations and reviews means setting aside emotions - as much as possible - to render a neutral, objective judgment. Handling as many different products as we see in a year’s time sort of fine-tunes that all-important first impression, which often yields an excellent insight for on-bike performance. So I have to assume that the gloves I’ve been wearing are representative of the lineup. Now some might say that perhaps Spartan sent us a hand-picked sample, but that would be pretty foolish, as I’m sure that sharp-eyed webBikeWorld customers would quickly discover the ploy. And all I can say is that the quality of these Spartan SL-1 gloves is outstanding. Of course, there’s the issue of outsourced jobs, but I’m not referring to that issue - I’m talking about the technical quality of the goods. In today’s globally integrated supply network, you can pretty much have anything you’d like made to your exact specifications anywhere in the world and many of the very high-end leather clothing retailers do just that, with a tight supply chain.
We don’t usually review the really inexpensive, no-name brands on, so I can’t comment on the quality of cheap leather goods that come from Pakistan or anywhere else. But I’ll be frank and say that there is probably some bias against products coming from Asia, but in talking it over with Rick and Bill, we realized that based on our experience, we have nothing but respect for the leather crafters from that country. In addition to their leather suits, Spartan designs and sells custom fitted jackets, pants and accessories like back protectors. They currently list two different styles of gloves, a race type (the SL-1 shown here) and the spartan “Charge” gloves for street riding. The leather suits are apparently designed by Spartan and then made to their specifications in Pakistan. Now while this may be surprising, there shouldn’t be a worry, because Pakistan is basically the world hub for leather clothing manufacturing and many world-famous motorcycle clothing providers have their products made there. The company specializes in custom-made leather suits, with 13 different designs in the current lineup, including a leather suit designed for women. I only know as much about the company as I found on their website and through my impressions whilst wearing the SL-1 gloves over the past few weeks. Spartan Leathers is located in Charlestown, Indiana, just north of Louisville, Kentucky. Then after slipping one on, I realized I’d be in for a treat. The Spartan SL-1 gloves were impressive right out of the box and the first thing I inspected was the fingertips, usually a good indicator of both construction quality and comfort in motorcycle gloves. But if the suits are made anything like the gloves, they should be super. When the Editor handed me these Spartan SL-1 gloves before leaving for the EICMA show in Italy, I was immediately impressed. I wasn’t familiar with the company, which also specializes in custom-made leather race suits. Surely there is a synthetic material that can be used instead? I’m not fond of the use of real stingray hide for abrasion resistance, however. The stitching on the Spartan SL-1 gloves has to be the best I’ve ever seen. They have “box” type fingertips not always found on race-style gloves. The Spartan SL-1 gloves have outstanding quality, comfort and a real-world fit.