Finally, I’m no longer “Mr. Astronaut-mummy-hands.” Got a new set of Burton AK gloves on sale from Dogfunk for 50% off. These current gloves are made much trimmer than the early generation version I had originally. I think the ones I had were the first generation Gore-Tex 3L taped gloves. Yes – taped! I’m not talking about a prefabricated Gore-Tex insert here – we’re talking Gore-Tex 3L fabric stitched together into a glove shell and seam-taped! The palms were a synthetic material that went cracky and peely after about the third use, but since this material was an overlay over the actual PTFE material, there was no waterproofing problem, so I didn’t bother getting warranty service on them. Many seasons later, the grippy material was pretty much worn away, leaving only the fuzzy substrate. I do know that this issue was cleared up the next year with a genuine leather palm
The new set I got has leather palms and leather across the back of the fingers to past the knuckles. The Gore-Tex fabric outer glove is seamed and taped using the newer narrow, thin tape, so the fingers are much smaller and more flexible. I think the palm will probably hold up better because of the leather. The gauntlet is shorter and smaller in bell diameter. The width across the palm is just about the same. It feels that the body fabric is a little thinner than the original ones, but that may be because of the more flexible seam tape. There is a synthetic panel on the back of the hand with applied vinyl logo and branding letters that I think will have the same fate as the printing on my Endura bike shorts. The wrist closures have elastic on the dumb side of the buckle. I think the elastic won’t last as long as the rest of the glove. I didn’t have a problem with the lack of stretch here on any other glove. The cuff closures on the gauntlet are exactly the same as the previous versions. There is a little goggle wipe on the left forefinger, and both thumbs have a soft snot-wipe surface.
The inner glove is pretty much the same as the previous versions, with Polartec fleece on the palm-side and PrimaLoft insulation on the backs. Velcro tabs hold the two parts together. There is a weird flap that covers the backside Velcro on the liner when it is removed. This would be nice for laundering, so the Velcro doesn’t get stuck on other clothing items, but if that is the reason for this, I don’t know why there isn’t also one on the palm-side Velcro. There are little flaps with snap halves on the gauntlets to keep the gloves together when packing or storing. These and the care and manufacturing tags interfere significantly with the Velcro on the outer glove. The tags come with the suggestion to cut them off printed on them. I may end up cutting all the stuff off. There is elastic stitched on both the top and bottom of the wrist area. The elastic is unreasonably tight. This makes it really difficult to get the hands into the gloves, and makes it difficult to remove the gloves without having the liner yank out. Time will eventually kill the elastic and allow for easier insertion and removal, but for now this is a pain in the ass. The old liners had boxed fingers and webbing reinforcing the perimeter of the gauntlet cuff, but the new ones have flat fingers and just Lycra at the cuff. This makes the liners simpler and lighter, and I don’t really notice any functional difference. The reduced seams might actually make the fingers more flexible.
Fit-wise, the new gloves have about the same width across the knuckes as my old ones. Other than the tight liner elastic, the fit is fine. According to the Burton sizing chart, I should take a medium, but the AK Gore-Tex 3L gloves have traditionally run tight, so I went up to large again. My hands are about 10cm across the knuckles with my hand flat on the table, and the circumference at the knuckles is around 23cm. The gloves come with a base liner for additional warmth, but the general snugness of the liner and the grippy texture applied to the palm side of the fingers and palm of the base liners makes it virtually impossible to get the gloves on over them. Losing the grippy material would solve this. The sale price was really good, but it’s not like the regular retail was outrageous, even considering these are made in the PRC – $140 USD for Gore-Tex 3L is reasonable.
I’ll give them a test in Japan in March and post an update.
Made in The PRC
About $77 USD on sale including shipping
Recommended
Three-and-a-half techno monkeys out of four
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