Brand new for Fall 2010, the Icon Overlord Gloves tout being the most technically advanced gloves that Icon has produced to date. Available as the Icon Overlord Short Gloves, which are a short cuff street glove, and the Icon Overlord Long Gloves, a full gauntlet for street riding, Icon spared no expense in design and development of the Overlords. The entire Icon Fall 2010 Gear lineup has us extremely impressed and these gloves are no digression from their attention to quality, detailing and sick styling.
First is our Icon Overlord Long Gloves Review:
Since the Overlord Long and Overlord Short Gloves share mostly the same features, I'll discuss the commonalities of the gloves first and then explain the differences. Both gloves utilize race-level features and integrate them into street gloves. The backhand construction is full Battlehide Goatskin, Icon's proprietary premium abrasion resistant goatskin. It is light and supple, with more strength than traditional leather cowhide. This combines with injected thermoplastic split knuckle protection that is vented and sits upon its own separate panel to maintain proper placement of the armor when working the controls. The back of the hand also has an additional battlehide goatskin reinforcement panel that sits atop punctuated ventilating goatskin. The fingers feature hard part protection with ventilation, elasticated stretch for ease of movement, and mesh paneling between the fingers.
The palm of the gloves is complete Kangaroo leather, which has been the biggest phenomenon in the motorcycle glove industry of late. Kangaroo, like goatskin, is lighter, more flexible, and offers greater abrasion resistance than cowhide. The palm is reinforced with Pittards Keratan Goatskin in all impact and high-wear areas. Keratan is Pittards Goatskin with a hard coating applied in the form of an etched diamond pattern that significantly improves the abrasion resistance and durability of the goatskin. This reinforcement also wraps around and up the side of the pinky since that area is extremely vulnerable in the event of a low-side. In the bottom of the hand, the Keratan is backed by temperfoam injections for vibration-dampening. Finally, everyone who has ever been in a crash scenario knows that the weakest point of any garment is the seams. To that end, Icon has utilized high-tenacity external Aramid stitching throughout. Stitching on the outside provides greater comfort while the aramid itself is very abrasion resistant and also has high heat resistance, so there is no concern that the stitching will burn through and come apart.
Here is our Icon Overlord Short Glove Review:
Icon Overlord Short Gloves
The main difference between the long and short versions is the full gauntlet that appears on the Icon Overlord Long Glove. This full gauntlet features perforated goatskin and injected thermoplastic wrist protection at the side. This will assist greatly in the event of a low-side and slide situation. There is also an adjustment velcro strap at the inner wrist protected by a Pittards Keratan panel. Both the long and short gloves feature a single velcro closure system and a neoprene-style cuff for comfort. You'll find precurving in the fingers for a more comfortable fit and, of course, Icon logos throughout thanks to their great attention to stylish detail.
The first look at these gloves has us believing that they're going to be a homerun for the sportbike and street riding community. We can only imagine that Icon's next logical step will be a full-on racesuit. Check out comparable gear by visiting our Motorcycle Race Gloves section and our Men's Short Cuff Motorcycle Gloves sections.
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