AeroMoto Corsa Pro Leather Gloves Review
A comfortable glove with many protective features that is let down by quality control issues. Recently I’ve had the opportunity to review several items of Sliders brand apparel from Competition Accessories. Most of the Sliders apparel seems geared toward general motorcycle riding, such as commuting or touring and sport/touring.
AeroMoto is another in-house or “exclusive” brand sold through Competition Accessories, apparently aimed at sport and track day riders. The growing lineup of AeroMoto gear includes several glove designs, including the AeroMoto Corsa Pro; a leather jacket and leather pants, both available in perforated and non-perforated versions. The pricing is very competitive on these items and may be very interesting to budget-conscious riders considering their first track day.
Which brings us to the pair of AeroMoto Corsa Pro gloves. Considering the good bang-for-the-buck that the Sliders gear represents, I expected that the AeroMoto gloves would follow suit. Let’s look and see if they do.
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The AeroMoto Corsa Pro Gloves: Details
The Competition Accessories video describes the AeroMoto Corsa Pro gloves as “a high end, top-of-the-line racing glove” and the gloves certainly do look the part.
The construction is all cowhide leather with the ubiquitous carbon fiber main knuckle protector found on so many sport gloves these days. The stitching uses a yellow-green nylon thread that contrasts nicely with the black glove leather, giving them a unique look and style (well, almost unique). The stitching consists of a combination of double and single rows with double rows used in many, but not all, potential impact areas.
These gloves are available in two colors: black and black and white. The black and white glove also uses black thread instead of the yellow/green thread used in the black gloves reviewed here.
I like the fact that Competition Accessories/AeroMoto decided against using Kevlar for the threads. Kevlar is frequently used for the stitching in their Sliders brand. While Kevlar is certainly strong, my feeling is that it can also cut through leather rather easily and I’m of the opinion it may not make the most sense for use in gloves. That is just my opinion, however.
The four fingers of the AeroMoto Corsa Pro gloves are sewn using external stitching, which improves comfort due to the lack of seams on the inside. This typically doesn’t make for the most aesthetically pleasing design but the smooth interior is usually worth it.
Behind the main knuckle protector is a small accordion-style stretch panel to provide flexibility when gripping the handlebars or making a fist. Behind that is a row of zig-zag stitching to provide a bit of stretch around the wrist.
On the underside of the wrist, a good sized strap of hook-and-loop fastener is pulled through a plastic buckle to provide a secure closure. Having a secure wrist strap is something I and the other webBikeWorld reviewers find to be very important in riding gloves. No riding glove can protect well if it slips off the hand during a slide. A nice addition is a small flap of leather that covers the strap when closed which can help protect it from snagging during a slide.
Comfort and Ventilation
The Corsa Pro gloves are surprisingly comfortable, considering there are so many patches, stitches and protectors included in the design. The interior of the gloves is partially lined with a thin polyester fabric, which is located inside the palm and thumb areas but doesn’t extend into the fingers.
Out of the package the gloves felt a bit snug but after a few weeks of riding they have broken in very nicely, having now been used for about 3,000 miles for commuting and some long-distance highway riding.
Race-style motorcycle gloves often have poor ventilation and the Corsa Pro gloves are no exception. The small perforation on the side of the fingers will allow some air flow if the fingers are spread but that’s about all the ventilation there is.
The “vents” on the finger knuckle protectors are vents in name only (I call them VINO’s). When I blow through them, I can’t feel any air flow into the fingers. This is disappointing, but at the same time seems to be a pretty typical of many gloves that use these little rubber vents.
I have tried some gloves with these type of vents that actually do flow some air, but more often they don’t. The design of the vents is usually not to blame but it is also necessary to have some way to allow the air to pass through the leather and into the gloves for the system to work.
Protective Features
In addition to the carbon fiber main knuckle protectors, the fingers have extra patches of leather with the small vented rubber protectors over the forward two knuckles of the first three fingers. The fourth “pinky” finger makes do with leather pads in place of the rubber protectors; the extra leather patch wraps around the outside and under the finger for extra protection on the edge.
The scaphoid also gets additional leather and padding for impact protection. Similar leather with thin foam padding protection is also present on the thumb as well as a small patch near the heel of the palm.
Across the palm there are also other patches of an extra layer of leather that cover most of the region, but not all of it. It’s a bit hard to tell where there is extra leather or where it is simply pieces sewn together at their edges. The photos illustrate the amount of stitching on the palm.
On each side of the gauntlet are large “sliders” designed to protect the wrist bones. Combined with the three layers of leather from the overlapping gauntlet closure, these should provide very good protection to wrist.
All these pads and sliders are impressive, but I have concerns about the leather itself. The leather feels rather light weight for a glove that is marketed as a “high end racing” glove. No specification is given for the thickness of the leather but it feels a bit thin for glove I would be willing to take racing or for a track day. .
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Fit and Sizing
The fit of the Corsa Pro gloves is more than a bit generous. In fact, the size medium gloves, which is my usual size, were much too large for me to use. I ended up lending them to my friend and motorcycle mechanic, Kevin, to see how they fit; Kevin typically wears size large or extra-large gloves depending on the brand.
Kevin found the size medium fit a bit snug at first but he was able to comfortably wear them. After a few weeks he said that they have broken in nicely and now are quite comfortable. He also mentioned that the thin leather does provide very good feel at the controls, albeit at the possible detriment of abrasion protection as mentioned in the previous section.
So while the AeroMoto Corsa Pro gloves are comfortable, note that you may need to order a size smaller than what you usually wear. I have not tried another pair to compare the sizing to see if this is a one-off issue or a case of mislabeling, or if the sizing issue is actually truly indicative of the gloves.
Overall Construction Quality
The Corsa Pro Gloves in general seem to be well made but some quality control appears to be lacking. I don’t know if the pair sent happened to be a pre-production example or perhaps just a pair than was put together late in the day on a Friday, but the photos above demonstrate what I’m on about.
The glove on the left shows how the fingers should appear and the glove on the right shows how the fingers are not sewn properly (or the pattern for the fingers wasn’t cut correctly). The middle and ring fingers are actually curving away from each other in this example.
Look closer at the tips of the fingers and one can see how they are tapering to a bit of a point instead of flat blunt end like on the left glove. Perhaps this is just a bad pair that slipped through quality control…but that doesn’t say much about quality control.
The left glove seems to be cut and sewn properly, so apparently it can be done. The stitching overall is somewhat inconsistent in some areas and it this makes the stitching look a bit less than neat. Looking closely at the point where the stitching on the palm overlay section meets the stitching on the leather patch near the base of the fourth finger, you can see how these don’t match from glove to glove.
Despite those issues, I can say that regardless of the stitching quality, the gloves are all holding together very well. After having been worn for over 3,000 miles so far, they show minimal signs of wear.
Where to Buy AeroMoto Corsa Pro Gloves
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Gauntlet and Closure
The gauntlet on the AeroMoto Corsa Pro gloves is a good size and should cover all but the most bulky jacket cuffs. The gauntlet closure consists of two overlapping flaps that attach with hook-and-loop fastener. The inside or thumb side flap is closed first and the other flap is secured on top of it.
A patch with the AeroMoto “A” logo is located on the top of the outside flap. On the top of the gauntlet is a slim patch with the complete AeroMoto name that is placed between the spots where the gauntlet flaps are attached.
The gauntlet design definitely makes for a secure closure but at the same time adds bulk and makes the closure process itself a bit more complex than it needs to be. It’s not that it is difficult but it is a bit fussy.
Conclusion
The AeroMoto Corsa Pro gloves are adequate but they are probably best suited for the street rather than the track. With the thin-feeling leather and the somewhat dodgy quality control demonstrated by this pair, I would not agree with the description that these are race-level gloves.
If the quality control was stepped up and perhaps the leather used for the gloves was of better quality, they might very well be worth the asking price of $89.00 (Note that the black/white color is currently on closeout sale at $59.00).
At this price point, there are several other gloves, which makes the choice difficult. Perhaps if the list price were closer to the $50.00 to $60.00 dollar range they would seem reasonable, as long as the “diverging” fingers shown on right glove of this pair wasn’t an issue.
As an example, the AGV Sport Laguna gloves (review), have a list price of $10.00 higher than the AeroMoto Corsa Pro gloves to which they bear more than passing resemblance. However, the very similar design was well executed for AGV Sport and was well liked by the webBikeWorld reviewer.
Despite the negatives, I am still very impressed with how well the Corsa Pro gloves have held up under many miles of use. The outdoor photos were taken just days before this review was submitted and it’s obvious that the gloves have held together very well.
With a little attention to detail during manufacture, the AeroMoto Corsa Pro gloves could be very competitive in the under $100.00 range for motorcycle gloves.
Where to Buy AeroMoto Corsa Pro Gloves
Check Reviews & Prices on Amazon Check Reviews & Prices On RevZillaAlso: Motorcycle Jackets, Motorcycle Gloves, Motorcycle Boots, Motorcycle Pants
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