AlpineStars Jet Road GTX - Mini Review

Not entirely sure how different these are than the original Jet Roads, other than the usual AlpineStars price hike, but bought them at the weekend and thanks to god awful weather the last few days have put them through their paces.

Have been using AlpineStar GP Pro gloves for the last 18 months or so and they're still a fantastic glove, but even with an inner glove they're hell for winter. So sod the recession, I blew the Council Tax money on a pair of Jet Road GTXs, scary £110 from Hein Gericke.

Right, last four days have seen 200 odd miles in early morning, clear skies, sub-zero freezing, late evening near-zero blizzard, early morning driving sleet, torrential rain and howling gails. Commute is 25 miles and about 30 minutes each way. I really suffer from the cold, like the girly soft shandy drinking southerner I have become, and what I interpret as "feckin freezing", many folks will feel as just "bit on the nippy side". In order of coldest to warmest environments:

Warmth:

• Sub-zero, early morning, clear skies: Ok for first ten miles or so, turning to painfully biting cold (GP-Pro with inner glove comparison would be ok for first quarter mile, turning to painful biting cold, then turning completely numb and only regaining feeling, along with significant pain, as they warm up again at home/work - yep superficial frostbite on multiple occasions).
• Late-evening blizzard: Ok for first ten plus miles, turning to biting cold (but not quite up to painfully so), completely waterproof. GP-Pro comparison would be as above, ie. minor frostbite, and naturally as waterproof as a sieve.
• Early morning torrential rain (about 4 degrees C): Not cold at all. Not warm either, just didn't register at all that my fingers felt in the slightest bit cold. And again, completely waterproof, although they do seem to be a bit sponge-like and hold quite a bit of water. GP-Pro comparison would leave me with painful biting cold but would probably avoid the numb stage and onset of frostbite.

There is something to be said for frostbite, once you lose all feeling in your fingers at least they don't feel cold any more. But they do hurt like hell when you warm them back up again. But anyway, what I've seen is that in the very coldest conditions these gloves manage to stave off that frostbite stage and keep your fingers in the cold-so-biting-it-hurts stage; which is probably better in the long run

Downsides (aside from the price):

• Extremely bulky cuff arrangement - inner part of the cuff goes under your jacket, outer part goes over your jacket. Test in store, if you're wearing a textile jacket with some stretch in the cuffs I'm guessing it'll be a bit easier, but if like me you use a fairly tight leather jacket with a lollypop lady oversuit then it gets tricky to put them on by yourself. It's taking me ten minutes just to get my gloves on if I can't find anyone to help me! Upside of this arrangement is that it naturally blocks any and all draughts and waterproofs the join between glove and jacket.
• Chunky - well, winter gloves are going to be chunky and I doubt these are any more so than any other winter glove. But worth noting, it takes a little while to get used to and you do lose some fine feeling on the controls - although if you were wearing summer gloves you'd end up loosing far more fine control thanks to the cold, so net result is better.

Oh, final note, as seems usual with AlpineStars, their sizing is a little wierd, I ended up with medium size despite my dainty piano playing fingers normally requiring a small size glove.

[skeetly]

I bought a pair of these at the NEC.
I concur
The outside zip is a right pain to do up on the second glove....