There seems to be a risk that MotorbikesToday ends up as MotorbikeGlovesToday. But that's OK. Gloves are good.

A very long time ago I tried a pair of Kushitani gloves. They were the most comfortable thing I had ever put on my hands. Honestly they were sublime. They were also (at the time) insanely expensive and shortly after became apparently impossible to acquie in the UK.

Quite a few years later, though, Kushitani are back. And back in style. No High Street presence and you don't appear to be able to buy from anyone apart from Kushitani UK themselves. But that's OK - their sizing tool seems to work pretty well and the gloves arrived within a couple of days of ordering them.

My old gloves had suffered from a brief excursion down the road and from about five years of pretty heavy (read almost every day) use. They were, in short, worn out. So when an email dropped into my inbox telling me of the resurgence of this brand, well it was obviously meant to be. So I browsed the site, realised that these were the right gloves for me and that was it.

The Kushitani GPR-6 is the top racing glove the Japanese brand makes. They are reassuringly solid in feel, look as though they would withstand a detrmined attack by Godzilla and are as comfortable as their illustrious predecessor.

The design of the gloves is unusual, with a back and finger protector that is effectively free floating, attached to the glove by a series of loops around the fingers. There's some serious armour and padding in there, but the net result of the unusual design is that, once on your hand, you can't feel it.

There's kangaroo leather on the palm and, unusually, the front of the fingers as well. Now kangaroo hide, as well as being extraordinarily abrasion resistant also offers better feel because it can be thinner for the same strength. So the result is a glove that gives the best possible contact with the bike.

I haven't crashed in these gloves yet, but I have punched things to see how the armour and padding works. It works really well, and I have to confess I had my doubts that something so comfortable could be protective. I was wrong. I have worn them through what was actually a hot summer, and can happily confirm that they remain comfortable and dont's stick to your hands, even when you're really sweaty. They actually seem to breathe quite well and help to avoid overheating.

The cuff is double fastened and there's an extra wrist restraint as well. It doesn't matter how good a glove is if it comes off when you need it, and there's no danger of that happening here.

Now I'll be honest. At £234.99 these are bloody expensive gloves. But then again, the level of protection and comfort they offer means that, in my opinion, they're worth every penny.

You can get these gloves and other products from the Kushitani website which is definitely worth a browse. Take your time on the sizing though, as the base sizes are Japanese and a bit smaller than European.

SB