Alpinestars GP Tech V2S Glove

The GP Tech V2 S gloves from Alpinestars are the same as the GP Tech V2 NON S gloves except for one key difference, the NON S gloves have a Kangaroo palm, in places like California, Kangaroo is not allowed, so Alpinestars released this S version that removes the Kangaroo palm California compliant and replaces it with a goat leather palm. Otherwise the gloves are the same, here is what we had to say about the GP Tech V2 Gloves:

The GP Tech V2 Gloves from Alpinestars are one of their top of the line racing/track day gloves. Currently the GP Tech slide just under the Supertech gloves but above everything else. I would even argue that perhaps these might be parallel to the Supertech gloves depending on your use case.

Alpinestars says “A professional Racing glove engineered to deliver superior protection, the GP Tech v2 Glove guarantees enhanced control capabilities in the most demanding conditions thanks to its innovative seamless stretch back hand construction.”

So lets talk construction, you have a stretch material built with Kevlar® stretch and leather on the back of the hand, this provides optimal movement and flexibility (no seriously these gloves feel really good when moving your fingers, bending fingers and griping, really impressive for a race/full gauntlet glove to be this comfortable), kangaroo palm construction with a stretch insert, as well as DFS in the cuffs (dis provides impact protection and friction control in a dual density component that is light, small and ergonomically improved). Additional features include minimal stitching to increase comfort and to reduce the risk of stitch failure, external finger seams for additional comfort and flexibility, a stretch backhand panel, AR shield layers on the backhand, landing zone and fingertips, as well as over injected fingertip sliders. Lastly the GP Tech V2 gloves also feature accordion flex zones for comfort and control, a pinky race finger bridge, side hand reinforcements, a palm slider, a dual closure system and last but not least a seamless, over-injected, dual density knuckle cup which delivers Level 2 impact protection while still being flexible, and also somehow more comfortable and less bulky than many level 1 knuckle protectors.

Did you catch that I said level 2 knuckle protection, oh yeah, it’s not just the knuckles, these gloves are CE Level 2KP certified as a whole. Keep in mind that only a few gloves in existence today are Level 2 KP, I would say most likely less than 2-3 percent of gloves fall at Level 2, most are CE Level 1, Level 1 KP or not CE at all, so to be at 2KP, you know the protection inside the GP Tech V2 gloves is great.

Honestly there is only one things I can say bad about these gloves and Ill save that to the end, but other than that, these gloves are simply fantastic, yesterday they retail for $394.95 at the time of this writing, but you truly do get what you pay for with the protection, fit and feel. I do highly recommend them and have purchased a pair for myself. If you can get past this next issue that Mike previously noted, I think these gloves are awesome and worth your time and money, here is what Mike had to say with the one issue we found with these gloves:

“These gloves have an interesting look that doesn’t fully come through in the photos. The back of the hand is mostly textile material and it almost looks like a knit dark blue denim material in person on the Black/White colorway. The material looks cool and is very comfortable, but I’m going go call out that it frays very easily (our review pair was frayed out of the box) and I can only imagine if you hit that material against some hook and loop closures it would look like hell pretty quickly, and since the gloves themselves have hook and loop closures and you almost have to have one on when you secure the second it is pretty much guaranteed to happen.

Aside from those aesthetic issues, these gloves are killer! They are very comfortable and the innovative way they have the knuckle protection makes it almost unnoticeable when you have the gloves on and are moving your hand around. The GP Tech v2 features an oversized TPR cuff closure that guards the wrist against impact and of course we see the finger bridge from the ring to the pinky. There is also a Velcro strap to adjust the closure at the rest so you can make sure the gloves stay in place in the event of a high speed crash. The palm has a slider and an overlay of protective ARshield material that again has a very unique almost knit look to it. We see this material on the lower part of the finger bridge as well.”

With that said if you can avoid snagging them, I think this is a cool and killer glove with innovative materials and construction techniques, and you once again are certainly getting what you pay for with these. Lastly, the fit is spot on for Alpinestars, just slightly snug as compared to a normal American fit glove. These gloves should perform very well for sport bike riders on the street or track. Go check them out! :: Damir 8/2/24