Alpinestars Valparaiso Drystar Gloves

Like most Alpinestars gloves, these gloves ran a bit smaller than most glove brands we carry. It’s not enough to recommend that you buy a larger size and most people can choose the size they normally wear in gloves (especially if a snug fit is preferred). If you are sometimes between sizes, then choose the larger of the two. Hopefully you’ve had some experience with buying gloves and can choose based upon the fit of a previous pair. If you have no previous experience with glove sizing, go here for help.

These Valparaiso Drystar gloves offer the practical feature of being waterproof in a package that has some protection features that are above and beyond what you’d find in many waterproof street gloves. I was pleased to see the price on these gloves. It seems very reasonable for the feature list. The featured list from Alpinestars says “insulated membrane” and I’m not sure exactly what that entails, but you can’t feel any insulation properties just by touch. Of course the waterproof/breathable membrane will provide a degree of insulation just by virtue of being a wind barrier, but with the absence of any insulating material, I’d recommend these gloves for mild to cool (and of course wet) weather use. The glove’s shell is a combination of leather and textile, which makes them lighter and cuts down on cost. As I mentioned, these gloves include a waterproof/breathable liner. The liner is their own “brand” called Drystar. It’s the same idea as Gore-Tex material used in more expensive gloves… to make them waterproof yet breathable. Same functionality with Drystar, but not quite the performance in the breathability department, but of course WAY less expensive than gloves using “the real thing”. The leather/tex construction and the Drystar liner are the main differentiation which places these gloves down into a very affordable low $100s range. As for the protective features… the gloves have a molded knuckle protector on the back of the hand which is sharp because it’s covered in a thick leather which is micro-perforated (no particular function, but looks good). I bet you can see this well if you take the “View Larger Images” link above and scope out our close-up pics. Also, you can see the use of leather in the palm of the hand with reinforcements in the heel area and also up the side of the pinkie. Also, you’ll see the “bridge” connection between the little finger and the ring finger. The bridge helps protect the little finger in case of a fall by “splinting” it to the ring finger. Can’t hurt, right? The gloves have a Velcro-close wrist strap to secure the gloves on your hand in case of a fall and there is also a large Velcro-close cuff adjuster so you can make the gloves fit properly over (or under) the sleeve of your jacket. I like how the gloves will easily fold up into a roll for compact storage. Overall, I like this design and I think there is a lot of value here for the quality level of the glove :: Paul, 02-24-14