Richa Street Touring GTX ladies gloves in black

The truth is that premium quality, technical, motorcycle gloves for ladies are few and far between. There are loads for men; for women, not so many. There’s the Suki from Rukka; and that’s a very competent glove, but there aren’t that many others to which it can be compared. Is that because the manufacturers think that women only sit on the back? Or is it because they reckon that most women riders won’t pay the price for a technical glove? We don’t know, but that there is a gap at this end of the market is beyond doubt.

So a glove like the Richa Street Touring GTX is a welcome addition to this market. By anyone’s standard it’s a great glove. It’s basically a summer-waterproof glove, but with its lightweight fleece lining it’s going to be a bit warmer than, for example, the Rukka Suki.

Made from cowhide and goatskin, it’s also going to be somewhat more comfortable, we would suggest. Waterproofing comes courtesy of Gore-Tex, but the membrane is laminated using wat the company calls its Gore-Grip technology. Basically this means that the glove will never ‘wet out’. Waterproofing doesn’t get any better than this.

On the main knuckle, you get a hard knuckle protector with soft pads on the minor knuckles. There are strategically-placed layers of leather on the palm. 3M Scotchlite provides some extra nighttime visibility, whilst you get two straps at the wrist to make sure the glove will never come off in an accident. The forefinger is touchscreen sensitive, and you get a visor wiper on the left hand.

This is not a cheap glove, and it may indeed be the case that the price of this glove is more than some will want to pay. But the price is what you would expect to pay for an all-singing-and-dancing technical glove like this. In fact, on the men’s side, we could point to many less sophisticated gloves that cost more. As always with Richa, you get a lot for your money. And what is beyond doubt is that the Richa is a lot of glove.