Warranty Returns / 1st Impressions / Bad Decisions

[Off Road]

Canada. Winter. Cold. Can’t ride. Bored. Needed a new pair of gloves. Shit happens. Ooops.

Let’s say you buy a new pair of gloves, and after a few weeks the Velcro comes loose, or the stitching comes apart, or some other defect.
You take them back to the Dealer and they replace them or refund your money. You’re happy and life’s good.

But, do you ever wonder what happens to the defective gloves?

In the case of Five Gloves, the Dealer fills out a Warranty Return form, outlining the defect, and sends the form and gloves back to the Distributor.
The Distributor refunds the Dealer, then throws the gloves in a box, in the back, in a corner, in the dark, and then makes a Warranty claim against the Manufacturer.
The Manufacturer issues a credit and everybody’s happy. Life’s good.

When the box is full of warranty-return gloves, they get another box. When that box fills up, they sell the whole lot to a Liquidator, for pennies on the dollar.
The Liquidator throws some of them in the garbage because they are no longer usable,
and then sells the rest on Ebay as used gloves, and he shows pictures and describes any defects.


Fortunately, I just happen to know the Liquidator.
This fellow also buys tons (literally) of discontinued/obsolete parts from several Distributors.
All of his purchases are shipped to our shop, because we have a fork-lift for unloading trucks, and he doesn’t.
As a result, I’m the first person to see the packing slips and invoices, and I always check them to see if there’s anything that I need/want.

A few weeks back, 6 pallets of miscellaneous stuff, weighing 0.75 Tons (1500 lb.) arrived at the shop.
In this collection were 137 pairs of Five gloves.
I was only interested in the high end gauntlet gloves, and gave him a list of what I wanted to look at.

RFX3, Canadian Retail Price is $202 Can. ($160 US), (current Ebay price is $150 to $200 US)
RFX2, Canadian Retail Price is $185 Can. ($145 US), (current Ebay price is $160-$200 US) ???
RFX1, Canadian Retail Price is $340 Can. ($265 US), (current Ebay price is $160-$200 US)
RFX Race, Canadian Retail Price is $800 Can. ($625 US), (current Ebay price is $450-$500 US)

Last week my buddy dropped off a dozen pair of gloves for me to look at.

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[Off Road]

The RFX3 (Black) is really nice street glove. Well padded, vented knuckle, scaphoid protection, and hard plastic armor on the cuff.

The RFX2 (White) seems a bit more race oriented.
It has solid (not vented) carbon knuckles and the two small fingers are webbed (tied together), but it only has a soft padding in the cuff,
instead of the hard plastic plate that’s on the RFX3.
Seems a bit strange.

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The gloves that I have came in various sizes, ranging from Large (L) to 3 Extra Large (3XL)
For reference, I measured my hand using a set of digital calipers (because I couldn’t find my tape measure).
Measured at my knuckles, my hand is roughly 3.5” (90 mm) wide, and 1.25” (30 mm) thick.

The RFX3 is an Extra Large and it fits well. It’s soft and really comfortable.
The defect is that the leather is delaminating from the fabric on the cuff of the left glove.

The RFX2 is also an XL, but it fits just a bit tighter than the RFX3. It might be due the fact that it is still pretty new and not broke in.
The defect with this glove is that the leather is delaminating around the logo on the top of the cuff on one of the gloves._

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Since I have a champagne taste and a beer budget, I decided to buy the RFX2 and RFX3 because they’re the 2 cheapest pair of gloves.
And they’re in great shape with relatively minor defects.
And my buddy the liquidator is pretty much forcing me to buy them, because he’s asking less than I’d pay for 2 tanks of gas for the RZ.

[Off Road]

The RFX1 (Red/White) are well armored race/street gloves.
Vented knuckle, Carbon scaphoid protection that wraps around the side of the hand, a carbon skid plate on the cuff, extra grip material on the palm and thumb,
and extra layers of leather on the palm and outside of the little finger.

The RFX Race (Black/White) is an all out race glove. All the features of the RFX1, but with a bunch of upgrades.
Carbon knuckle protection, carbon skid plate on the back of the hand, carbon skid plates on the outside of the hand and on the top of the fingers,
wrap-around hard protection on the cuff, and Kevlar sewn between the layers of leather.

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I really, really, really wanted a pair of the RFX Race gloves.
A – They offer the ultimate in protection.
B – The look really cool
C – I just wanted to be able to say that I owned an $800 pair of gloves.

Even if we go with the low Ebay price it’s still $500.
How many people do you know with a $500 pair of gloves? Hell, I could buy a new Arai helmet for $500.

But, both pairs of the Race gloves were a Large, and they just weren’t big enough.
I could get them on, but it was a serious struggle, and they were tight. It hurt to make a fist.
Five minutes of riding and your hands would be numb due to a lack of circulation.

That’s unfortunate, because on the 1 set of Race gloves they list the defect as a stitching problem on the back of the hand on the right glove,
and I just can’t see any defect in this glove.
For the price, I’m almost temped to buy this pair and hang them on the shop wall as a conversation piece.
Who knows; maybe my hands will shrink when I get old, and it sure would be nice to have a spare set of gloves if that situation were to arise.



The Black RFX1 in a 2XL fits great and it’s really comfortable. I like it.

Then I tried the Black RFX1 in a 3XL and expected it to be too big, but, to my surprise, it is also a really good fit. It’s wee bit looser than the 2XL but not that much.
I’d have to say that 3XL is the most comfortable glove of the lot. I really like it.

Both these sets of gloves have the same defect. The stitching on the index finger of the left glove, is starting to fray.
Fortunately, due to the construction of the gloves, this is an easy repair.
The stitching on the tips of the fingers is on the outside of the glove, so you don’t have to turn it inside out.

I decided to abandon the budget and buy both the 2XL and the 3XL RFX1 gloves, because they fit great.
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[Off Road]

All of the Extra Large RFX1’s that I have are a too tight. I can get them on, no problem, and I’m able to work both the clutch and throttle, but they are tight.
They’d be OK for short rides, but I certainly wouldn’t want to go on a long trip with these gloves.

One pair of extra large RFX1’s that got sent back is brand new.
They have a frayed thread on the right index finger, and the ‘defect’ was found at the bike shop, before they were ever sold.
So, I pretty much had to put them in the pile of gloves that I was keeping.

I’m pretty sure that I won’t have to buy another pair of gloves for the rest of my life.

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You may have noticed that in my new collection of gloves, there is a pair of red/white RFX1’s.

They’re an XL, they’re a bit tight, they’re used, and they’re not in really mint condition.

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But they’re red and white, so I just had to get them.

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[Questo vecchio rz]

Pretty good score right there. Nice gloves.
It's odd how tough gloves can be to fit well, it's one of those things it's really hard to buy online.
I have to try on many pairs and while I don't consider myself extra large I'm 6 ft 195 lbs I find myself buying gloves that are 2- 3XL sometimes what you mentioned to find something that doesn't cut off circulation or cramp and still give me some dexterity.
One thing I have is, the thinnest but safest glove,as my hands have severe cramping problem to begin with.. been dealing with that since my twenties.
I should have had the arm pump surgery many years ago now I'm too chickenshit

[brrrappp]

I was reading the whole thread you wrote from the top. I was sure you were leading up to an offer to board members for a great price on gloves you didn't want so you could buy the real expensive gloves.

[Off Road]

I stopped by the Liquidators shop the other day to pay for the 6 pairs of gloves that I wanted, and return the rest.
He asked why I didn’t get the Race gloves and I told him they were too small.
I said that I thought about getting them and hanging them on the wall, but even with my discount, it’d be expensive artwork.
He said if I wanted them, I could have them for smoking deal.


The RFX Race is 5 Glove’s top of the line product, and cost more than twice as much as their next best glove.

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According to the tag, these gloves are:
92% - Leather
6% - Kevlar
1% - Nylon
1% - Plastic

The Plastic is the 180* wrap around protector on the gauntlet.

The Nylon inserts are on the back of the hand, knuckles, top of fingers, scaphoid, outside of wrist, outside of the hand and outside of the little finger.

The 2 little fingers are tied together (webbed).

Kevlar is sewn between the layers of leather on the palm, the side of the hand, and on the top of the fingers.

There is some kind of mystery material/padding, (beside the scaphoid insert), for protecting the base of the thumb.
There’s a different mystery material on the top of 2 fingers.
This material is also used in the expansion joint by the knuckles, and for the gauntlet part of the glove.

The 2 mystery materials are only used on the Race glove; they’re not used on any other 5 gloves.

The 5 gloves have a flap that covers the wrist cinch strap, so that when you’re sliding down the road, the Velcro on the strap doesn’t come undone,
allowing your gloves to get torn off.
On all the other 5 gloves, the flap is made of 2 layers of leather
On the Race glove, they sew Kevlar and a hard plate between the 2 layers of leather.

It sucks that they’re too small, because these are not just a pair of gloves; they're a set of Hand Armor.

[Off Road]

At what point in time does a bad decision turn into sheer greed?

Don’t want them, can’t use them, couldn’t afford them if I did, yet here I am.

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I was reading the whole thread you wrote from the top. I was sure you were leading up to an offer to board members for a great price on gloves you didn't want so you could buy the real expensive gloves.

That is still a possibility.
At the moment, all the gloves are spoken for, but that could change.
I’m definitely keeping 3 pair, no doubt about it.
My friend Reg wants 1 pair, and another friend wants 2 pair…….IF They Fit.
If they don’t fit, then I’ll have some spare gloves to get rid of.

The same goes for the Race gloves. I only bought them because my fiend Nicky could really use them.
She races a Pro Mod bike, and if anybody needs a good set of gloves, it’s someone riding a 7 second motorcycle.

She’s going to come over and try them on, but if they don’t fit, then I’ll sell them as well.
They aren’t going to protect anybody’s hands if they’re just sitting around in my basement.