I bought a pair of the Shift Women’s RPM Leather-Textile Gloves last summer as an alternative to my warmer leather gloves. These are shorter cuff style gloves with “composite” knuckle armor. While they are not mesh gloves they do offer venting between the fingers and breathable textile backs.
Fit
I find the fit to be standard motorcycle glove fit. I normally buy a medium in gloves and purchased a medium in these gloves.
Safety
I would rate these gloves somewhere in the middle of a safety scale. Certainly they are better than no gloves, fingerless gloves or some of the mesh gloves on the market with no armor. The short cuffs however leave your wrist bones exposed and the meager velcro strap would tear open in seconds. The palm of the gloves is leather and there is plastic armor over the knuckles; both of which add some safety benefit. There are also some rubber bits sewn onto the fingers and extra padding in them thumbs for a bit of additional protection.
Overall the protection is decent for a hot weather glove but as soon as the temperatures become more reasonable I will opt for something with more safety features.
Comfort
No matter what wearing a glove in the summer is uncomfortable. Your hands will inevitably get sweaty inside of the gloves. Fortunately, the backs of these gloves are textile with venting so they do let some airflow through. They are also fairly stretchy and fit to your hand well. Another benefit is that the palm is relatively thin and you have a good feeling of your handlebars and the throttle.
Style
The style of these gloves is pretty generic. I have them in black and they are almost all black with a white Shift logo on the wrist. There are two thin reflective strips on the back of the hand. Around the logo there is a bit of swirly designing that is feminine but for the most part there is nothing particularly girly about these gloves other than the sizing. They also come in white, which has some pink accents.
Conclusion
Overall these are a decent summer glove for the $40 price tag. Hot summer riding often means compromises on the safety front. These gloves compromise wrist safety and heavy duty materials for a lighter weight glove that offers more airflow and summer comfort.
