Tips for breaking in gloves

Hey All~

Just wondering if anyone has some tips regarding the break in of new motorcycle gloves.
I recently purchased a pair of Alpine Stars GP Tech gloves and they are made out of some pretty tough leather. As far as sizing, I was in between an XL and XXL so I went with the XL figuring they would stretch out some and I didn't want them loose and floppy in a few months. Anyway, its been pretty tough getting them to loosen up and stop squishing my finger tips. Since it's winter time, not much hand sweating or sun beating to help break them in. I was thinking of holding them a foot or so over a pot of boiling water and letting the steam do some work on them.
Any advice appreciated.
As a side note, these are some pretty bad ass gloves. They have a heavy layer of rubber nubbies on the palms, and a hard plastic wrist guard. Ridiculously expensive, I would not have even considered them except I get a great discount on A-stars stuff with my employee discount. If you can afford them, I highly recommend you get a pair.

 

Not sure about leather gloves, but back in the day when us groundpounders would break in a new set of leather boots, one trick was to put them on tightly and get into a hot bath or shower with them to help mold them. Never tried it, but many Joes swore by this method for making the leather stretch and conform.

 

Yeah, the "getting them wet" method was mentioned by one of my buddies. That was sorta my line of thinking with the "steam" method. I'm not sure I want to totally dunk and soak them, but was thinking the soothing hot steam would help "massage" them into the shape of my hand I was just going to put the gloves on and hold them over the steam. OR for some real fun, I could dunk them in the boiling water....heh....ok, maybe not.

 

The best method I have found is to ride , ride, ride.

 

Uhhhh, ride?:smile:

 

Well, I got them from the shop yesterday and I did ride with them for about 20 miles. I was finding them to be a little annoying/distracting by the end of the ride, and my finger tips are a bit sore today. I've had tight fitting leather gloves in the past that eventually broke in, and in fact, used for long enough, eventually become too big. Its just that these gloves are TOUGH, with many layers of leather, padding, and lots of stitching....so its looking like break in is going to take a little while.
I actually tried "steaming" them over a pot of boiling water and it seemed to help loosen them up. I wore them around the house for a half hour after the "steaming" and they were totally conforming to my hand. I think another steam bath followed by a judicious dose of riding will get them broken in to the point of comfort.

 

Being they are leather, here is an idea. However, you might want to doublecheck before doing as this is not the intended purpose. I have had boots that were too tight and stiff and you can go to a boot store and buy boot stretch. It is a bottle of liquid that you spray on and helps to loosen and stretch the leather. I say check because I do not think it would be greasey where it would make throttle hard to hold but you need to check first before doing. I have not done this but an option for you. Hope this helps.

 

I would go for the getting them wet idea, that is how I used to break in new hiking boots, prior to hiking season. Get them wet, put them on & ride til' they are dry because if you let them dry w/o your hand in them they will actually shrink. Being just water it won't make the gloves slippery of greasy either.

 

obviously the "ride" comments were made as a joke

I don't know how much the length will stretch though, width yes, but length?

 

Heh....no offense taken on the "ride" remarks...and really, that's good advice in general.....motorcycle riding...cures what ails ya !
Anyway, I know they will stretch out in the fingers. I have some old gloves that used to be a bit tight in the middle finger (hmmmmm, i wonder why THAT finger?) and now, they are long in all the fingers. Leather stretches for sure....especially with a glove that is contstantly being "worked" by the hand and fingers and gets sweated in, etc.
I did a little more research and most people seem to recommend some sort of glove oil...similar to whats used on baseball gloves.