The Icon Anthem Blender gloves are also new for 2015. This is the third and final pair in this brief “Too Light for Summer” look at ultra-lightweight motorcycle riding gloves. To be perfectly blunt, it’s difficult to recommend the Icon Anthem Blender gloves for any type of serious street riding. The gloves have fabric (polyester) construction on top and what feels like very thin, plasticky type of leather on the palm.
There is very little protection in these gloves other than a thin layer of D3O padding over the main knuckles. Perhaps these would be acceptable for low-speed Trials or bicycle riding, but we just don’t see these as motorcycle gloves, sorry Icon! The upside — if there is any — is that the polyester fabric provides good ventilation. And the elastic in the fabric and cuff make these gloves comfortable and form-fitting.
The cuff will fit under any motorcycle jacket sleeve, so the gloves stay out of the way and feel like they’re not even there. But if you’re looking for even the most minimal levels of protection, it’s probably best to give these a pass.
Features and Details
Just like the other two gloves in this review — the AGV Sport Gallant gloves (review) and the AGV Sport Spirit gloves (review) — the Icon Anthem Blender gloves were selected online, sight-unseen. The point here was to try and find the lightest-weight motorcycle riding gloves for summer riding; gloves that still offered a modicum of protection. The Icon Anthem Blender gloves have a list price of just $35.00 — about as cheap as they come. So we couldn’t resist.
But we were disappointed right from the start. The elastic polyester fabric on top is very thin and it just doesn’t seem like it would do much at all to protect your hands in a crash. There is a very thin layer of D3O under the main knuckles that might help, but it’s so thin, it’s hard to imagine it would even provide any impact absorption.
And it’s covered with the same fabric, so there’s nothing like leather or hard protectors on the topside of the gloves to help.
The palms are made from what Icon calls “Proprietary Seamless Battlehide Palm”. It looks and feels like vinyl; take a look at our photos.
The gloves have no other padding or lining over the fingers.
The fabric does allow air to flow through and the absence of any hard protectors means you’ll get good air flow pretty much everywhere except under the D3O protector.
The palm side on the inside of the gloves is the back side of the leather and it has a soft surface, not like the exterior.
Features include:
- The fingertips have a special fabric sewn in to make them touchscreen-sensitive. But this is only on the right-hand forefinger and thumb.
- D3O main knuckle protector.
- Thin leather palms.
Missing features:
- Touchscreen sensitivity on the left hand?
- No double stitching.
- No other padding or protectors over the fingers or palms.
- The gloves are so thin, they just don’t seem like they’d provide any type of protection for street riding.
Summer Riding
The Icon Anthem Blender gloves are comfortable, we’ll give them that.
The elastic-infused fabric makes the gloves form-fitting and the elastic cuff easily slips under any motorcycle jacket sleeve cuff.
If a gloved hand is held in the air stream when riding, plenty of air flows through. But so does water if it’s raining…
There’s just no feeling of being protected at all when holding the grips while riding.
Conclusion
It’s not very often at all that we give a “Not Recommended” rating to any motorcycle product, because competition is so fierce and technology has very much improved motorcycle gear at all levels over the last 10 years.
But it’s difficult to recommend the Icon Anthem Blender gloves on any level. Perhaps if you’re doing some slow-speed Trials riding where you need superior grip feel? Just don’t fall on the rocks…
2015 Summer Glove Comparison Home
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