The Spidi TX-2 gloves are designed for summer riding adventures. They’re styled like motocross gloves but with added protection for street riding, cruising or adventure-touring. Made from goat leather, “Flex Tenax”, neoprene, micro fiber, stretch polyester and carbon fiber, the TX-2 gloves have a little of everything.
They are also certified to the EN13594:2015 standard. You’re not getting racing glove protection with the TX-2 gloves, but you also don’t want anything with less protection than these. As always, it’s a compromise and the flip side is that the TX-2 gloves provide excellent ventilation and allow moisture to escape from your hands. They’re also very flexible and stretchy and form-fitting, which provides outstanding grip feel.
The only downside is that the lining doesn’t completely cover the seams on the inside. But the stretch fabric helps and the seams disappear into the background noise once you get used to the feel. Available in all black and black with white, red or blue accents, the Spidi TX-2 gloves hit the sweet spot between protection and ventilation for summer motorcycle riding.
Background
The Spidi company started in 1977 and their first product was — you guessed it — motorcycle gloves. You’d never know it from looking at their current catalog though, which spans a huge range way beyond just gloves.
If I had to summarize, I’d say that Spidi is now known for very high quality products that are very well made and which include the latest safety features and technologies, all with a focus on performance and that all-important “usability” factor.
But back to the gloves…
There are dozens and dozens of them in the current Spidi catalog, ranging from full-bore racing gloves used by MotoGP and World Superbike riders to gloves for cruising and motocross.
And don’t forget street riding, sport touring, touring and everything in between. Makes it hard to choose, but it’s sure fun to flip through the catalog!
Spidi TX-2 Gloves
So where do the TX-2 gloves fit into the Spidi lineup? They’re new for 2016, added to the Spidi “TX” textile glove series.
The TX glove series means relatively inexpensive, short-gauntlet gloves with overtones of adventure-touring styling…but very usable for anything from street riding to cruising as well.
The TX-2 gloves perfectly cleave the TX series by adding more protection than the mostly-mesh TX-R gloves and better ventilation than the TX-1 gloves, which use more leather on the exterior of the fingers.
I wouldn’t want to have less protection than is provided by the TX-2 gloves, but on the other hand (you knew I’d had to sneak that in here, right?), I wouldn’t want to have less ventilation.
So the TX-2’s hit that perfect “Goldilocks” zone by being just right for hot-weather motorcycle riding.
What’s really interesting about the TX-2 gloves is that you can get ’em in all black for cruising and they won’t look a bit out of place.
Street riding or touring? The all black will do that too, or get the black with touches of red or white.
Adventure-tourers and dual-sporters will probably gravitate to the blue version, which are my personal favorites and they are the gloves featured in this review.
That’s because the mesh over the fingers and back of the wrist on the blue version is light gray, which looks good, is probably a wee bit cooler and also marks the blue version of the TX-2 more towards the adventure-touring end of the spectrum.
TX-2 Details
There are many motorcycle gloves out there that may look similar to the TX-2 gloves, but very few of this type have the EN13594:2015 certification with the all-important documentation that proves it. Nor do they have Spidi build quality.
That alone has to be worth something extra and yes, you may also be able to buy a similar-looking pair for half the price but in this case, you really do get what you pay for.
The TX-2 gloves have a little bit of everything when it comes to construction materials.
The palms are made from some type of slightly stretchy synthetic leather and that tiny bit of stretch adds comfort and provides good grip feel.
An extra piece of this synthetic is double-stitched between the thumb and forefinger and also used over the outside of the “pinky” finger for abrasion protection.
The fabric used over the back of the gloves (over the wrist) is some type of polyester, but it’s not the “classic” style open-weave mesh (although a touch of that type is used to cover the bottom half of the thumb).
Instead, it has an interesting tight weave with a 3D texture that looks like tiny raised ovals and it provides excellent ventilation — the air passes right through.
Goat leather is used as a wear patch over the palm and also over the main knuckle area up to and just over the middle knuckles. This is also double-stitched on top and blind stitched on the sides.
The inside of the rear half of the fingers is made from another type of 3D textile, this is where the blue color shows in the photos. It also provides excellent ventilation and transpiration, allowing sweat to dissipate.
The forward parts of the inside and outside of each finger is covered with the synthetic leather found in the palm.
There are two more materials to be found on the TX-2 gloves: the large main knuckle protector is a nice piece of carbon fiber molding, while the outside of the wrist is protected by a big section of soft waffled polyurethane double-stitched into the glove body.
This same polyurethane is used as the wrist strap. Finally, a square of some type of thick squishy stuff — memory foam perhaps? — is molded under the synthetic leather at the back of the outside of the wrist, behind the waffled slider.
Flexibility and Comfort
Motorcycle gloves for hot weather riding need light weight, lots of ventilation, good grip feel, the ability to transpire moisture (sweat) and also flexibility.
The TX-2 gloves have all of that for sure.
Pretty much everything about these gloves is designed for flexibility. Each of the materials used in the TX-2 has some degree of flex or stretch.
The synthetic leather used in the palms has a tiny bit of stretch, while the material used over the back of the hands and fingers has quite a bit more.
There’s also a different type of stretch material used in an accordion pleat just behind the main knuckle protector.
Even that “waffle-ized” slider on the outside of the wrist is designed for flexibility; the waffle shapes ensure that the slider will conform to the shape of your hand.
Given that the materials used in the TX-2 gloves are fairly lightweight — these are, after all, specifically designed for hot weather — the flexibility and stretch characteristics are both designed to provide excellent comfort and this is indeed the case.
It makes a nice difference in riding, because the TX-2 gloves feel like a “second skin” and you’ll have outstanding grip control and feel for the grips.
Believe it or not, this is also a safety factor because a glove with a lot of “feel” gives you a better and faster understanding of what the bike is doing.
Glove Lining and Internal Seams
The lining is that typical thin black shiny stuff you’ll find in just about every motorcycle glove made. It covers both the top and palm of the TX-2 gloves on the inside, right up through the fingers.
It probably does block some of the air coming through, but it does add to the comfort factor and maybe helps wick away some moisture also.
The only minor issue I have with the TX-2 gloves is that the seams on the inside are not covered by the lining. If you look inside a glove with a flashlight, you’ll see the seams running along both sides, one down along the “life line” of the palm and also along the sides of the fingers.
It’s not the worst example I’ve experienced in a pair of motorcycle gloves and, in fact, I mostly forget about it when riding because the flexibility of the TX-2’s is comfortable.
I also understand perhaps that manufacturing the glove to hide the seams under the lining might add to the expense.
Anyway, just a minor issue but one that I thought I’d discuss.
Sizing
I haven’t tried any of the other of the Spidi TX series so I can’t compare, but this pair in size large fits as expected to perhaps just a touch snug.
The flexibility and stretch make up for any differences plus or minus, but if your hands measure over size 9 (tape measure around the widest part of the hand between the thumb and main knuckles), then go for the XL.
The finger length on these seems just a bit short even though my hands are a “normal” size 9, although again, the stretch materials make up for this.
I notice that the webbing at the base of my thumb and all my fingers doesn’t quite reach my hands, so the finger length could be maybe 2-3 mm longer.
But overall, once I get on the bike wearing the TX-2’s, this isn’t an issue.
By the way, you’ll notice that the synthetic leather around the outside of the fingers is one piece, sewn top and bottom and with no seam at the tip of the fingers.
This design is also very helpful and adds to the comfort level, because you won’t feel a vertical seam on your fingertips, which can be really annoying.
Protection
The big main carbon fiber knuckle protector is also the primary styling feature of the TX-2 gloves. The molding of the knuckles is interesting; it’s sharper or more pointed than other carbon fiber main knuckle protectors I’ve seen on motorcycle gloves.
Underneath the protector is soft memory foam and the lining, which adds to the comfort. I don’t feel the knuckle protector at all, which is good.
The protector is also double-stitched on to the goat leather used on the upper portion of the gloves.
That goat leather continues to just past the middle knuckles. There’s a thin piece of foam sewn under the leather and between the main knuckles and middle knuckles on the first three fingers only.
There are no protectors over the first knuckles or fingertips, only the gray fabric, for maximum air flow.
I mentioned earlier about the “waffle-ized” slider on the outside of the wrist, made from soft polyurethane, along with the foam square impact protector behind that on the outside of the wrist.
There’s a small square of this foam under the goat leather used also on the outside of the thumb.
And I also mentioned the extra section of synthetic leather double-stitched to the outside of the “pinky” finger.
That’s all there is for hard protection on the TX-2 gloves. It’s minimal protection if compared to full leather racing gloves but the upside of the compromise is the ventilation, which is about as good as you’ll get.
There is no secondary wrist strap and normally we’d mark the gloves down quite a bit for that.
But the TX-2 gloves are designed to be worn under a sleeve cuff and the tight-fitting gauntlet (and snug fit through the wrist area) and wrist strap keeps the gloves secure on the hand.
Ventilation
No question the TX-2 gloves have outstanding ventilation. Don’t forget though, if you’re riding behind a fairing or hand guards, with no direct air passing over the gloves, obviously you won’t feel the air coming through.
But moisture has no problem leaving your hands and exiting through the fabrics and if your hands are out in the open air stream, you’ll get plenty of cooling ventilation.
Reflectivity
None.
Conclusion
The Spidi TX-2 gloves really are kind of a do-it-all type for the hottest motorcycle riding weather you’re likely to encounter.
You probably would not want less protection than these provide and they have just enough to give you some security, although there’s basically nothing other than the stretch fabric over the tops of the fingertips.
Adding something there, however, would subtract from the outstanding ventilation that the TX-2 gloves provide.
One thing that’s interesting is that although the TX-2 gloves sort of have an adventure-touring or dual-sport styling, if you get them in black no one would ever know and cruisers or tourers should have no problem if they don’t want to “cross pollinate” with other riding styles.
The price is certainly a little higher than the “Brand X” textile gloves but you’re getting outstanding construction and materials and that all-important CE certification.
I can definitely recommend the TX-2’s as your go-to textile gloves for just about any type of casual riding in the hottest weather.
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