Do You Need Gloves for Short Summer Motorcycle Rides?

Yes, including the short ones. Hands are commonly the first point of contact when a rider goes down, and a five mile ride is not a lower risk ride in any way that matters, because the hazards that put riders on the ground live at intersections, driveways and gravel patches rather than out on the highway. If heat is the reason you leave them on the bench, the answer is a lighter glove, not a bare hand: the Bad Billy Black Goatskin, from $65 with 129 reviews at 4.93, is a thin unlined short wrist glove that is easy to wear in July and cheap enough that leaving a pair in the helmet costs you nothing. If you would rather have a vented textile and leather summer glove than an all leather one, Rev'It builds that style and is worth a look.

The honest version of this question is not really about safety, because most riders already know the answer. It is about friction. Gloves get skipped on short rides because they are hot, because they are indoors, and because the trip feels too small to bother. Every one of those is fixable.

Why the short ride is the one that catches people out

Riders tend to gear up in proportion to distance, which is backwards. A two hour highway run is mostly steady speed in a straight line with predictable traffic. The ten minute hop to the store is left turns across traffic, cars pulling out of parking lots, loose gravel at driveway mouths, and a driver looking at a phone. The exposure per mile is not lower on the short trip. It is arguably higher.

There is also a mindset difference. On a short ride you are relaxed, dressed for where you are going rather than for the bike, and often thinking about the errand instead of the road. That is the trip you take on a familiar route where you stop scanning.

What bare hands actually face

Nobody chooses to put their hands out. It is reflex, and it happens before you have decided anything. That is why hands and palms take the first contact so often, and why a glove is doing its work in the first half second of an event you did not plan for.

Summer adds a second problem that riders forget. Asphalt in direct sun is far hotter than the air, so a bare palm on a road surface in July is dealing with heat as well as abrasion. Leather between your skin and the road handles both.

Fix the heat, not the habit

Telling a rider to wear hot gloves in hot weather does not work, and the sweaty pair in the tank bag is proof. The fix is to own a glove you are willing to put on when it is 95 degrees: thin, unlined, short cuffed, and light enough that you forget you are wearing it.

Three hot weather picks that are in stock

Bad Billy Black Goatskin, from $65

The Bad Billy in black goatskin has 129 reviews at 4.93 and is stocked deep, which matters if you want a pair now rather than waiting on a restock. Goatskin is a thin, supple glove leather, and this is an unlined short wrist design that sits under a jacket cuff without bunching. At $65 it is the easy answer to the argument that gloves are too expensive to leave lying in a helmet.

Classic Deerskin Gauntlets, from $75

The Classic Deerskin Gauntlets, 112 reviews at 4.88, give you more coverage at the wrist and forearm. The trade is airflow: a gauntlet cuff seals the wrist, which is exactly what you want at speed with constant wind and exactly what you do not want sitting at a light in traffic. If your short summer rides are open road rather than stop and go, these make sense.

Fingerless Deerskin, from $60

The Fingerless Deerskin, 126 reviews at 4.92, is the coolest thing in the drawer and the most popular answer to summer heat. Be clear eyed about it: fingerless covers less. Your palm, the back of your hand and the base of your fingers are protected, and your fingertips and knuckles above the cut line are not. It is a real glove for the part of the hand it covers and no glove at all for the part it does not. If you would otherwise ride bare handed, it is a genuine improvement. If you would otherwise wear a full finger glove, it is a downgrade you are choosing for comfort.

One note on availability, since guides rarely bother: the perforated ILL DOZER is the model in this range built specifically for heat, and it is out of stock right now, so it is not the pick here. Any list that recommends a glove you cannot buy is wasting your time.

What to look for in a summer glove

• Unlined. Lining is insulation, and insulation is the enemy in August.

• Short wrist, so it tucks under a sleeve and does not trap air at the forearm.

• Perforation or genuinely thin leather. Both move heat; thin leather also gives you better feel on the controls.

• Full finger where you can live with it, because that is where the coverage argument is actually won.

• A price you are willing to leave in a helmet. A glove in the closet protects nobody.

The two minute rule

Keep one pair inside your helmet, permanently. Not in a saddlebag, not in the garage drawer, inside the helmet, so putting them on is part of putting the helmet on rather than a separate decision. Almost every bare handed short ride happens because the gloves were somewhere else. Removing that step does more for your habit than any argument on a website.

Frequently asked questions

Do I really need gloves for a five minute ride?

Yes. Hands are commonly the first point of contact in a fall, and the reflex to put your hands out does not check how far you were going. Short trips also concentrate the hazards that cause low speed crashes.

Are fingerless gloves enough for summer?

They cover the palm and the back of the hand and leave the fingertips and upper knuckles bare. They are better than nothing and cooler than anything, and they are less coverage than a full finger glove. Choose them knowing that.

Are perforated gloves noticeably cooler?

Perforation lets air move through the panel instead of around it, which is the point of a summer specific glove. Legendary's perforated model is currently out of stock, so a thin unlined glove like the goatskin Bad Billy is the practical substitute.

Will summer gloves make my grip sweaty?

A thin unlined leather glove absorbs sweat rather than trapping it against your palm, which is usually more comfortable on the grips than bare skin. Sizing matters more than material here, so read our guide to how motorcycle gloves should fit before ordering.

For a wider look at what works when it is hot, see our guide to the best summer motorcycle gloves.