motorcycle gloves?

i think should have knuckle protection etc not sure about that?

Yes, you should.

There's so much choice when it comes to gloves, but basically you need to choose between "waterproof" and actually waterproof which means goretex. And textile or leather. Full length gauntlets that have a load of wrist coverage, or shorter gloves with less.

https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/motorcycle_parts/content_cat/3814

Much like helmets, fit is everything.

What are you planning on doing after your CBT? Riding a 125? Commuting on it? Or going onto DAS soon after and then a big bike?

I bought some cheap RST brown leather gloves. I'm glad I went the shop to try them on as the stitching is a little wavy and some of them had seems which ran in uncomfortable places around the finger tips. I just picked the ones which felt best.

I bought a cheap but decent Bell helmet and jacket from www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/

thanks i'd looked on that site and just lost my shopping enthusiasm due to the sheer amount of choice. I'll maybe go to a local place and see what they recommend?

After CBT I plan to get a 125 for knocking about on /commuting then DAS next spring, then bigger bike.
Everyone in my family is against it but its an itch i have to scratch and at mid fifties think i'll be careful enough now.

what would you guys budget for a helmet, gloves? needs to be on the tight side budget wise for me. plus any other essential kit items i should think of??

Helmet I would say get one that fits - that could be £130 or it could be £330...

Don't fret too much about the gloves, you'll probably end up with 3 or 4 pairs over the course of time. You'll soon realise that leathers/gloves suitable for summer riding aren't great in winter, and vice versa.

If you are going to be commuting through winter then good kit can turn it from a misery into an ok thing to do. I did several years commuting year round on a 125/400/800.

Welcome to another money pit that is motorbikes! 🤣

Carberg chin up helmets are great if they fit your head. I wouldn't go back to a full face fixed chin helmet anytime soon.
I'd buy 2 pairs of cheap but decent gloves so when the first set gets too wet or cold you can wear the second set that should be dry and possibly warm.

Sportsbikeshop are selling Oxford Mondail gloves for £70, you shouldn't go far wrong with those. They have a great returns service so ordering a couple of sizes isn't a problem then return the ones that don't fit.

Also, I wear a pair of thin under gloves for added warmth and comfort.

Depends where in the country you are (I'm guessing the Fens?), but it's worth traveling a bit to a really big shop to try on lots of stuff, or the Motorcycle show at the NEC in November. Even good shops tend to only have one or two brands in stock, which in the case of things like helmets is limiting, especially if they're both from the same parent company and so have the same fit.

If you are going to be commuting through winter then good kit can turn it from a misery into an ok thing to do.

This +1

I did 2 years commuting as a teenager in what was basically summer kit in conditions cold enough to freeze the ignition barrel. If you intend to ride at all in winter, spend £££ on heated everything (particularly gloves and socks/insoles).

Get heated grips fitted to whatever bike you finally get - they are just amazing and mean you don't need massive winter gloves.

Get heated grips fitted to whatever bike you finally get – they are just amazing and mean you don’t need massive winter gloves.

They're fine for the odd ride when it's a bit chilly, but for serious winter commuting a pair of Gerbing heated gloves are the absolute nuts. I've done heated grips, heated grips plus bar muffs, and finally heated gloves. 45 minute commutes in sub 3 degrees, at 50-70mph turned into a pleasure.

You've probably noticed, but absolutely nothing on that website is full price. I think my Bell helmet was only about £90. I got an Oxford jacket for about the same price and it's very wind and waterproof.

I just used thick jeans and hiking boots to get through my test as I've got enough expensive hobbies. I don't have a bike yet so I'm glad I didn't splurge loads of money on clothing.

Ideally try in a shop, but you will pay a premium to do so.

If you are happy to order online I use sports bike shop, I select the highest safety rating filter, then price low to high. Got a AAA £250 jacket for £150, £180 AAA trousers for £100, £60 gloves for £40 etc. I dont care if they are last season.

Problem can be finding what size you are in various brands, and what brands fit your body shape. Sports bike shop are easy to do returns.

I have a few pairs of gloves, leather with perforations for summer, thicker textiles for winter. I use gauntlet style, knuckle protection for safety, my friend wears glorified MTB gloves. You want them to be comfy, I have a set I just dont like as the thumb/finger/palm ratios just dont match my hands, they are ok straight, but too tight in a grip position.

You can get a set of RST waterproof gloves in your budget.

I would say half decent gear makes lessons a lot more comfortable (even just Oxford, RST etc, doesnt need to be £1k touring textiles).

Have a look around to see if there are any Triumph Winter gloves at a good price. Very good quality. However, I agree with what the others have said - heated grips are a must and for deep Winter, heated gloves.

Buy a back protector aswell
Forcefield make excellent and comfortable kit

The CBT is a great day out. First step in to a new world.
best of luck.

gloves… I have around 5 or more pairs, always wear the wrong ones as it’s always hotter or colder than I thought it would be. Alpine star drystar gloves are a good all rounder.
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">
helmets… the ones with her flip down sun visor are really handy. It also makes everything a lot more top gun. </span>

Gloves-wise, unless you're spending hundreds it's very unlikely you'll find some truely waterproof ones. I'd look for some mid-range ones, e.g. Weise or Macna around the £50-80 mark, and then as others have said get some heated gear. I commuted through an entire Scottish winter come rain, snow, sleet, whatever. What made it bearable other than standard textile kit was Oxford heated grips (-£45), wind deflectors (came with the bike), a USB-powered heated waistcoat (~£35 including power bank) and some thick woollen Arctic socks (~£20). I had decent textile gear from Weise, on sale from sportsbikeshop.co.uk at ~£230 for jacket and trousers iirc.

xlmoto.co.uk also seen to have permanent deals on all bits of kit. Through them I've found LS2 helmets which are the perfect fit for me, after years of wearing Nolan helmets. Bonus is they are pretty cheap - my touring helmet cost about £130 and it passes all the safety requirements.

The only other thing, again mentioned above, is a separate back protector. The stuff you get included with clothes is better than nothing, but only just. I've ended up with an Alpinestars armoured under-jacket that fits under anything I choose to wear and has hard back, kidney, chest, shoulder and elbow protection. Miles better than the foam stuff that comes with the clothes. Budget about £200 for one, less for back protection only.

I commuted on bikes for years, all weathers.

Just remember when you fall off your hands are usually the first things to hit the ground...

I went through various makes etc and like MTB gloves you'll end up with multiple pairs - my longest lasting set were a big gauntlet-type winter pair I bought in Germany cheap, whilst my most expensive were a pair of goretex & armoured Rukka's...

But if riding anything other than summer, add heated grips.

I second going to a show, we use to have an annual 'boys' (AKA pi55 up in London) day to Ally Pally and I'd always buy a new helmet (doing 100 miles per day, every day quickly wears them out plus new visors aren't cheap), usually buying a discontinued high spec helmet, far cheaper.

Like others say, you will eventually accumulate a few pairs.  I've got a box in the garage with about ten pairs in, most of which don't get worn anymore, but for some reason I find it really hard to throw old bike gloves away!  I'm down to two pairs in regular use now, an ancient pair of Hein Gerike goretex for winter or wet rides and a pair of Oxford summer gloves.

Incidentally, whilst the goretex gloves hold back the rain for a while, it gets through eventually.  I have had over a dozen pairs of goretex gloves for motorcycling and hill walking and I've never yet found a pair that are truly waterproof in properly heavy rain.  The membrane seems to work OK in jackets and boots, but not in gloves.  Maybe because there are a lot more seams which need to be flexible and are hard to tape?  Dunno, but in my experience truly waterproof, as opposed to shower proof gloves don't exist.

As many have said if you do enjoy it and do you direct access next year you will buy new kit as you work out what you really like. Decent CE marked kit is not cheap so initially I would just get some cheap branded gloves that fit well.

I used to buy goretex waterproof gloves, but decided that even though they were meant to breath my hands sweated and I ended up with stinky gloves. So not I don't bother and just turn the heated grips on. I do have a pair of heated gloves as well if it gets really cold. I am also a total convert to heated clothing. Its like having the sun on your back. So much so I have to remind myself that the tarmac is not 40deg and sticky 🙂 All this is way down the line for you though. Get CBT, get bike, ride and enjoy and don't over complicate it at this point.

I am excited as it's new bike day for me, I pick up a new KTM 1290 Super Adventure S this afternoon. First day of rain in weeks too, just to annoy me 🙂

I am excited as it’s new bike day for me, I pick up a new KTM 1290 Super Adventure S this afternoon. First day of rain in weeks too, just to annoy me

Nice!! Happy new bike day!  I'm off to the tyre fitters for some new boots on my Tiger 900. It's a 60 mile round trip and it's looking like rain.

Well done on your choice to become one of the cool kids.

Just curious to find out why you would fo direct access in your 50's?

I would crack on and get your A1 as soon as possible, a small 400-600 machine will be very easy to ride and significantly safer than a 125 at least in my opinion.

Also with risiing fuel costs 125 bikes are getting really expensive as you can ride them after a days course.

Where as bigger motorcycles can still be had cheap, I've got an unsinkable XJ900 here you can have for £800 😉

So long as you're riding something though that's all that really matters!  Enjoy!

@boxwithawindow has a point, if you can afford it skip the 125 and just do DAS now and buy a bigger bike. Easier to ride and more likely not to fall apart.

A bit of kit advice.

I always wear a Hi Viz vest. And no one has knocked me off in almost 20 years of motorcycling. I once left it behind, and I ended up denting the side of a car that pulled out. And that was within the first 3 miles.

80% of motorbike accidents involve another vehicle.

Of that 80%, about 80% are a "sorry I didn't see you". That's around 65% overall.

You can remove 2/3rds of the risk with a £10 product. 

Plus, they make you invisible to the police. "he can't be speeding, it looks like he is moving fast, but he actually looks so sensible and slow".

And the ones from the cycling world have a big back pocket for your fish and chips.

Plus, they make you invisible to the police. “he can’t be speeding, it looks like he is moving fast, but he actually looks so sensible and slow“.

Add a top box as well for the full 'sensible biker' - although it always use to surprise the Friday (and only in the summer) commuter sportsbike rider when they tried to outdrag me from the lights (on the worlds scruffiest ZX9R) 🙂

OP, what size are your hands? I've got a size large pair knocking around that I don't use that I could post to you

thanks everyone, I considered the DAS first but wanted to spread out the experience and make sure I'm committed first and I can't afford the commitment to a larger bike and cost just now, also politically 'its just a small 125' works in my household better than I'm getting a 150bhp rocket to ride to the moon!

All good suggestions thanks, idea would be CBT then 125 for 6 months or so, then DAS then Moto Guzzi v7/ducati scrambler type bike and then see where I end up.

been thinking about it since I was young but then at various points lost/had altered the odd friend to bikes just when I was about to commit which has put me off for a while but I can't get the idea out of my head now so going to go for it.... as life too short and all that jazz and we'll see what happens.

happy to wear a hi viz vest and understand the 'not really waterproof' comments, same for bike gear really.
I'm in fife so winters aren't too bad here on the riviera, and commutes not that far.

Murray I'm an l/XL in mtb gloves so not sure they'd fit but thanks for the offer...

going to a shop this weekend to see what's what.....

cheers