Rukka Bartlett GTX Gloves In Black

If you ride a retro bike, a café-racer, a scrambler, a cruiser or a genuine classic of some description, you don’t want to ride around wearing some technical-looking glove with a carbon knuckles, palm sliders and the like. Gloves like that just look wrong on certain types of bike.

Until recently, nobody produced what we would call a stylish and subtle, technical-quality, waterproof glove. There were, and are, lots of cool-looking gloves on the market, but there are very few that came out of the top draw, and even fewer that come with a laminated membrane. In 2020, Richa released their Atlantic Urban; and that ticked all the boxes. But, for 2021 Rukka has introduced this glove: the Bartlett.

It is all leather, and comes equipped with a Gore-tex laminated membrane. You get a hard, knuckle protector, extra layers of leather on the palm, a touchscreen-sensitive index finger and a Velcro strap to secure the wrist. In terms of their specs., the Richa and the Rukka are very similar. The Rukka is a supremely comfortable glove, and it is here where it scores perhaps over the Richa. The Rukka is simply the nicer glove to wear; and that can only really come down to the superior quality of the leather used by Rukka. It makes for a more wearable glove. Unfortunately, though, it does not come in brown, so if you want a brown glove, you’re going to have to go for the Richa.

All-leather construction

Gore-Tex laminated, waterproof membrane

Hard knuckle protector

Extra layers of leather on palm

Single strap at wrist

Touchscreen-sensitive index finger