Klim Dakar Gloves
4.6
5
14
14
Comfortable and light
The glove is very light and breathes well, keeping your hand comfortable in warmer temperatures. It appears to be a quality product that is well built, although I haven't had the gloves long enough to assess durability.
June 11, 2013
Good Klim glove for the price
Overall I like the glove. It seemed a bit snug at first but broke in pretty quick. It fits very well an doesn't have any uncomfortable seams like cheaper gloves. I love it for summer riding. On a dual sport without wind guards its a bit cold in the spring or fall.
May 7, 2013
excellent gloves
item fit well -possibly slightly small.Looks good and all controls can be felt through gloves -- great buy, Rode in 49 degree weather for extended period -- any colder and I used heated hand grips.excellent product.
April 22, 2013
Excellent Glove
Very comfortable - feels like a second skin. Great dexterity and wonderful air flow. I use these for a quad but will be hard pressed not to use them on the Harley in the summer.
March 25, 2013
Cool glove for adventure riding in warm weather
Excelente Glove. True American size. Most of my gloves are XXL REVIT, but after watching Revzilla Video I ordered the KLIM Dakar gloves in XL size and fit great.
Thanks Revzilla because the XXL would be too big...
December 21, 2012
My Go-To Adventure Gloves
Please note that the following review is for the 2009 version of the Klim Dakar, which differs slightly from the current version. While cosmetically quite different, the only major functional difference is that it looks like Klim has replaced the open mesh between the fingers of the 2009 glove with a tighter-woven fabric. Having said that:
I stumbled upon the Klim Dakar gloves in 2009 while shopping for my first adventure ride abroad (8 days in Vietnam).
Quite honestly, at the time I purchased them because they were inexpensive. I was new to adventure riding and my only experience with riding gloves was from a pair of Joe Rocket gloves I bought with my first bike.
They made it to Vietnam and back and were exceptional. Fast forward to 2011 and I was planning for another trip, this time two weeks off-road in Namibia. I was thankfully working a more flexible budget and purchased a pair of REV'IT Dirt gloves. As an afterthought, I tossed the Dakars in with the rest of my gear, thinking that a backup set of gloves couldn't hurt. The first day in Namibia was hot and, while the Dirts vented well, they couldn't match the Dakars for keeping my hands cool. The Dirts never came out again for the entire trip, some 3,000 miles. After using them every day for two weeks for eight to 10 hours a day, they finally started to show some wear on the inside of the thumbs (see attached picture).
Nevertheless, I've continued to use them, most recently for the BMW Off-Road School, where I forced them to prove they were crash-worthy...repeatedly.
As for my ratings:
Bang for the Buck:
Generally low-priced motorcycle gear, especially in the sub-$50 category, is pretty basic and forces the rider to accept some unpleasantries, typically some combination of poor fit, ventilation and durability. Not the Dakars.
The dexterity they provide is better than any other glove I've used to date which, in addition to the aforementioned Joe Rocket gloves, now includes some of the better gloves from the Rev'it and Held lineups. So good that I don't think twice about leaving them on when buckling a double-D ring on a helmet. Admittedly, this has a lot to do with the thickness (or lack thereof) of the Dakar versus other, more substantial gloves, but it is in no small part also due to the fit. At least on my hands, the finger lengths are perfect and the wrist closure is at exactly the right spot; I cannot say this about any of my other gloves. On a long trips this is one of the few pieces of equipment I'm not itching to remove at the end of the day (the Sidi Adventure Gore-Tex boots would be the other, but clearly at the other end of the price spectrum).
The ventilation is excellent thanks to open mesh running the full-length between the fingers and some tighter mesh on the back of the hand. As noted at the start of this review, the mesh between the fingers seems to have been replaced by a tighter-woven material on the current version of the Dakars. However, it does look like Klim has used more mesh on the top of the current Dakar, so I would expect that they breathe just as well.
The Dakars have also proven to be very durable for such a lightweight glove. I've probably put 5,000+ off-road miles on them and they're just starting to show wear in one spot and are still perfectly useable and I'll be wearing them on my next trip.
Style:
Always subjective but I think both the 2009 and the 2012 versions look good. The versions in neutral colors blend very well with a variety of riding gear and bikes.
Comfort:
Excellent. My most comfortable gloves. As I mentioned above, one of a few pieces of riding gear I'm not itching to remove after a long day of riding. One of those great "forget you have them on" products.
Protection:
Average, but this is, after all, an off-road glove and it's not built to go skidding down pavement. Having taking a number of tumbles in the dirt while wearing this glove, it does it's job very well. If you're going to be on tarmac, you'll probably want something more substantial with hard parts.
Air Flow:
Excellent. As good as I could imagine.
Features:
It's a pretty simple glove.
Fit:
The medium fits perfectly. For reference, I'm a L in the REV'IT SLR and Dirt, and an XL 10 in the Held Warm N Dry.
To sum up, if it wasn't clear from the above, I think the Klim Dakars are excellent off-road / adventure gloves. They do what they're supposed to do and do it comfortably, mile after mile. I will buy another pair when my current Dakars finally die.
September 3, 2012
It's a great glove for rippin' around the city on my GS.
I found the fit (XXL) to be spot on. Finger dexterity is excellent (I'm typing this review with the gloves on!) I found that there is a break in period in respect to the palms. For the first hundred miles or so you'll really notice the palm padding when you grab the throttle. Airflow is excellent, never a clammy feel, no funky smells. You really feel the cool air entering below your knuckles. It's welcomed relief in these 90+ deg temperatures. I have nearly a thousand commuting miles on them now and they are wearing well.
August 6, 2012
I love this glove!
I tried the Klim Mojave last year for maximum air flow in our desert heat of 95-105F. They didn't last the year being so light weight material + I bought the size according to their size chart,
Which was Too small as with all Moto gear for me so far.
I purchased the Dakar version this year and went up a size to ensure the correct fit. Much better! The glove is built to hold up with excellent palm and knuckle protection for a hot weather glove and still very comfortable on the hottest of days.
Great value for a few dollars more over the Mojave.
July 25, 2012
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