Alpinestars SMX-1 Air v2 Gloves: What Not to Buy
Evan Rally
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With over 671 reviews on Revzilla alone with a solid 4.2 / 5 rating (and the Alpinestars brand mark), you’d expect these gloves to be a sure bet for quality.
On paper, the Alpinestars SMX-1 Air v2 gloves seem to check all the boxes for a summer glove—lightweight and breathable, constructed of sturdy goat leather with double-stitched seams, sporting an unnecessarily long name, all for a price that’s affordable for the casual rider.
But having ridden 20,000 miles in these across a variety of climates, including the sweltering summer heat of the USA and the relentless humidity of Thailand, I’m here to tell you that these gloves have major flaws—and they aren’t as easy to overlook as some may suggest.
The Good
These gloves have their strengths – starting with the MSRP price of $70, which for a leather glove from Alpinestars is not a bad deal.
In my experience riding through the jungles of Thailand and the deserts of the USA (in July, no less) they do flow air well through the mesh on the fingers. You won’t get as much down on your palms as you do with a textile or suede glove, but you also get the protection of leather on that all-important hand.
I’ve also found that these gloves fit very well. No pain at the base of the thumb, in the fingers or at the hard knuckle guard – at the start of my wear or after 3 years of use.
The leather is surprisingly durable, though it has a deal-breaking issue that appeared a few months in that I’ll get to in the “Ugly” section.
The Bad
So here’s where these gloves start to fall apart (literally). First, the velcro.
The design of these gloves doesn’t give much room for failure, and the velcro barely even tries to hold on anymore.
The velcro lost its mojo soon after buying these gloves, to the point where they would come undone while I was riding, which does not inspire confidence that these gloves would stay put in a crash.
The touchscreen compatible fingertips do work, but in my experience the fingertips are just too big to allow easy use of modern smartphone interfaces. So you better enjoy ripping off your gloves every time you need to fuss with your maps.
All that taking on and off of these gloves led to the next problem: the stitching holding the wrist to the palm on the right glove came loose. It wasn’t just a little fray—it completely tore open.
Maybe the conditions I subjected these gloves to were just too harsh, but then again, a crash is pretty harsh. And protecting against one of those is why you’re buying gloves in the first place, right?
The Ugly
None of the above issues matter that much to me. The most annoying issue is by far that these gloves bleed ink like no other.
Now you might say this is typical with a pair of leather gloves. And yes, it is typical, for the first few wears. After a couple rain storms or a few good washes, the ink typically sets and your hands no longer change color through a ride.
The Alpinestars SMX-1 Air gloves were fine for me for the first several months, then they started bleeding ink profusely. And the more I tried to solve the ink issue, the worse it got.
And I tried everything: hand washing, machine washing, soaking them in Vanish, scrubbing, sun drying, and more. The problem only got worse, to the point where some mild sweat on a 30 minute ride around town turns my hands a creepy purple/black tint, requiring a heavy scrub with a plastic brush to set them back to normal.
This is my hand after just 30 seconds of wearing the wet glove.
Maybe this is a problem specifically with the production run of SMX-1 I bought, since I haven’t noticed this issue in other reviews (maybe they didn’t push the gloves hard enough!) and I haven’t noticed any bleeding with other black leather Alpinestars gloves I’ve similarly put through the ringer.
Which brings me to alternatives…
The Alternatives
I didn’t buy the Alpinestars SMX-1 Air gloves under the best of circumstances… I bought them as a replacement for a missing right side of the Alpinestars Celer Gloves I wore across America in 2022. I accidentally left that pair on my bike in a particularly nasty storm, and when I returned to the bike in the morning the right glove was nowhere to be found.
I settled for the SMX-1 at a CycleGear store somewhere in the American Midwest. However, for the remainder of that trip, I wore mismatched gloves because I liked the additional protection offered by the Celer.
Alpinestars Celer
The Celer gloves also flow air decently well, especially given the leather feels about twice as thick as the leather on the SMX-1. I haven’t had the problem of knuckle guards digging in that some riders compare about, I actually find them nicely padded and very comfortable – more than the SMX-1.
And I appreciate the white knuckled colorway, which Alpinestars kept (kinda) with their new v3 version, since it makes the hand more visible to headlights at night. You can pick up the v2 (same version I have) while it’s still available here.
I wore these for two years through high heat and humidity, with minimal wear and no tears or broken seams. Slight discolorations, but still strong and supple leather. Super high quality.
Sedici Bruno
Another candidate for SMX-1 alternative are the Sedici Bruno gloves, which are a similar leather-mesh hybrid like the Alpinestars SMX-1. I admit I haven’t ridden in these, but they check all the boxes I was looking for with the Alpinestars SMX-1: lightweight, leather palm, and TPU knuckle slider. They also have a nice palm slider. However, I can’t attest to their durability.
- Quality supple leather with air-flow mesh fabric
- Air flow mesh fabric throughout
- Lightly pre-curved fingers to reduce bulk
- Unlined for a closer fit
Alpinestars Phenom
I just picked up the Alpinestars Phenom gloves on a recent trip to Japan because they feel like everything I loved about the SMX-1, but with even more mobility and more velcro holding them on.
I’m only a few weeks into riding with these, so I’ll create a review when I’ve had a chance to punish them a bit harder.
Comfortable and flexible, the Phenom are a mix between sport and casual riding glove. Lightweight yet all-leather where you need it, with a palm slider.
Until we meet again; enjoy the ride!