Gloves are sized on one measurement, and it is not your hand length
Every motorcycle glove chart worth using is built on the circumference of your palm. Icon states the method plainly: measure “the circumference of your palm at its widest point — a little below the knuckles”.
That is the whole input. Not hand length, not finger length, not your normal glove size in another category. Wrap a soft tape around the widest part of your palm, below the knuckles, with your hand flat and relaxed, and read the number.
- Use your dominant hand. It is usually fractionally larger, and gloves are sold in pairs of the same size.
- Do not include the thumb. The tape goes around the four fingers’ knuckle line and back across the palm.
- Keep the hand flat and relaxed, not clenched and not splayed. A fist adds most of a size.
- Measure twice and take the larger reading if they differ.
Icon’s published chart
| Size | Men’s palm (in) | Men’s palm (cm) |
|---|---|---|
| S | 6.5–7 | 16.5–17.8 |
| M | 7.5–8 | 19.1–20.3 |
| L | 8.5–9 | 21.6–22.9 |
| XL | 9.5–10 | 24.1–25.4 |
| 2XL | 10.5–11 | 26.7–27.9 |
| 3XL | 11.5–12 | 29.2–30.5 |
| 4XL | 12.5–13 | 31.8–33 |
| Size | Women’s palm (in) | Women’s palm (cm) |
|---|---|---|
| XS | 5.75–6 | 14.6–15.2 |
| S | 6.25–6.5 | 15.9–16.5 |
| M | 6.75–7 | 17.1–17.8 |
| L | 7.25–7.5 | 18.4–19.1 |
| XL | 7.75–8 | 19.7–20.3 |
| 2XL | 8.25–8.5 | 21–21.6 |
Read the men’s chart again: half of it is missing
Look at where each band stops and the next one starts. Small ends at 7 inches. Medium begins at 7.5. Between them is half an inch that belongs to no size at all.
It happens at every step:
| Between | Unassigned range |
|---|---|
| S and M | 7 to 7.5 in |
| M and L | 8 to 8.5 in |
| L and XL | 9 to 9.5 in |
| XL and 2XL | 10 to 10.5 in |
| 2XL and 3XL | 11 to 11.5 in |
| 3XL and 4XL | 12 to 12.5 in |
The chart spans 6.5 to 13 inches, which is 6.5 inches of range. The sizes together cover 3.5 inches of it. Just over half the range the chart claims to describe has no size printed against it, and the gaps are not at the extremes but between every pair of adjacent sizes.
A 7.25 inch palm — an entirely ordinary hand — is not on the chart.
This is not a transcription error. The published bands really are half-inch bands with half-inch spaces between them, and it means the chart is best read as a set of anchor points rather than as a lookup table. If you land in a gap, you are between sizes and the chart is not going to resolve it for you.
The men’s and women’s charts describe the same hands differently
Put the two tables side by side and they overlap heavily rather than sitting one below the other:
- A 7.75 to 8 inch palm is a women’s XL. The same palm sits inside the men’s Medium band of 7.5 to 8 inches.
- A 6.5 inch palm is where the women’s Small ends and the men’s Small begins.
- The women’s range tops out at 8.5 inches, which is only just past the bottom of the men’s Large.
So the two charts are not two different sizing systems. They are the same measurement, cut into different bands, on gloves with different proportions and finger lengths. If your palm measurement falls in the overlap, both are worth trying, and the deciding factor is finger length rather than palm width.
What the measurement cannot tell you
Icon says as much themselves, recommending you try the actual product. Palm circumference is one number describing a shape that varies in at least three ways:
- Finger length is independent of palm width. Two people with an identical 8.5 inch palm can need different glove lengths, and a glove with too much material at the fingertips is worse than one slightly snug — loose tips bunch against the levers and cost you feel at the controls.
- Gauntlet or short cuff. A gauntlet has to close over a jacket sleeve, so the cuff circumference matters as much as the hand. Match it to the jacket you actually ride in.
- Material. Leather stretches and moulds; textile largely does not. A leather glove that is firm when new will be right in a few hundred miles. A textile glove that is firm when new will stay firm.
Checking the fit once they are on
Do all of this with both gloves on, and preferably while holding something the shape of a handlebar:
- No empty space at the fingertips. Press the tips: you want contact, not a gap. A few millimetres of slack becomes a fold under your fingers on the brake lever.
- No bunching in the palm. Make a fist. Material that gathers into a ridge across the palm will become a hot spot within an hour.
- You can work the levers. Two fingers on the brake, full travel, without the glove fighting you.
- The closure actually closes. A wrist strap at the end of its adjustment when new has nowhere to go once the leather relaxes.
- Nothing pinches at the web of the thumb. It is the first place a glove that is too small announces itself.
A glove that has to be broken in is normal in leather. A glove that hurts anywhere on day one is the wrong size or the wrong shape.
The rest of the kit
Every item is sized off a different measurement, and none of the charts convert into each other:
- Jackets go on chest circumference, and there the numeric sizes turn out to have exact formulas — US size is your chest in inches, EU size is your chest in centimetres halved. The workings and a converter are in the motorcycle jacket size chart, and what a correct fit feels like is in how a motorcycle jacket should fit.
- Boots are the hardest of the four, because the European and American scales step in different units and cannot be converted exactly at all — see the motorcycle boot size chart.
- Helmets go on head circumference, with the same brand-by-brand problem: the motorcycle helmet size chart and how to measure your head for a helmet.
If you are buying the whole outfit, our gear picks are in best motorcycle riding boots and best motorcycle riding pants for men.
Frequently asked questions
How do I measure my hand for motorcycle gloves?
Wrap a soft tape around the widest part of your palm, just below the knuckles, excluding the thumb, with your hand flat and relaxed. Use your dominant hand and take the larger of two readings. That circumference is the only measurement motorcycle glove charts use.
What size motorcycle glove is a 7.5 inch hand?
On Icon’s men’s chart, 7.5 inches is the bottom of Medium, which runs from 7.5 to 8 inches. On their women’s chart it falls in the gap between Large and XL. Since charts differ by brand, take the measurement to the chart of the glove you are buying rather than assuming a letter.
Why isn’t my measurement on the glove size chart?
Because most published charts list half-inch bands with half-inch gaps between them. Icon’s men’s chart spans 6.5 to 13 inches but assigns sizes to only about half of that range, so a measurement like 7.25 inches falls between two sizes and is not listed at all.
Should motorcycle gloves be tight?
Snug, with no empty space at the fingertips and no material bunching in the palm, but with full movement of the fingers and the ability to work the levers. Leather gloves will relax with use, so a firm fit when new is expected; textile gloves largely will not, so buy those to fit from the start.
Are men’s and women’s motorcycle glove sizes the same?
They use the same measurement but different bands, and they overlap. A palm of 7.75 to 8 inches is a women’s XL on Icon’s chart and sits within their men’s Medium. If your measurement falls in the overlap, finger length rather than palm width usually decides which is better.