- Joined
- Jan 24, 2011
- Messages
- 4,269
- Reaction score
- 9
[YT]13TTdjm7bYY[/YT]
Hello! Some of you have wrote in the past that there was not enough gear available in Canada so early I put up a review from of another Canadian company. It seems as though some are eager for more options of great quality gear. Enter Rival. At 1st I was very hesitant about Rival to be honest... The tribal, the push of Russ saying everything was advanced in technology... So in my pursuit to review more and more I called up Rival and spoke with Julia. She had amazing customer service, easily as good as Wes from Title, she answered all my questions in depth, and very calm. She wasn't trying to sell me anything but rather provide insight on what I actually wanted.
So fear not fellow Canadian brothers, Rival is the real deal.
So why the RB-11 Evolution, looks weird, seems gimmicky...? Right? Wrong, lets find out why.
The Look:
While at 1st glace the look may throw a lot of people off with the tribal and all the embroidery, the gloves are actually pretty amazing. I don't think ive seen so much embroidery on any kind of glove. I was very skeptical at 1st to find loose ends but it seems at Rival they burned all the loose ends, if you look very, very close at the pictures you can see they left no frays (on the embroidery). There is one fray on the right glove on the bottom most picture near the "V" strap.
The Microfiber feels like coarse leather but its actually soft too the touch, not overly soft but its nice quality, again I wasn't sure about Rival since I had no experience with them.
The glove has a 15 degree angle closure on the back of the hand, and in the inner wrist area you have a nylon V design coupled with D rings for enhanced wrist support.
I chose the black and red because it seemed to pop the most, and that's just my thing. The grip bar area is mesh (again...) and the area itself is very soft, the mesh holes are bigger than other gloves I reviewed in the past so there is hope.
The thumb itself looks very Reyes like, but its WIDER than Reyes, so it may offset the feel of how a Reyes thumb is.
The only visible thing noticed is the leather on the palm area on both gloves isn't cut straight, it isn't perfect but in a review EVERYTHING is scrutinized.
The Feel:
Putting the gloves on, they are by far the MOST compact of any modern day bag glove I've ever wore. It's very minimalistic, my hands aren't big and bulky or even a little bulky, the glove literally feels like a small extension of my hand!
The glove liner is a medium roughness, it doesn't feel harsh like some Mexican gloves that feel like you are putting burlap over your knuckles, but at the same time its not silky smooth like Winnings liner or Reyes for that matter.
Rivals' all about technology so they sport this Wrist lock 2 closure which sits right over the wrist supposedly allowing the BEST/Maximum wrist support possible. Now this is something I learned playing with these gloves, the wrist support can be really good, or it can be Meh. The closure really has to be aligned perfectly over the Velcro to get a REALLY nice solid feel on the wrist, I mean that thing really does LOCK. But if you just do it in a hurry, the wrist will feel flimsy and weak. This may aggravate some that are training in a hurry... to sit and do and undo the wrist 2-3 times, just to get it just right. But it is something you will have to mess with to get the best wrist support possible. So there is A lot of wiggle room on this being a great wrist support or an average one. If you do a proper closure, bending outward is impossible, bending inward you do have some play.
The gloves break in time is relatively easy. Hand opens almost all the way, and you can make a SUPER tight fist with the RB-11. This glove will easily accommodate medium and short hands. But, as far as the thumb goes... there is 0 awkwardness to it, but you need to have short thumbs. I have short thumbs and my thumb is almost to the end of the glove. I don't think long thumbs will fit in this glove, so I would advise to stay away if you have long thumbs.
Padding/Performance:
These gloves sport 1.25 inches of padding, a hard outer shell and a nice medium density over the knuckles. These gloves are intended for bag use only, but man I became a fan like immediately! The gloves pop, and because the gloves are so minimalistic everything feels completely natural, how the fist lands, all of it... Very, very protective. Minow knows I was never a fan of dense gloves but these are definitely ones I really, really love.
The foam itself is very absorbent, allows you to feel amazing feedback! There was absolutely no shock to my shoulders or joints even going full power on the bag using multiple combinations.
The gloves actually stayed cool, I think these are only the 2nd glove I've reviewed where the mesh works. I wont say the mesh kept my hands cool but it definitely did its job of allowing for circulation. I'm still all about leather palms with vent holes.
Weight:
These gloves are available in S, M, L, XL
I am not sure about the other sizes but I got Mediums and they came in at a perfect 10 oz weight, no change.
Price:
$99.99
Overall:
To be honest, I don't know why the Canadians are looking for gear when my Rival experience has been nothing short of Amazing ( I have other products I need to type up on review but so far Rival is 4/4 for me). Sure the logo may not appeal to some but as far as performance, this is no gimmick, they really do perform! I'm actually going to forward this review to Julia at rival maybe she will be willing to give out a Sherdog coupon code, ill keep everyone posted. But I think these gloves outperform MANY of the major brands out there.
Score:
A / 95%
For those that do not like to read (
Hello! Some of you have wrote in the past that there was not enough gear available in Canada so early I put up a review from of another Canadian company. It seems as though some are eager for more options of great quality gear. Enter Rival. At 1st I was very hesitant about Rival to be honest... The tribal, the push of Russ saying everything was advanced in technology... So in my pursuit to review more and more I called up Rival and spoke with Julia. She had amazing customer service, easily as good as Wes from Title, she answered all my questions in depth, and very calm. She wasn't trying to sell me anything but rather provide insight on what I actually wanted.
So fear not fellow Canadian brothers, Rival is the real deal.
So why the RB-11 Evolution, looks weird, seems gimmicky...? Right? Wrong, lets find out why.
The Look:
While at 1st glace the look may throw a lot of people off with the tribal and all the embroidery, the gloves are actually pretty amazing. I don't think ive seen so much embroidery on any kind of glove. I was very skeptical at 1st to find loose ends but it seems at Rival they burned all the loose ends, if you look very, very close at the pictures you can see they left no frays (on the embroidery). There is one fray on the right glove on the bottom most picture near the "V" strap.
The Microfiber feels like coarse leather but its actually soft too the touch, not overly soft but its nice quality, again I wasn't sure about Rival since I had no experience with them.
The glove has a 15 degree angle closure on the back of the hand, and in the inner wrist area you have a nylon V design coupled with D rings for enhanced wrist support.
I chose the black and red because it seemed to pop the most, and that's just my thing. The grip bar area is mesh (again...) and the area itself is very soft, the mesh holes are bigger than other gloves I reviewed in the past so there is hope.
The thumb itself looks very Reyes like, but its WIDER than Reyes, so it may offset the feel of how a Reyes thumb is.
The only visible thing noticed is the leather on the palm area on both gloves isn't cut straight, it isn't perfect but in a review EVERYTHING is scrutinized.
The Feel:
Putting the gloves on, they are by far the MOST compact of any modern day bag glove I've ever wore. It's very minimalistic, my hands aren't big and bulky or even a little bulky, the glove literally feels like a small extension of my hand!
The glove liner is a medium roughness, it doesn't feel harsh like some Mexican gloves that feel like you are putting burlap over your knuckles, but at the same time its not silky smooth like Winnings liner or Reyes for that matter.
Rivals' all about technology so they sport this Wrist lock 2 closure which sits right over the wrist supposedly allowing the BEST/Maximum wrist support possible. Now this is something I learned playing with these gloves, the wrist support can be really good, or it can be Meh. The closure really has to be aligned perfectly over the Velcro to get a REALLY nice solid feel on the wrist, I mean that thing really does LOCK. But if you just do it in a hurry, the wrist will feel flimsy and weak. This may aggravate some that are training in a hurry... to sit and do and undo the wrist 2-3 times, just to get it just right. But it is something you will have to mess with to get the best wrist support possible. So there is A lot of wiggle room on this being a great wrist support or an average one. If you do a proper closure, bending outward is impossible, bending inward you do have some play.
The gloves break in time is relatively easy. Hand opens almost all the way, and you can make a SUPER tight fist with the RB-11. This glove will easily accommodate medium and short hands. But, as far as the thumb goes... there is 0 awkwardness to it, but you need to have short thumbs. I have short thumbs and my thumb is almost to the end of the glove. I don't think long thumbs will fit in this glove, so I would advise to stay away if you have long thumbs.
Padding/Performance:
These gloves sport 1.25 inches of padding, a hard outer shell and a nice medium density over the knuckles. These gloves are intended for bag use only, but man I became a fan like immediately! The gloves pop, and because the gloves are so minimalistic everything feels completely natural, how the fist lands, all of it... Very, very protective. Minow knows I was never a fan of dense gloves but these are definitely ones I really, really love.
The foam itself is very absorbent, allows you to feel amazing feedback! There was absolutely no shock to my shoulders or joints even going full power on the bag using multiple combinations.
The gloves actually stayed cool, I think these are only the 2nd glove I've reviewed where the mesh works. I wont say the mesh kept my hands cool but it definitely did its job of allowing for circulation. I'm still all about leather palms with vent holes.
Weight:
These gloves are available in S, M, L, XL
I am not sure about the other sizes but I got Mediums and they came in at a perfect 10 oz weight, no change.
Price:
$99.99
Overall:
To be honest, I don't know why the Canadians are looking for gear when my Rival experience has been nothing short of Amazing ( I have other products I need to type up on review but so far Rival is 4/4 for me). Sure the logo may not appeal to some but as far as performance, this is no gimmick, they really do perform! I'm actually going to forward this review to Julia at rival maybe she will be willing to give out a Sherdog coupon code, ill keep everyone posted. But I think these gloves outperform MANY of the major brands out there.
Score:
A / 95%
For those that do not like to read (
Last edited:
, and thanks for the comments Mill
