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Old 07-17-05, 06:08 AM
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11.4
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I'd concur that John at Business Cycles is super reliable and is always checking e-mail, even at night and weekends. If you didn't get a response, give him a call.

Another source is Bike Central (www.bike-central.com), a messenger coop in Portland, OR. They have lots of interesting stuff and carry the Tanabe gloves (and, I believe, the Pearl Izumi as well). They are huge track supporters at Alpenrose, and do a lot for the local fixed community generally, so I'm very happy to recommend them.

By the way, keirin gloves are actually just cross-over products from baseball batting gloves. You can find good keirin gloves at any store selling good baseball supplies. The idea is to have a little knuckle protection (whether it's a handlebar or a hardball that hits them) but to keep the glove thin and light (which is where motorcycle and other lumpy gloves don't work as well). If you don't really need the knuckle protection (and even in keirin it isn't really necessary -- baseball needs it more), another option is actually golfing gloves. It sounds crazy, but the point is a thin gloves that doesn't slip on the bars and they do that great. They're inexpensive so it's not a huge loss if you wear them out -- they even come in 5-packs. I do have to say, however, that the new Tanabe keirin gloves with the carbon fiber vents on the front of the knuckles (possibly the first dedicated keirin gloves they've made) do beat the heck out of any other gloves for sheer weirdness -- I heard a local rider got pulled over by the cops who thought he was riding with brass knuckles (and knowing the rider, he was probably using them on errant cars).
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