Take off your pants and jacket

[Hyena]

Can you mix and match brands when buying pants and jackets? What I mean is, will they zip together?


Found a good deal on an Alpinestars leather jacket that'd I'd like to pick up, but I don't know if it'd zip to the Telluride pants I'm looking at.

[R1100S-Rider]

Look below... I was wrong, first time EVER!

[Hyena]

Thank you for clearing this up for me!

[Sequentialshift]

They dont always fit , for instance my alpinestars will not zip to my Dainese and neither of those will zip to my Rayven . Different grades of zip is the problem .

[arcticamt6]

Originally Posted by R1100S-Rider

Yes. No one uses a "special" type of zipper. It's just like every other zipper on your normal winter coat, pants crotch zipper...

Incorrect.

Different manufacturers use different sizes and lengths. My first gear pants don't zip to my shift jacket and my shift jacket didn't zip to my leather pants.

But, every piece of gear comes with the mating side of the zipper, so you can take it somewhere where they would sew the mating zipper end to the other item of gear. That's how I got my shift jacket to mesh up with my leather pants.


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[R1100S-Rider]

Originally Posted by arcticamt6

Incorrect.

Different manufacturers use different sizes and lengths. My first gear pants don't zip to my shift jacket and my shift jacket didn't zip to my leather pants.

But, every piece of gear comes with the mating side of the zipper, so you can take it somewhere where they would sew the mating zipper end to the other item of gear. That's how I got my shift jacket to mesh up with my leather pants.


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Ohhh, I've never had that problem... Guess I'm ust awesome like that. haha

[Sequentialshift]

Originally Posted by R1100S-Rider

Ohhh, I've never had that problem... Guess I'm ust awesome like that. haha

You wont if all you buy is motorrad

[knonfs]

As other mentioned, not all use the same zipper style, or in the same direction. You can have a tailor fix this issues, but I've found that its not cheap, and above all, the quality of the job might not be "safe".

Use a motorcyle/leather tailor if you decide to go the "modify" route.

[F4sSprintST]

If just want to do the short zippers, you can make an adapter, even if they aren't the same length.

Here, I've got an adapter using the extra zipper pieces that lets one brand of pants fit two different brands of jackets:





note these aren't even the same length, just center them up

[Hyena]

So I'd be chancing it were I to buy the jacket...

The zipper adapter thing, did you take one side and stitch it to the other? I've been staring at the picture and can't figure out how it works.

Isn't it supposed to zip 360 degrees?

[F4sSprintST]

Originally Posted by Hyena

So I'd be chancing it were I to buy the jacket...

The zipper adapter thing, did you take one side and stitch it to the other? I've been staring at the picture and can't figure out how it works.

Isn't it supposed to zip 360 degrees?

Most pants/jackets come with a 8 to 10" zipper just to keep the jacket from riding up

Some come with full circumferential zippers (actually maybe 300 degrees). These will often have the short zippers as well


I've only done the short ones, and yes, you just take the extra piece from the pants and the extra piece from the jacket and sew them together. Take a "male" and take a "female" and just be sure they are orientated right!

This could be done with the full zippers, I believe. You might have an issue with length, but as long as you have the extra pieces, you should just be able to center them up.

Now, you are adding a little bit of length, of course, but it's minor.

If I were looking at the full zipper, all the way around, I'd probably just have a tailor do it right

[Hyena]

I've never sewn anything in my life. What am I getting myself into....

How unsafe is it to not zip? Does everyone, with proper gear, zip before they ride?

I realize that, in the event of a spill, it would be a very bad experience to have the jacket ride up and your body take all that concrete, but is it a common occurence?

[F4sSprintST]

Get mom or a friendly neighbor to sew, it's easy

Short zippers just keep the jacket from riding up, and *might* help with that in a crash

Full zippers will help in a crash and are usually required if you go on a track

I ride with no zippers, short and full


My jacket did ride up and I got some stomach scraping in a crash, but that doesn't stop me from wearing good gear with no zippers, but I obviously feel safer with more


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[kevin_stevens]

They almost never match in my experience. They are the wrong tooth size, or the wrong direction, or the wrong length. I've even had a jacket and pants from the same manufacturer not work together (Spidi).

Yes, it is a common occur(r)ence for jackets to ride up in a crash. And that stitching is structural, so it should be done by a professional with the correct type of thread so that it neither breaks nor cuts the fabric.

The normal process if you have the matching side of the zip discussed above is to take it to a leather repair shop that doesn't say "Huh, first time anyone's asked for that!" when you walk in.

KeS

[knonfs]

Originally Posted by kevin_stevens

They almost never match in my experience. They are the wrong tooth size, or the wrong direction, or the wrong length. I've even had a jacket and pants from the same manufacturer not work together (Spidi).

Yes, it is a common occur(r)ence for jackets to ride up in a crash. And that stitching is structural, so it should be done by a professional with the correct type of thread so that it neither breaks nor cuts the fabric.

The normal process if you have the matching side of the zip discussed above is to take it to a leather repair shop that doesn't say "Huh, first time anyone's asked for that!" when you walk in.

KeS

Exactly how I should've worded my post! ^ This guy knows my pain!