Jacket and Pants Zippers?

[gammer]

Ok, so I finally rec'd my new riding pants last week from New Enough. I can now truly claim to go ATGATT.
So my question is this: on the lower back of my riding jacket I have one side of a zipper with the slide. On my pants at the top back I have the other part of the zipper with no slide. Now should I put 2 and 2 together and assume that these should be zipped together? What are the pro's and cons of doing this?

The weird thing is that my jacket and parts are made by completely different companies and my jacket is much older then the pants. Is this an 'industry standard'?

Thanks...

[mattrowe19]

Yes, they do zip together. The advantage is the jacket will not ride up your back. This helps if it's raining so the rain doesn't go down your back. Also, if you crash, the jacket won't ride up so everything remains protected. I don't believe it's an industry standard. My jacket and pants have those. However, the tab on my pants that goes into the slide on the jacket is on the wrong side to go into the slide. Different manufacturers… but the price on both was too good to pass up so it wasn't a big deal to me.

[Laminar]

Matt called it. If you hunch over your jacket won't ride up, and it keeps everything connected if you're sliding down the interstate at 80mph so you don't end up with lower back rash.

[gammer]

Ah ok thanks 

Also, if you crash, the jacket won't ride up so everything remains protected.

This is kind of what I was thinking too. Makes sense.
I never even thought about the rain thing 

So you obviously have to zipper the jacket and pants together before putting them on, correct?

[mattrowe19]

I would imagine you do have to zip them before putting them on. Either that or have someone else zip it for you.

[Laminar]

I zip myself after putting the jacket on. It took a few times to get it down. I'd test the zippers with the clothes off to make sure the zippers are compatible before looking like an idiot trying to zip up your butt.

[bajakirch]

My pants came with a piece of fabric attached to the upper half of the zipper. That way I can just sew that into a jacket that doesn't have a compatible zipper. My current jacket is a 3/4 style, so it's already down to my hips. But some day I plan to take it in to a seamstress and have the zipper sewn in.

[mattrowe19]

My pants came with a piece of fabric attached to the upper half of the zipper. That way I can just sew that into a jacket that doesn't have a compatible zipper. My current jacket is a 3/4 style, so it's already down to my hips. But some day I plan to take it in to a seamstress and have the zipper sewn in.

So THATS what the extra piece attached to my jacket zipper is for! That's great!

[happycommuter]

Is this an 'industry standard'?

An, not the.  Unless things have improved recently, don't expect universal compatibility.

[OhCrap]

  that's about time mr.  

When I was out shopping for new gear last year there seemed to be 2 kind of standards here; a longer and a shorter zipper (don't remember the exact two lengths but I could probably look 'm up if you want me to). Strange enough some brands use both standards for different models though, perhaps the longer ones are more cold/wet-weather-proof or something like that. I'll ask my 'bike-clothing-specialist' next time I see her.

I put everything on first, before I zip up myself. Just as easy as zipping up a jacket after a couple of tries, just practice it a few times  

[Falban]

+1 on learning to zip it all together after you're in - no problem at all after a few times.

SOQS's jacket and pants have different zips and I too have to take them to a tailor to get the other half of the zip sewed on.
They each came with both halves of the zips and the extra fabric for stitching.