Zipping jacket and pants together ....

[Dale]

I'm finally in the market for a new set of riding pants and popped in to the local BM showroom to have a look at the Rallye II pants (I have the jacket so thought I start with the most expensive and work backwards )

The salesman made much of the fact that they can be zipped together with the jacket (there is a horizontal zip at the back) and that this is a great and very important safety feature

So, is he right? or is this a sales pitch?

The BMW city pants also look really nice (cheaper too) as does the Lookwell stuff.

Regards,
Dale

 

[Magwych]

This feature is not uncommon with separate jacket/trouser combos. The safety theory is that whne sliding down the road, the connecting zip prevents that jacket for being dragged up your back, thus exposing your bare flesh to the tarmac.

 

[John Armstrong]

As long as you can guarantee you'll not fall off and don't suffer from wind chill then zipping them together isn't needed.

Otherwise .......... why do the real bike racers ie WSB etc wear one piece suits?

 

[MikeP]

The salesman made much of the fact that they can be zipped together with the jacket (there is a horizontal zip at the back) and that this is a great and very important safety feature

So, is he right? or is this a sales pitch?

More sales pitch IMO with regard to the Rallye Suit.

With longer jackets, there's less chance of it riding-up in the aforementioned get-off scenario. I think that is recognised by BMW hence there's only a 'half-zip' and not a complete zip-together unlike many of their other 'short jacket' suits.

Personally I think the zip is there to aid the rather poor waist-band adjustment and keep the trousers from falling down!

I used a Rallye II for 18 months. Nice suit, lots of nice features but with the optional added Hip-protec armour, the plastic ratchet adjusters on the waist were next to useless.

Braces were the only answer but then wearing a fleece in colder weather meant either tucking it into the trousers with the braces over the fleece to zip the jacket to the trousers or wearing the fleece over the braces and foregoing the zip-together (and having to remove the fleece as well as the jacket to take a dump).

I'm toying with the idea of a Rallye jacket again but just the jacket and I'll stick with the Atlantis III trousers or the Tourance ones (that have a removable braces arrangement and belt loops).

 

[beemerboy9]

Otherwise .......... why do the real bike racers ie WSB etc wear one piece suits?

Once piece is safer, WSB riders they only wear the suits for an hour at a time, they don't have to go to the toilet after arriving at the motorway services and possibly again after having had 2 mugs of tea.
A zip-together two-piece leather suit is acceptable at a track-day and I've even seen a BMW two-piece textile suit allowed at a BMW track day.

 

[Micky]

As MikeP says... very handy for keeping the pants up

I do always zip mine together though, stops draughts and will stop the jacket riding up should you be sliding along the road on your back.

I think the Rally II jacket is very good, but not ideal for long days out in the rain... the bloody elbows will with water, albeit on the outside of the goretex liner, but when you stand up it runs down into your gloves It's also, by its design, not very snug around the waist , being a bit of a straight up and down design, and so would have a good chance of riding up in an off!

I use the Rally II jacket for the warmer sunny days, and the Sreetguard II any other time... better fitting than the Rally II and one of its best features is that it doesn't get soaking wet in the rain. Walk into a cafe and no pools of water every time.

Both zipping to the Atlantis III leather pants....
IMHO a great combination


www.adventure.gs

 

[Tobers]

I always zip mine together following a friend's incident some years ago when his well fitting leather jacket rode up his back and the road flayed most of the flesh off

Not nice.

 

[LiquidLAN]

I'm the same, but for different reasons.

With my jacket zipped to my leathers I know everything is sitting in the right place and it cuts out any draught up my back.

I'm not sure its a sales pitch so much as just showing that the rally II is the same as any other jacket.

My leather trousers are from HG and probably 12 years old now, they have two zips built in (short and long). HG used to sell both zips so you could marry up any combination of tops and bottoms. I think they still do, but they've changed the zips on a lot of their kit.

I bought a Rukka last year, same idea with that, zip in the jeans and two in the jacket. The trouble now a days is trying to match different bits of kit. I got around the problem with my Rukka by contacting the UK disty and getting them to send me the other half of the zip which I sticked back-to-back to the spare zip I had with the leather jeans (the problem was the zips where different lengths) the upshot of all this is I can now interconnect the two.

Personally I'd always make sure you can zip the jacket and jeans together... one-piece is no good for me - would look stupid on a GSA and I'm the wrong shape too much

 

[grandtrousers]

I always zip any motorcycle suit together. It keeps everything in place and makes you feel "confident" in an overweight superhero squeezed in kind of way .

 

[Dale]

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like the city trousers will do the job (and have the zip for good measure). Probably not the best option for continent crossing; but a reasonable mix of safety, comfort and cost.

Regards,
Dale

 

[EasySushi]

Thanks for all the replies. Looks like the city trousers will do the job (and have the zip for good measure). Probably not the best option for continent crossing; but a reasonable mix of safety, comfort and cost.

Regards,
Dale

A great suit is the SteetGuard II, although abit on the pricy side. However you can pick them up about half price now.


Cheers

Ty

 

[Rev Chuck]

Got a BM Savannah suit. I like to have the zips fastened together for reasons mentioned above, but first of all because I find that it actually helps in the kidney area with regards to drafts. When I wear a kidney belt, it affects the front of my jacket and seems to let more wind and therefore draught through.
Zipping together also means that I don't have to try and keep hoicking the jacket down under my butt cheeks for comfort.
I have to confess that not having the most nimble of fingers that there is always something a bit strange asking another butch biker ('cos they are all butch up here in jockland) if he might help put the zips together...

 

[speedo]

A great suit is the SteetGuard II, although abit on the pricy side. However you can pick them up about half price now.


Cheers

Ty

where are they half price.

 

[Bigtwin]

I always zip mine together following a friend's incident some years ago when his well fitting leather jacket rode up his back and the road flayed most of the flesh off

Not nice.

Likewise. Horrible. Lenth of jacket is utterly irrelvant.

Anyone remember that BIKE (I think) article a few years back where they dragged a dead pig down a runway? Worked out that it wore away at an inch per 10m or something shocking like that.

Zip up and stay whole.

 

[EasySushi]

where are they half price.

Hi Speedo

http://www.bahnstormer.co.uk/. All there clothing in store is half the price on the clothing tag, but it is going fast. Best give them a call in morn, I know they have some StreetGaurd gear there, even had Rallye II gear.


Cheers

Ty