Aero 30's HB with #10 zipper modification

[AeroFan_07]

Hello lounge friends, this is both a review as well as as update notice about my 30's Half-Belt. I purchased this jacket off the rack at Insurrection back in November, 2015. It had been out on several fittings, so break-in was already about 50% complete. This jacket was constructed in rather heavy CXL Steerhide, and has developed quite a bit of character. It is also lined in basic black cotton drill, which I find quite handy. It had worked out to be quite a good "daily driver" of a jacket, a great in-between from a motorcycle jacket however a little more corporate-casual office friendly.

I did notice this past winter that the Talon #5 zipper, unless started very carefully and insuring that you got it "seated" exactly, could start peeling open from the bottom. I had this happen several times. Upon closer observation, I found that the material holding the zipper in place (cloth) had torn. Wish I had gotten a photo of that.

So I visited an Amish leather/saddle repair shop near me. They had only #5 and #10 brass zippers to choose from, and they do all thier own work in house, by hand. The price of the new #10 zipper was more than fair, so I let them install a new one. The results are shown below. It's apparent a zipper has been replaced, however it's not very noticable to my eyes:

And here's a fit photo or two. This is a tag size of 44, I wanted to be able to wear a sweatshirt under it, as the photos show. Not the best photos in the world but give an idea of fit:

So for anyone looking for a good all-round jacket, I cannot recommend the 30's HB enough. It's simple yet detailed in it's design, it's durable and can be made to fit very well over layers, without excessive bulk. Sure hope this helps someone else out, and for the record, it's worth checking on larger zippers. Especially if ordering a Steerhide jacket.

 

[oneterrifichog]

I did the same thing with my LW Suburban. Stuart put a #10 in when he made it and I much prefer it to the smaller zips.

 

[ton312]

All Aero jackets should have at least a #8 and the 10 is even better. These heavy hides chew right thru those little Talons. Excellent jacket Randy and the zipper upgrade is a smart move!
My Bootlegger shredded the Talon in just under a year.

 

[El Marro]

The Waldes zipper on my Bootlegger didn't last two months. I had it replaced with a #8 riri and now it feels bulletproof.
I like the #10 on your halfbelt AeroFan. Definitely gives the jacket more of a mc style.

 

[ton312]

I've never understood the insistence on these little zips. Historically accurate? The leather isn't historically accurate. It's three times heavier and ten times as stiff!

 

[Monitor]

It's true. They're just so tiny and fussy that at some point, on all of the Aero jackets I've had, I actually started to avoid zipping them up because I knew the tiny, razor sharp pin is just cutting away at the zipper tape as I'm trying to insert it into the machine.

They really ought to make larger zipper an option, especially on the motorcycle jackets. Man, you gotta have a zipper you can quickly close without thinking about it and not this #5 stuff. It's a pocket zipper. It's small even for a sleeve zipper, let alone a main!

 

[Carlos840]

They didn't go through the same holes and didn't match the bottom of the jacket!

If that was my jacket i would be furious to get it back in this condition.
That "wave" of empty stitch holes in the third picture is painful to watch!
You should have gotten in touch with Thurston and have someone qualified do the zipper change!

 

[Sloan1874]

Never had a moments bother with them, personally. It's got to the point that, when I see jackets with chunky zips, they just look wrong.

 

[Monitor]

Yeah... Nothing annoys me more than a botched zipper replacement job. Each time I had it done, I was this close to just throwing the jacket away but... It's not easy to get it right.

 

[ton312]

Yeah... Nothing annoys me more than a botched zipper replacement job. Each time I had it done, I was this close to just throwing the jacket away but... It's not easy to get it right.[/QUOTE

It's hard to get your typical tailor to get it right. Johnson Leathers would do it. Most places just don't have the necessary machinery to do it perfectly. I don't think this looks bad. I've seen much worse.

 

[Peacoat]

I agree with ton312 . Doesn't look that bad and the right size zipper is now in the jacket.

 

[Fanch]

I concur with @ton312 and @Peacoat that the installation doesn't look all that bad, and at least the heavy jacket is now functional.

 

[ton312]

Never had a moments bother with them, personally. It's got to the point that, when I see jackets with chunky zips, they just look wrong.

The small zips are fine in the lighter hides. The Vicenza certainly doesn't call for anything more. To my eye it's actually quite the opposite, the small zips look out of place on the heavy M/C jackets.

 

[Sloan1874]

My understanding is that larger zips were not used until late 60s/early 70s. My impression is that heavy leather was being used from the 50s onwards, am I wrong?

 

[ton312]

My understanding is that larger zips were not used until late 60s/early 70s. My impression is that heavy leather was being used from the 50s onwards, am I wrong?

I don't know but in my experience the early Cals I had from the 50's-60's had huge Talons/Conmars. Same with the vintage Langlitz I've seen. Those crown sprung zips were pretty damn beefy. Those two makers hides were much heavier than their Buco, Sears, Wards contemporaries which able to get away with a much lighter zip. The hides were half as heavy.

 

[Peacoat]

The little Aero zipper usually works in my Sheene, but I have to take my time and fuss with it. I don't remember much of a problem with my Highwayman, but the ThunderBay is a real chore. So much of a chore that I often opt out of wearing it. Too bad that a zipper can cause enough of a problem that the wearer doesn't wear the jacket. The Thunder Bay really needs a size 9 or 10 to make it work.

 

[Worf]

Never had much of a problem with my Thunder Bay zip BUT the one on my LHB in FQHH is a fussy, little piece of crap. I can spend over a minute trying to get it seated. No problems with my CXL Steerhide Hwyman though.

Worf

 

[Plumbline]

My understanding is that larger zips were not used until late 60s/early 70s. My impression is that heavy leather was being used from the 50s onwards, am I wrong?

The answer as always is ... it depends.

As mentioned in many previous threads I have very, very rarely seen a civilian jacket ( i.e. non military or motorcycle) jacket in anything which approached CXL weight hide. Those M/C jackets that I have seen in heavier weight hides have tended to be German or Eastern European and typically the heavier the jacket the chunkier the zip. I have handled hundreds of Cafe Racers / W collar and civi jackets from the golden era and nothing even approaches a 3-4 Kg ( 7 or 8lb) short length jacket. IMHO leather doesn't gat significantly "thinner" or "lighter" with age but it does get softer

I've seen loads of M/C jackets with No 8 and No 10 zippers from the 40's, 50's and 60's ( though I suspect some at least were retro-fit replacements). Indeed some of the larger "art deco" zip pullers demonstrate this quite nicely. I have a suspicion that the A-2 zipper has sort of defined the trend for No5 and No. 6 zippers on the current retro jackets and historic Sears / MGW and other mail order jackets were fitted with whatever was cheap and fit for purpose on lighter jackets. The A-2 and MW or Sears jackets , however, were a fraction of the weight of a CXL Retro jacket.

I'm sure Dinerman will have more detailed info - he's the zipper guru in these parts. For most heavy leather jackets I'd prefer a No. 8 zipper minimum. Sheepskin jackets ( ANJ-4 etc) is even more important. I have a loathing for tiny zipper almost bordering on my loathing of the useless hookless variety ... but that's just me. This isn't a zipper durability issue ( an area where I have been very fortunate) it's a usability issue.

 

[Edward]

Never had a moments bother with them, personally. It's got to the point that, when I see jackets with chunky zips, they just look wrong.

I'm pretty much the same, really. The only light zipper I had that was a significant problem, well... turned out the size of my gut was the issue with that particular jacket - an Aero MC which was great on the shoulders as a size 42, but the waist zipped up at about a 36", a good inch or four too tight for me. By comparison, the used Schott 618 I bought is a size 46 (and just about bang on 46.5" around the chest), dropping to a comfortable 42" at the hem.

OPerationally, I've never had a problem with zips being too light for the jacket. I agree, you do get to a point where the smaller zips just look 'right'. The short-lived Aero-Iron Heart jacket line came on the market after I'd been into vintage style jackets for a few years. I don't know what size zips they used, but they looked comically oversized to me. They actually reminded me of..... well, you know when you're a kid and you have an Action Man / GI Joe, and he has a jacket that fastens with a zipper, but it has to be big enough to work in a kids' hands, so it just looks ridiculously oversized, like me wearing a shirt with buttons the size of saucers? That's what it brought to mind for me.

I've never felt the need for a heavier zip for one of my thicker leathers, but then I don't wear 'em as close-fitting as some. maybe it's more of an issue if you go for the super-tight fit?

My understanding is that larger zips were not used until late 60s/early 70s. My impression is that heavy leather was being used from the 50s onwards, am I wrong?

Plumbline is on the money with "it varies". My experience with British motorcycle jackets, though, chimes with a general rule that the zips get suddenly chunkier around 1970 and into the 80s as the British motorcycle leathers industry went into decline, following the 1970s end of the British motorcycle boom. Interestingly, while there's only so far you can generalise, in the vasy majority of cases, the big-chunky zip British jackets I've handled were lancer-front types, variously takes on the Perfecto, the Lightning and the Monza designs, with less extremes of size on the straight-zip styles, so I would lean to the view it was as much a stylistic thing as any notion of practicality. I can see, though, that a big zip might have been a sales gimmick - if you're the sort that likes to open your jacket or close it with your riding gloves on, then a bigger zip is easier to manage. In terms of non-riding/non-motorcyvle style jackets, I've never seen the sort of huge zips on those as I have on 70s & 80s era British bike jackets.


I wonder whether the qualtiy of the zip or matrerial from which it is made might also make a difference. I know that around the time the notion that big zippers are "necessary" for a heavier hide started to gain some currency in these parts, there was a dodgy batch of Talons on the market, which caused problems for various makers (including, or so I heard, both of the Scottish brands).

 

[El Marro]

The little Aero zipper usually works in my Sheene, but I have to take my time and fuss with it. I don't remember much of a problem with my Highwayman, but the ThunderBay is a real chore. So much of a chore that I often opt out of wearing it. Too bad that a zipper can cause enough of a problem that the wearer doesn't wear the jacket. The Thunder Bay really needs a size 9 or 10 to make it work.

Peacoat,
Do yourself a favor and have a good #8 zipper put on your Thunder Bay. I am very familiar with the frustration you described in not wanting to wear a jacket with a fussy zipper. And I know it is upsetting to contemplate spending yet more money on one of the most expensive jackets you have ever purchased in the first place. But in the end it is worth it: you will enjoy the jacket again.
Do it now that the weather is getting warm and the jacket will be good to go when you reach for it next fall.