I need a new jacket and was looking at the showerpass touring jacket. It looked fairly nice, a tad on the lite side but the stopper was the zipper. Plastic zippers that jam when you try to zip after taking off the hanger on the rack. Is this normal for this jacket, or just one defective zipper?

Do they use YKK zippers?Best zippers made. If not,don't buy it.For the money they charge,that's the only zipper I would except.

I'm notoriously hard on jacket zippers and I have yet to have a problem with the zipper on my Showers Pass touring jacket.
I just picked it off the hook and looked at the zipper pull and, yep, it says "YKK"

I know the original subject of this thread is about the zipper but wanted to chime in with a general question. Though I live in usually-sunny Southern California, there are those rainy days. I plan to commute with my new hybrid bike and was wondering about jackets for rainy weather. Showers Pass seems to have such a good reputation here, and after a look through their men's jackets, I thought that the Touring jacket would be a great choice. It doesn't seem unnecessarily advanced for my needs, isn't too pricey for my budget, and comes in black to look good for my tastes. Would you guys recommend the Showers Pass Touring jacket for a beginning commuter in Southern California, which probably doesn't pose as near as great challenges in weather as others on these forums face? By the way, I plan to get it with the Showers Pass hood.

My only concern with that jacket in socal is that it may make you too hot.

I live in the Seattle area, and only if it's under about 45F and raining do I put mine on, over a short sleeved jersey, with full finger gloves. Otherwise I overheat even with the pit zips wide open and the chest zipper open enough to get me wet. I should say I do run pretty hot on the bike though.

I love my jacket though. When it's 35-40F and raining (which it pretty much is every morning in the winter here) it is perfect. The price is right, it's put together well, pretty high tech, and comfortable.

(edit: No zipper issues here. probably about 1000 miles on the jacket.)

Ok, thanks for the input. I still have about two months before a new jacket and getting tired of the performance illuminite jacket because of yellow fading issues.

Is there any way to avoid black? I know it's popular, but a cyclist wearing black is nearly invisible. Bright colors are your friend.

Yes...ish. What's the coldest it gets there?

As someone else mentioned, even the best of these jackets tends to be to hot above 60 degrees. I'm not sure it's as much about breathability as it is about all waterproof jackets being windproof - you really cool off a lot from the wind at 15mph.

I recently saw some in person. The touring jacket doesn't fold down as small as the Double Century jacket, though it seems like it's more durable.

I have a hood, and it's decent. It's what I use when it's 40 degrees and raining - keeps the most rain off me. But at higher temps I prefer a specialized helmet and a helmet rain cover, then I put the rain cover over the top of the "air port" on the helmet. It's a little less warm, though the hair on the back of my neck gets wet.

Of course, my experience with temps is trying to wear a rain jacket while going full out (it's usually an hour to get wherever I'm going at full speed, so I don't like to slow down). Maybe if I just biked slower the jacket could do higher temps.

In my case, I've been considering their ProTech vest for summer rain riding -
https://showerspass.com/products.asp?...=Pro+Tech+Vest

Seems like a vest might not trap as much heat, though my sleeves would get wet.

Thanks for the replies. I'm not sure what temperatures are for the rainy days around here in the fall and winter, but a Showers Pass jacket still looks like a good investment. Also, my commuting is probably only going to be around two miles at a time, and I plan to take it at a safe speed. I also plan to wear a reflective vest over the jacket itself anyway for additional visibility.

If you live in So Cal where it doesn't rain very often and doesn't get very cold, check out the Showers Pass Double Century. It is much lighter and packs much smaller than their other jackets. So you could stow it in a bag or pack much easier to have ready on occasions when it rains.

I bought a Craft rain jacket last fall, for about 1/3 the price of a SP Elite. However, it is too warm if temperatures are above about 50 F, and it doesn't pack down very small. I probably should have bought something like the SP Double Century because I don't need a rain jacket very often, and lightness and compactability are very important for me.