I did wind tunnel test different suits last month--My well used and a bit tattered LG Course suit against the Roka Elite Aero SS, Kiwami Spider LD, and 1 other MFG. I tested the the LG with shorts and sleeves rolled up a bit to simulate my real-world experience since that suit doesn't have grippers. I fully expected it to be slower than at least the Kiwami (the best fitting of the bunch) and maybe another as well. To my surprise, the LG still came out on top. Of course YMMV.

I don't find swimming with sleeves under a wetsuit to be restrictive--my well worn rotator cuffs provide all the restriction I need. I would be very curious of the hydrodynamic drag of sleeves in a non-wetsuit legal race. My guess is the added drag is a lot less than swimming with a watch.

Good stuff. Thanks for the data point. Any chance you could send me your wind tunnel file. Also what were the sizes of the various suits?

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So jumping on this thread for some advice. I am looking for a trisuit for Honu 70.3. a Non wetsuit swim. But i live in Canada, where i would otherwise be racing and wearing it under a wetsuit. Possibly for IMC 2017.

You mentioned something about a rule change, not sure if it applies to mid to back of the pack guys like myself. but what is that referring to?

The suits i was looking at are all sleeveless, but just wondering if i should look at sleeved instead? And when you mention rolled down, is that in wetsuit swims only or non wetsuit swims as well?

The rule change is the zipper can only be down to the sternum now. That is not very far down fwiw. The question now is what happens if your zipper breaks. The zipper breaking thing is not super common but it does happen.

Thomas.... I agree with you that getting on the bike with the train is absolutely critical. But that really only applies to the pro field and maybe the amateur field at kona and 70.3 worlds, depending on your swim ability.

I swam with my LG suit rolled down yesterday under my wetsuit. I had the LG suit rolled up and ready to zip up by the time I got to my transition spot. I wasted maybe 5 seconds zipping up the suit.

I definitely think there are pros/cons to rolling it down vs not rolling it down:

Rolling it down:
pro - don't stretch out the suit during the swim, less restrictive
con - possible wrinkles/crookedness on the bike negating aero benefit. Takes time in transition to pull it up

Not rolling it down:
pro - don't have to worry about rolling it up in transition. It fits properly before starting the swim
con - stretching it out during the swim which could negate the aero benefits. Restrictive on the swim.