Hey Ya'll
Thanks for the interest. Will jump in to try to contribute to the discussion.
How you run your tri kit under a swimskin is obviously personal preference. When Javi tested the new short sleeve swimskin in training before Chattanooga he really liked it and felt no resistance in the arms. However, when he wore a tri kit under it (not ours) he did notice resistance and found that to be the limiter. Since we didn't have time to sort out a new kit under the skin before Worlds and since he really values feel while he races, he opted for a normal sleeveless tri kit for the race and wore a corresponding sleeveless swimskin. Whether or not he gave up some potential drag savings on the swim or aero on the bike, he obviously overcame that on the run for the win, so tough to say the net impact of sleeves vs no sleeves for him. He had a pretty good day at the office regardless. :) We work with other pros who like to swim with sleeves, and then there is a third set who prefer the roll down method under the skin. So it's totally down to personal preference. What I will say is that we have considered fast and comfortable swimming in the design and patterning of our tri kits and believe our sleeved kits have much better feel through the shoulders than a standard tri kit. Best advice is don't worry about what others do and figure out what works for you, taking into consideration both the skin and the kit as well as how much you like or dislike pulling up wet sleeves in T1.
Re: speed of sleeves vs skin, what we've seen in tri and competitive swim is that generally more coverage + some sort of coating (can argue hydrophobic vs hydrophilic) is faster. While data is great, am not sure the market size for this product warrants the investment to do a publishable testing protocol that would satisfy the intended audience. If someone wants to commission it and do it right, we'd be happy to support the research. Just having someone do some 50s and 100s though is not a real test, in my opinion. Net net, I personally feel people would still gripe about some element of the test or deny objective facts. We see that all the time in bike, helmet, wheel and other aero tests. So my personal take is that the better thing to do if interested is to attend a demo or spend 5 minutes on our site and buy a suit and try it at home. Decide for yourself if it's right for you, and if unsatisfied you can return it within 30 days (even after swimming in it), for a full refund.
Re: availability of the suits, we will be making X and Pro versions of the short sleeved suit. The short sleeve Viper Pro will be available at Kona the first day of the expo and should be available online at roka.com the same time for folks doing other races. They are shipping now direct to Kona and to our fulfillment center in the US. The short sleeve Viper X couldn't get finished before Kona and will be available at roka.com in late October/early November. We made super limited units of both styles for this first batch, and there is a good chance we will sell out. Of course, if we see solid interest at launch we'll take whatever learnings we have on the product and follow-up with a much bigger order for next year. Hope that helps answer any questions.
Any constructive feedback for how we can get better, please hit me at rob@roka.com.
Best,
Rob
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rob canales
ceo + co-founder at ROKA
http://www.roka.com
