Roka Wetsuit Review

Triathlon Forum
1

After my 8 year old Desoto Black Pearl T1 sleeveless wetsuit ripped beyond repair in June, I was forced to search for a new one. I ended up purchasing a Roka Maverick Elite full suit, mainly for these reasons:

  1. I like to help out small companies with brands that are new and not-yet well known.

  2. The guys at FLO Wheels recommended Roka and I really like my new FLO wheels.

  3. Their sales pitch is that these suits make good swimmers faster, as opposed to most suits, which are designed to make slow swimmers faster.

  4. The pictures on their website are really cool.

Purchase Experience
They have a 10% slowtwitch discount, which makes their $450 suit closer to $400. This was a pleasant surprise. I ordered an extra small by mistake, but emailed them and it was corrected within minutes. I would give them a thumbs up for customer service.

Fit
I did one open water training swim before my first half iron triathlon last weekend. When I got out of the water, I felt excessive pressure on my shoulders. The suit seemed to have “moved down” while I was swimming, or I hadn’t pulled it up far enough to begin with.

At last weekend’s triathlon, I had my wife help me pull the wetsuit up “all the way”, around the legs, arms, shoulders, etc. This did the trick. I felt absolutely no pressure on my shoulders or anywhere else. And the suit felt great. Very tight all over, yet surprisingly flexible.

The first thing I noticed when I got into the water was the complete lack of water leakage into the suit. With my two-piece (sleeveless) T1, lots of water had always entered through the various crevices. This was the only wetsuit I had ever used, so I thought it was normal.

Results
I swam the 1.2 miles in 31 minutes, which was a PR by about 2 minutes. The suit felt great the whole time, and I don’t know how else to describe it except to say it made me “feel” faster. And it seems obvious to me the Roka suit did actually make me faster. The suit came off in transition very easily, and I was on my way in no time.

So suit quality, customer service, and race results all positive. I would recommend this suit if you’re an above average swimmer already and looking to upgrade.

Note: I am a long-time ST member, with no financial interest in, or association with Roka Sports or its owners.

2

Great info, I just ordered one of their suits and am waiting for it to arrive. I am a below average, adult onset swimmer and am wondering if this might be the right suit for me. I have had an Xterra Vector Pro and my shoulders always get fatigued and my arms fill with water so I definitely want to make a change. I just ordered a Huub Archimedes 3:5 to compare and it will be interesting to see which one is more comfortable for this not so great swimmer.

Thanks for posting your review. I have the same thoughts as you on your first two points. I like to support small companies with good ideas and products. Probably the reason I even considered Roka in the first place.

In your opinion what is the difference between a suit that is focused on “making good swimmers faster” and the other side of the coin which is more relevant to me which is to make a slow swimmer faster?

3

I have a sleeveless maverick, and it made this very slow swimmer only swim kinda slow. I love it, can’t recommend it enough.

4

…I have had an Xterra Vector Pro and my shoulders always get fatigued and my arms fill with water …

wow- that’s about the worst wetsuit review I’ve ever heard. No wonder your shoulders get fatigued… if your arms are heavy with water. I dunno’, I swim in an Orca Sonar and when I seat it properly- it pretty much is glued to my skin surface and no water comes inside. Sometimes just a little around my lower back- but only a cup or so. I can’t imagine water getting in the arms. (unless it’s a sleeveless :wink: )

5

nope, not sleeveless and I seat that sucker up on me the right way. Maybe it is just too big or leaks, or out and out sucks. I’m tired of it, ready for a change.

6

Thanks for the review and glad you like the suit.

A note on one point (#3): we designed the Maverick for ourselves (former swimmers) first and then we spent considerable time (over a year) working with Jesse Thomas (a pro who is a developing swimmer) and some middle-of-the-pack (MOP) age groupers to add some features to the suits for their developing strokes. Our goal was to build a suit that could make everyone faster, and it was critically important that the features we added for MOPs wouldn’t inhibit FOPs. We spent over a year prototyping the suit at a production level (i.e., after we could have gone to market with it) to get this right.

So far the response from FOPs and MOPs has been fantastic, and both camps have reported excellent results. Our pros have had breakthrough performances, making lead packs for the first time and winning the swim with less effort than before. FOPs will be fast anyway, of course, but they have noted consistently how the Maverick doesn’t restrict their stroke or cause shoulder fatigue, that they appreciate the smart buoyancy and that they can feel the RS2 (what we call the rollbar and side leg panels) helping the suit get out of their way. MOPs have also had breakthrough performances and often also note the lack of fatigue and lack of shoulder restriction. Sometimes they mention the body position and other elements but don’t always key into some of the finer design points, which is fine and probably to be expected because they are still developing relative to FOPs — they often just know it’s faster but maybe can’t articulate why.

So overall, we’ve been quite humbled and are very grateful for the support. Word of mouth is a huge help!

If you are interested in a ROKA suit, please don’t hesitate to reach out. We can help no matter how fast you are. :slight_smile:

Best,
Rob

7

In your opinion what is the difference between a suit that is focused on “making good swimmers faster” and the other side of the coin which is more relevant to me which is to make a slow swimmer faster?

Rob from Roka Sports gave the most informed answer to this question. It appears from his post that these wet suits will make swimmers of all abilities faster. They are not only for fast swimmers as I implied in my original post. But for my purposes, I was most interested in a wet suit that had some features other than lifting the legs to ensure a good swimming position, since I already had a relatively good swimming position, even without a wet suit.

I’m very happy with my new wet suit, and I’ll bet you like yours too. And you can bet you’ll be the only one with a Roka suit at your next race… I got lots of comments.

8

Yep, great info. I have both the Huub 3:5 and the Roka Pro that came in yesterday and I am going to try them both on tonight and see which one fits best. Thanks for posting the review!

9

wareagledusty,
Please post your impressions after trying both suits. I’m about to pull the trigger on one myself.

10

Of all the full sleeves I’ve owned - the Maverick is my new open water weapon of choice. The guys who brought this suit to market have designed an incredibly fast, light and comfortable unit - bombproof zipper, tier-one suit! Designed to perform.

Built by fast swimmers who want swim faster!! Great work guys - see you out there!!!

11

Skyhawk,

Will post this weekend on both. Just received the Roka yesterday.

12

Great info, I just ordered one of their suits and am waiting for it to arrive. I am a below average, adult onset swimmer and am wondering if this might be the right suit for me. I have had an Xterra Vector Pro and my shoulders always get fatigued and my arms fill with water so I definitely want to make a change. I just ordered a Huub Archimedes 3:5 to compare and it will be interesting to see which one is more comfortable for this not so great swimmer.

Thanks for posting your review. I have the same thoughts as you on your first two points. I like to support small companies with good ideas and products. Probably the reason I even considered Roka in the first place.

In your opinion what is the difference between a suit that is focused on “making good swimmers faster” and the other side of the coin which is more relevant to me which is to make a slow swimmer faster?

Sounds like you had a defect which the xterra warranty can cover at no cost

13

Thanks for the review and glad you like the suit.

A note on one point (#3): we designed the Maverick for ourselves (former swimmers) first…
Rob

Rob,
did you add anything to reduce neck hickies? :wink:

and make it easy to strip off yourself?

14

Morey000,

The neck of both the Maverick Pro and Maverick Elite are folded over smoothskin, so they don’t chafe as much as some suits that put a rough liner right up to the top of the neck. We recommend Body Glide/TriSlide on the neck as a best practice but haven’t had complaints about chafing. The liners we use elsewhere on the suit are extremely comfortable, and that will probably be the first thing you notice when you put on the suit.

In terms of transitions, the Maverick Pro and Maverick Elite are very easy to get off quickly, as we had to design them to work with some of our pros like Ashleigh Gentle, who races ITU. Her T1 times are often under 1 minute and people racing non-drafting have also commented that the suit is very fast to get out of. Of course, we recommend some TriSlide or BodyGlide on the calf as a best practice, but strictly speaking it’s not needed. We have a very stretchy 2mm ankle panel at the base of the leg which helps you get that last bit of neoprene over the heel of your ankle. If you practice the “step out” technique shown by Jesse Thomas in this video, you can fly through T1 — just takes a little pratice: http://triathlon.competitor.com/2012/05/training/transition-like-a-pro-jesse-thomas_54101.

Best,
Rob

15

So what did you determine?

16

perfect timing, writing up my thoughts now and will post tonight. Both are great suits, it comes down to fit and features that suit me the best. Stand by.

17

Here are my initial thoughts on a side-by-side comparison of the Huub Archimedes 3:5 and the Roka Maverick Pro (important note, I was not able to swim in either of these as I wasn’t going to take them to the pool knowing I was sending one back. Just didn’t seem fair to either party to do so. I know swimming would have been a far better test but just wasn’t in the mix):

Background info: Adult onset swimmer. I have been swimming for three years. Have taken some private lessons, done a total immersion clinic and then finally this year started swimming with a masters group combined with private lessons. Now I am starting to see some improvement in the water that I hope translates to faster times. I am slow. I know I am slow. But I am working on it. Last IM was IMAZ and swim was 1:30.

From a build perspective I am more linebacker than triathlete in stature. 6’4” tall, 235 pounds, very broad shouldered (size 48 or 50 jacket). Big legs from years of lifting weights back when I thought that was cool.

Sizing was XL in both suits.

Huub Archimedes 3:5
Likes:
· The “stretchy” panels at the back of the calves really made removing the suit a breeze. Also I have had bad calf cramping issues in the past and I hope that this will help by being less constrictive. I have very large calves so I really liked this feature.
· The “speed zipper” or “breakaway zipper” or whatever it is called. Pretty nifty feature. Jerk hard at the top and the whole zipper splits apart. (it was a pain in the ass to put back together though, thank goodness for a video of how to do it on their website)
· The 3:5 build is a good match for my swim. I have decent body position in the water but my legs are heavy so anything that adds a little buoyancy is a good thing.

Dislikes:
· Nothing really. Not sure about the “bicep release panels” will have to swim in the suit to see if that makes a difference.

Overall: I really like the suit and how it fit me. Didn’t fit me too tight around the neck, which is a big deal to me and once I got the arms worked up far enough the flexibility was good.

Roka Maverick Pro: (I ordered a full sleeve and sleeveless version to compare)
Likes:
· The upper portion of the suit feels really supple and flexible. Totally a perception thing but I liked the way it felt.
· Very good looking suit
· I liked how it fit me in the legs and around the hips.
· The company. I really like supporting smaller companies with great products and that is what attracted me to Roka in the first place.
· Customer Service – I did a chat session with Michael from Roka and got great information and feedback)
· The sleeves have a really cool compression or tighter section at the wrist which I know is going to prevent any water from coming in.

Dislikes:
· The sleeveless version seemed pretty narrow up top. Definitely could be due to my very wide shoulders. Lets just say I have lots of freedom to move my arms.
· No other major dislikes:

**Overall: **I wanted to like this suit more than the Huub. Mainly because they are a start up company much like Flo, they have great marketing messaging, and great customer service (though to be fair I have seen the Huub folks engaged on the forum here as well). With all that said it just didn’t fit me as well. The Roka full sleeve was much more constrictive in the chest and neck.

**Bottom Line: **I am going to try both suits on again tomorrow and do one more comparison. I have not put each one on twice and done everything but swim in them. Honestly both are really nice suits, definitely better than my current Xterra. I wanted to like the Roka most but the Huub fit me better. If both fit me exactly the same I would give a slight edge to the Huub simply for the calf release panels. I really liked how easy it was to get the suit off and the lighter compression on the calves. I do wish the Huub had the wrist cuffs that the Roka does though. A very nice feature.

As everyone has ever told me, buy a wetsuit based on fit. Nothing else really matters. Both are great suits. You can’t go wrong with the one that will fit you the best.

18

Without actually getting the suits wet and doing some actual strokes in it, the comparison isn’t really going to help you, unless you plan to just strut around the beach in them or your partner is into that sort of thing.

Swim in them and find which one positions you better. Which one taxes your shoulders less.

Suits fit differently when wet. Suits feel different when your muscles are taxed and swollen.

Have fun with the suits!!

19

You are absolutely right. I am going to email both Roka and Huub and make sure that is okay before I do it. I don’t want to be stuck with $600+ suit that doesn’t fit me.

20

Hi Dusty,

It’s fine by ROKA - expected, in fact - to take the suit in the water. We encourage all customers to do this, whether their first impression on a dry fitting is that they nailed the sizing (which sometimes means the suit is actually too big) or their first impression is that they need to try a different size. As you said, fit is very important, and there is only so much you can tell about fit (not to mention performance) while dry. So have at it - go swim!!

Also, if you haven’t already, take a look at our fit tips: http://www.rokasports.com/blogs/blog/7959263-how-to-get-a-great-wetsuit-fit - there are some specifics about where different graphics should go on your body. For instance, you want the carbon graphic on your shoulder to be up on top of the shoulder and not down on your deltoid.

We’re here if you have any other questions.

Best,
Michael