Hi all.
I was recently in the market for a new short course trisuit. It had to be rear zip as I will be racing super series in England this year and, obviously, this limited my choices somewhat. In the end I decided on the DeSoto Forza ITU suit.
At 5’10 and 145lbs I consistently fit between sizes for almost any brand I try so some communication with a rep was in order. I emailed DeSoto at about 9am on a sunday morning (GMT) asking for advice and, somewhat incredibly, I had a reply at 6pm from a guy named Greg asking for more measurements to better fit a suit.
Following Greg’s advice I ordered a small (blue) and by thursday afternoon I had the suit in my hands. It had that almost stiff, papery feeling that I associate with a really high quality product.
To begin with, I thought I had ordered the wrong size as it was very tight. By tight I mean I had what can only be described as a reverse muffin top where the end of the shorts finished on my legs and it took about 5 minutes of careful working to get the straps over my shoulders. I’ve had this experience before with swim kit so I jumped in the shower and, as I expected, the material relaxed a little and became a perfectly form fitting second skin. So far so good.
Fast forward to sunday and I was at a local sprint race armed with my new secret weapon. I like to take a gel on the bike during a sprint and I usually spend atleast half an hour agonising over where to tape it to my bike. Not so this time. The Forza suit has two “invisible” pockets under the arms with a strip of material covering the entrances and, with a gel in the left side, you could barely
see a difference.
Swimming in the suit was a dream. The high cut neck and underarms didn’t let a drop of water in and, perhaps it was a placebo effect, but I could have sworn the “float pad” was acting as a slight pull-bouy.
Out on the bike, the real pad in the suit vs a bit of fleece was a revelation. I cant believe I have ever done without one in the past. My only issue was that the super slick material covering the pad meant I was sliding off the front of my saddle where in the past I had been glued. Obviously i need to tilt up a touch.
Out on the run this suit was getting a bit ridiculous with how good it was. The previously substantial feeling pad seemed to disappear, as if I’d somehow left it in transition. Also, I was concerned that I wouldn’t be able to breathe with the suit being so tight, but a quick yank on the zip and it felt like a training t-shirt.
So, that was the good points.
Unfortunately, after the race I noticed that the stitching on one the legs and also on the inside, above the pad, was coming out. I’d only worn the suit once! So when I got home I emailed Greg with some pictures. I once again got a very quick responce explaining that this was extremely unusual and that he would be sending out another suit to me right away. He also told me to keep the suit I had by way of apology to use in training or to take to a seamstress if I wish.
So there we have it. I have never reviewed a product before but the quality of this suit and also DeSoto’s amazing customer service compelled me to write something to show my appreciation. I hope that anyone looking for a new suit might be swayed towards DeSoto as my experience has made me a life long customer.