My wetsuit feels ‘flappy’ around the ankle. A budy of mine who competes on the ITU circuit suggested cutting the wetsuit up to lower calf. Anyone have experience with this? Will it damage the elasticiy of the wet suit?
I know a lot of the ITU World Cup types do this (or so I am told by one of my friends who races on the circuit). Two reasons…you get a better and more natural kick and it is quicker in transition. For most of us the kick aspect is irrelevent as we are trying to save our legs for the bike. But for the ITU types, the swim makes or breaks their race, so they need a massive kick in addition to the rest of their already superior stroke.
Dev
I did it with my T1 as it was too long in the leg and I found it hard to get over my feet. Ihad it done by my local wetsuit maker, DON’T do it yourself unless you have experience in heat sealing and tapering wetsuit seams, otherwise it will not be a problem at long as you get it done properly.
Don’t worry about cutting it yourself. I’ve cut a QR longjohn to a shorty and I’ve cut both the arms and the legs on my QR full. If you can cut a straight line you can do this yourself. Fold it flat and cut both sides at once. On the legs cut an angle with the rear higher. Cut a little, try it, cut again, try again. It’s easy. Too many people need an expert for everything. With triathlon gear your expert usually turns out to be some kid working at the bike shop for minimun wage who hasn’t even gotten laid yet!
I followed the advise of Emilo on this, at the end of the day we spend a lot of money on a wetsuit so you make your choice.
My QR longjohn, that I bought in 1990, kept poping ankle seams. After repairing it several times I just grabbed the sissors and cut off the legs just above the knee back about 1998. It’s worked fine as a shorty ever since.
Chuck
I trimmed the ankles on my older (1999?) QR Ultrajon with out any problems. The seams are still fine. Elasticiy is fine, just be careful with cutting straight. (Crooked lines are un-cool.)
-The next greatest signature…when I feel like it…
Cutting is a great Idea. It took my friend 2:30 min to transistion last race cause he cound not escape his wetsuite! We still make fun of him very time he’s late… “what the matter couldn’t get out of your wetsuite this moring!”
I talked to a QR guy and he said absolutely to trim the legs or arms if needed. Just cut carefully.
Also, you might want to consider getting the QR wetsuit care kit (even if you don’t own a QR suit). It comes with rubber cement, seam tape, Body Glide and a wetsuit shampoo. It makes minor repairs much easier.