I have now had my T1 for 2 weeks. I had great difficulty removing the top due to my lack of shoulder mobility and my large lats (the only large muscles on my very stiff body.) The third method of removal, which came with the suit and is not posted on their wetsuit, works great for me without the zipper. The zipper was not ready when I ordered my suit. I was almost going to send it back for the zippered model or for the addition of a zipper.
Reach across your trunk with your dominant hand (right in most cases) and grab the bottom of the suit top. Reach over the elbow of that arm(right) with your non-dominant arm (again, usually left) and grab the bottom with that hand (left). Pull the bottom of the suit over your dominant elbow and hold it there while you quickly raise both arms up over your head while standing erect. It has worked every time for me. I could NOT do it the other 2 ways. It works even better in the water. (Reverse this if you are left handed.)
Any idea why they sell a silver T1, but no silver-colored vest tops to go along with them? Even for a small premium, they’d be worth it. Otherwise, I don’t see the point of buying the silver T1 over the black one.
Make sure your T1 gets wet on the inside when you do your warmup swim. (After you have it on.)Especially at the wrists and calves. The sleeves and legs on these suits fit so well they make a near perfect seal and if the insides are not wet, it creates a suction when you try to pull your arms and legs out of the wetsuit.
I initially had a hard time removing the T1 top, trouble getting over my lats (nothing to do with flexibility, just bigger in that area). I discovered that if you grab the neck and flood the top right before you stand up, the top will pop right off. Never had troubles since. I remove the top as I exit the swim, suspenders on the way to T1, and the rest of bibjohn at transition.
The T1 with a TRES bottom is about $334 retail. The Superfull is a lot more. Also, read Slowman’s review elsewhere one the Slowtwitch site on the T1. He apparently thinks it’s the fastest suit out there. Also, Check the video on the T1 site showing removal.
Wish I would have read this an hour ago. Just shipped off for zippers. Have had my T1 for over a month and just yesterday tried getting it off. I couldnt get that thing to budge over my lats. Had to have my girlfriend play tug of war with me to remove it. So, with a freezing race this weekend, who has swam with just the bib? Is it warm enough to do an adequate job?
finally tried the suit, with the zipper, the thing comes off really quick and easy. Very fast suit, though my arms tired a bit quicker than I would like.
I’ve had the zippered version for about 2 months now… and it’s much easier to remove thant the T1 (which I’ve used for about 2 yrs).
It seems the T1 is best suited for long course triathlons. The zippered version seems to be best suited for mid-distance triathlons - Oly distance. But, (provided it fits) the Piel is the easiest (and for most the fastest) wetsuit to remove.
There is no single perfect (i.e., comfortable and easy to remove) wetsuit design… some designs have certain advantages over others (assuming fit is correct and we are comparing full wetsuits). I prefer to use three different wetsuits for different triathlon distances.