I’m not a triathlete, but a road racer specializing in time trials. My racing team is looking at buying skinsuits as part of a team order. Our main sponsor is Castelli. We may or not not be able to buy their Speedsuit with our team logo. But we’re looking at other options too. I hear Champion Systems has a nice skinsuit. But I’m having a hard time finding aero comparisons for different skinsuits. Without spending and arm and a leg for a custom skinsuit (and one that can’t be printed with our team design), who makes the fastest and most aero skinsuit?
Check out the UK time trialing forums, it looks like the Castelli BP 3.0 suit is one of the best, Nopinz is popular, that said without testing, and proper suit fitting you’ll never know for sure. If you do a team order, can I get in on the order :)?
I’m not a triathlete, but a road racer specializing in time trials. My racing team is looking at buying skinsuits as part of a team order. Our main sponsor is Castelli. We may or not not be able to buy their Speedsuit with our team logo. But we’re looking at other options too. I hear Champion Systems has a nice skinsuit. But I’m having a hard time finding aero comparisons for different skinsuits. Without spending and arm and a leg for a custom skinsuit (and one that can’t be printed with our team design), who makes the fastest and most aero skinsuit?
Note on Champion Systems - Be sure to scrutinize the sizing and fit of each model skinsuit. The lower-mid-priced suits may not fit as snugly/aero as desired. This is especially important with ‘team’ orders, as some will want to save $$$, and then be disappointed with the sub-par fit of their choice. We dealt with this issue, alteration improved and fine-tuned the fit, but was time-consuming and a bit of hassle.
Check out the UK time trialing forums, it looks like the Castelli BP 3.0 suit is one of the best, Nopinz is popular, that said without testing, and proper suit fitting you’ll never know for sure. If you do a team order, can I get in on the order :)?
Perhaps, but it would be with our COS Racing team graphics.
Note on Champion Systems - Be sure to scrutinize the sizing and fit of each model skinsuit. The lower-mid-priced suits may not fit as snugly/aero as desired. This is especially important with ‘team’ orders, as some will want to save $$$, and then be disappointed with the sub-par fit of their choice. We dealt with this issue, alteration improved and fine-tuned the fit, but was time-consuming and a bit of hassle.
If we go Champion Systems, the suit would be the CU Carbon Rear Zip suit. And for Castelli, the only suit we’d want would be their Speedsuit (3 or newer).
Is there any data on which suit is faster, or other suits to choose from? This assumes a good “fit” can be made with a given suit.
Having spent a lot of time in the velodrome and windtunnel testing numerous suit on numerous people, I’ve yet to see the suit to end the debate which is the fastest.
I’ll give you an example. We spent a few hours testing clothing in the tunnel yesterday. We were shocked on a few pieces that did really well or really not so well when by all accounts we thought the results would be 180 degree from what we saw. We also saw huge differences between 2 almost identical pieces. It’s amazing what some small tweaks in construction/design can make.
Go with the best fit around the shoulders, that’s the best advice I can give you.
Having spent a lot of time in the velodrome and windtunnel testing numerous suit on numerous people, I’ve yet to see the suit to end the debate which is the fastest.
I’ll give you an example. We spent a few hours testing clothing in the tunnel yesterday. We were shocked on a few pieces that did really well or really not so well when by all accounts we thought the results would be 180 degree from what we saw. We also saw huge differences between 2 almost identical pieces. It’s amazing what some small tweaks in construction/design can make.
Go with the best fit around the shoulders, that’s the best advice I can give you.
From what I can tell, Castelli BP3 and Bioracer seem to be the two that are most consistently best right now. (There may be others too – I don’t know the champion systems suit very well.) Bioracer has several versions of their suit, at different price points. A lot of the pros are wearing Bioracer suits right now. The Nopinz suit is an off the shelf Bioracer suit with a Nopinz number window sewn on. The main difference between these suits and prior suits (e.g. BP2) is the rough fabric on the upper arms and back, which trips the airflow so it becomes turbulent at that point, which keeps it attached longer. It doesn’t help for everyone, but helps for a lot of people and can sometimes make a pretty big difference.
I’ve got a suit from Mt. Borah. It’s got the textured fabric / etc. Since it’s a team suit we were able to use a sizing kit. This was pretty important IMO. The fit of this suit is fantastic. It seems tight where it needs to be and gives you a bit of breathing room where needed.
I also use the PI Octane for Tri and the Borah skin suit seems to be a better fitting suit for TT…which it probably should be. That said the PI could be faster as I have not done any formal testing. I can say with confidence the speed difference is small.
The secret is to order your time trial skinsuit in a size smaller that you think you can fit into. You want the thing to be tight so it doesn’t wrinkle up when you wear it.
From what I can tell, Castelli BP3 and Bioracer seem to be the two that are most consistently best right now. (There may be others too – I don’t know the champion systems suit very well.) Bioracer has several versions of their suit, at different price points. A lot of the pros are wearing Bioracer suits right now. The Nopinz suit is an off the shelf Bioracer suit with a Nopinz number window sewn on. The main difference between these suits and prior suits (e.g. BP2) is the rough fabric on the upper arms and back, which trips the airflow so it becomes turbulent at that point, which keeps it attached longer. It doesn’t help for everyone, but helps for a lot of people and can sometimes make a pretty big difference.
Yes. I’ve been reading a about the Nopinz Bioracer skinsuit. Even though they’re across the pond, this might be an option if they can be ordered with our team design.
My cycling team is also Castelli sponsored. Unfortunately we don’t/can’t(?) get the BP logo’d, just a generic “speedsuit”. Myself and a few others who really drive into the marginal gains just wear the BP 3.0 anyways.
My cycling team is also Castelli sponsored. Unfortunately we don’t/can’t(?) get the BP logo’d, just a generic “speedsuit”. Myself and a few others who really drive into the marginal gains just wear the BP 3.0 anyways.
I was afraid this might be the case.
I own a BP3 suit, but now that I belong to a new team, we, as a team, are trying to find a sufficiently aero skinsuit; since most of my races are TT’s, it would be nice to wear a team kit at races. So, maybe Champion Systems or Nopinz.
I’ve heard the generic Castelli speedsuit (the one that can be logo’d) is terrible.
I’m pretty sure Bioracer will make you suits. It’s a bit expensive but not totally ridiculous. There’s a 5 suit minimum and $150 design fee, then depending on the suit I think it’s something like $200-300 per suit. They have a US distributor at www.belgiumbike.com. (I’m not affiliated but I looked into this last summer.)