Curious how many of you all use race belts?
If so, what do you like about your race belt, and what would you change to make it better suit your needs?
I’m in a class currently where I’m tasked with understanding customer pain points around a product! As a triathlete, I’m thinking race belts could be improved!
Thanks!
Greg
It goes on. It holds a number. It is cheap and fairly worry free if I lose it. I don’t use the gel carriers or anything like that. Simple and cheap is perfect.
I’m sure you could come up with other bells and whistles. But I’m not sure there is a market dying for improvement. Mine holds my number, and has a small expandable zip pocket that could hold
several gels. I also have pockets in Tri suit. I’m not sure what else I would need in a belt or that I have any pain points at all. What do you have in mind?
No. The simple elastic band, click fasten and no frills is perfect. There’s possibly every other item of triathlon kit that could be improved more than the race belt. There is a reason it’s not changed in 20 years…
I’m sure you could come up with other bells and whistles. But I’m not sure there is a market dying for improvement. Mine holds my number, and has a small expandable zip pocket that could hold
several gels. I also have pockets in Tri suit. I’m not sure what else I would need in a belt or that I have any pain points at all. What do you have in mind?
No there are just-barely decent belts, and some actually good belts. I know this from experience.
The problem with the el-cheapo simple ones that just have two plastic button locks that don’t move, is that the bib holes often (usually) don’t exactly match up. It seems fine as you the bib can obviously bend, but what happens is that once you’re running, you can then easily tear the bib at the hole. This happened to me almost seemingly every race in a several year period where I tried several different race belts.
Hands down best one I’ve used thus far is the DeSoto branded belt. The key feature here is that the latches that attach onto the bib are slidable. This makes ALL the difference. No more torn bibs (gawd I ran so many tris before that holding the bib in my darn hand because it ripped!) The clips are also good alligator style clips that work well, no more threading the stupid holes in the corner of the bibs.
It doesn’t have storage, so if you need storage, no go there. But for simple race belt that does the job every single time, get the Desoto race belt.
$18-$20
I don’t know there is any major changes that need to be made, but a company that can personalize them might be fun. Color, messaging, number of gel holders, etc.
A race belt that packed itself would be nice. Every year i seem to have to buy a cheap one at the expo because I’ve forgot my good one.
A race number should be incorporated into your clothing so that it is smooth and aerodynamic.
I actually started making my own belts because, like you, I saw an opportunity for improvement. You see lots of pros who don’t use a standard race belt (ex. Frodo).
Things that can be improved:
-Number attachment. Pins break free too often, and solutions like the strings with a lacelock tend to be floppy.
-Weight (people spend $$$ to shave grams off their bike, but there is a lot of excess weight on belts…and weight on the run is more impactful than weight on the bike).
-People typically rotate the number from front to back during the race. Back so it’s not in the way when you run, then back to the front for photos and the finish. Many belts stretch and grab when you tug to rotate them over skin or wet spandex vs. spinning freely.
-If the belt easily held items like a running cap, you could just grab the belt in T2 instead of grabbing (or forgetting) multiple items. Once the belt is clipped on you can detach the items as you run.
-Aerodynamics (they often hold the number in a way that greatly increases drag)
From Roth this past weekend:
Interesting! Where do you keep your nutrition if you don’t use the belt loops for gels?
Most long distance tri suits have pockets, which do a better job of holding gels (no bouncing)
.
I use the Nopinz belt, which although expensive works very well. Number just slides in, and it lies flat on your back with no rustling when on the bike, even without the supplied velcro that you iron on to your suit. Only issue is its not adjustable, so swivels a bit when on the run.
I don’t.
Events have nutrition every mile typically. If I can’t make it a few minutes without a gel, I have a problem.
———
Floppy numbers don’t bother me because I have inly done one event that required a bib to be worn on the bike.
The only issue I have with my belt is how it attaches to the number. Either the cords don’t line up with the holes in the number, so the number doesn’t lie flat. Or the number has no holes and it’s a pain trying to make holes in the number without trashing it.
-If the belt easily held items like a running cap, you could just grab the belt in T2 instead of grabbing (or forgetting) multiple items. Once the belt is clipped on you can detach the items as you
I feel like this is a non-issue. I just load everything into my running hat, in T2 I just grab my hat and take off. Everything I need is in the cap and I just put on my race belt, glasses, and load my pockets with gels as I’m running out of T2.
I just load everything into my running hat, in T2 I just grab my hat and take off. Everything I need is in the cap and I just put on my race belt, glasses, and load my pockets with gels as I’m running out of T2.
^This is the way.
I just load everything into my running hat, in T2 I just grab my hat and take off. Everything I need is in the cap and I just put on my race belt, glasses, and load my pockets with gels as I’m running out of T2.
^This is the way.
Same. Unless wearing a visor. But I just grab stuff and start running- hat, and possibly bottle. Put hat and belt in as running and shove bottle into trisuit if using one. This seems like transition 101 material. What else are people taking in their run??
If I remember correctly, Sam Long said on a Instagram story that he uses an elastic shoe lace for his belt. I did this in my last race and preferred it over the typical belt. I barely noticed it was there.
I prefer to run with supplemental water so I’ve cut the bib # section (the toggles) off a cheap belt and sewn it onto a Nathan’s Peak Hydration belt. I then had to solve for the terrible buckle system on the belt. So I cut off the buckle and sewed 6" of velcro to the belt so I could overlap the sides for a nice snug fit. That keeps the bottle from bouncing on my back.
This is a topic that I am very interested in. I bought my belt in 2015. I have noticed that in the last couple years, several local running races and tris have switched to a new bib vendor with small bibs that have the holes listed much closer together than older bibs. I need to find a belt that either does variable spacing or is narrower. During my tri today I ripped one of the holes because of the spacing on my belt.