Anyone try out a full length Rocket Skin suite?
Anyone try out a full length Rocket Skin suite?
I know of one retail store, triathlonlab.com in Redondo Beach, CA that carries them. Call them, I bet they’re more than happy to share what their customers have told them. Some people from the shop post on here as well.
Thanks - bump for the day crowd.
I just reviewed it for our last issue. Here’s the text:
Rocket Science Sports Rocket Skin $400
By Brad Culp
It was inevitable that someone would debut a full-body speedsuit, but I thought manufacturers would wait a couple of years to gauge the popularity of traditional speedsuits first.
Rocket Science Sports jumped the gun this year, developed the Rocket Skin and got the necessary approval from USAT. From a functional standpoint, RSS’s decision to make a full-body suit made sense to me. If speedsuits have less drag than skin, then why not cover as much of the skin as possible? My concerns before giving the Rocket Skin a test were how quickly it could be removed in T1 and if having skin-tight fabric covering my shoulders would limit my stroke.
So I decided to pit the Rocket Skin against a neck-to-knee speedsuit and a neck-to-calf speedsuit. After getting each suit wet, I did three trials with each suit to get the average time it took to remove the suit completely. For the sake of these trials, I negated the time it took to undo the zipper. As you probably know, sometimes you get the zipper on your first try and other times you just can’t seem to find the damn rip cord. Here’s what I found:
Suit Average Time
Neck-to-knee 5.56 seconds
Neck-to-calf 6.92 seconds
Rocket Skin 8.11 seconds
There was definitely a noticeable difference between all three suits, but we’re talking about tiny numbers here. Only athletes on the World Cup circuit are concerned with an extra 1.2 seconds in transition.
As for the effect on my stroke, I found one little minus and one big plus. As I expected, having my shoulders covered by a very tight suit did take a little getting used to. But because of the thinness of the material, it didn’t limit my stroke nearly as much as a three- to five-millimeter wetsuit does. I found it’s best to adjust the suit throughout your warm-up to ensure the seams line up precisely where they’re supposed to run.
The big bonus was the lack of water accumulation within the suit, which can be a problem with traditional speedsuits—especially if you can’t find one with a perfect fit. With the only openings at the neck, wrists and ankles, there’s little chance for water to penetrate the Rocket Skin. RSS realized that a little leakage is possible though, so it inserted a mesh-like drainage system along the inner thighs. The benefits of keeping the suit free of water far outweighed anything I lost from the slight decrease in flexibility.
Learn more about the Rocket Skin at Rocketsciencesports.com
Brad Culp
Editor, Triathlete magazine
bculp@competitorgroup.com
Thanks Brad - I read the article and that’s what got me thinking. I am wondering if there is a noticeable difference between the RS full length and the BlueSeventy?
Is it worth the extra dough?
Thanks…
Obviously I design the suit so whatever I would say here will not have much value however you can read in these to links what independent tests have shown and a segment on FOX NEWS:
The one here with the video was done very well:
http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/article-detail.asp?articleid=1711
This one is also very detailed but its in German 
http://www.triathlon.de/test-rocketsciencesports-rocket-skin-–-ganzkorperhulle-mit-drainage-4622.html
FOX NEWS
http://community2.myfoxaustin.com/_Rocket-Swimsuit/video/508792/82263.html?null
.
Is it worth the extra dough?
I guess that’d depend on a few things. First and foremost, if spending $400 on a speedsuit means your kids are eating TopRamen for a month, then probably not. If you’re reading this thread on your iPhone while driving through Orange County in your Bentley, then yes.
Okay, on a more serious note, it depends on how many non-wetsuit races you plan on doing and how important these events are for you. I’d seriously consider it if I were racing Kona.
It also depends on you. Maybe I’m cursed, but I’ve always had a problem with water accumulation in traditional speedsuits. Perhaps it’s because I have a wide back and shoulders, and I’m forced to wear a bigger size. For me, the complete lack of water accumulation within the suit was the biggest benefit.
Hope that helps,
Brad Culp
Editor, Triathlete magazine
bculp@competitorgroup.com
I am more of the type to have an iphone (although I still like my blackberry) - unfortunately I have no Bentley. Great feedback, thanks for the write up!
Full length skins are the future!