What I am looking for is one of the old speedsuits with the very thin rubber/neoprene that were banned for racing. What I want this for is for open water swimming with a bit of warmth but minimal floatation that I might get from a shorty wetsuit or even the Roka shorts. What options are there in the market, or does anyone have an old Men’s Small size they want to get rid of. I can’t seem to find anything that is new and “cheap”. The textile skin suits (I have one) don’t add much warmth.
Keep an eye on Ebay, one might show up.
You’re in luck. I’ve got a small Blue Seventy swim skin (rubberized version) that I’m not using. Let me know if you’re interested.
What I am looking for is one of the old speedsuits with the very thin rubber/neoprene that were banned for racing. What I want this for is for open water swimming with a bit of warmth but minimal floatation that I might get from a shorty wetsuit or even the Roka shorts. What options are there in the market, or does anyone have an old Men’s Small size they want to get rid of. I can’t seem to find anything that is new and “cheap”. The textile skin suits (I have one) don’t add much warmth.
I thought Roka actually brought them back but checking the website I don’t see any listed now. Maybe Rappstar will chime in as I am fairly confident they were brought back. Maybe it was for specific athletes but I remember Jesse Thomas had one at Wildflower one year.
They did. I didn’t realize that they had once again discontinued them. I still have mine. It is (was?) called the Viper Pro Long. Had the just-below-the-knees cut. Contact Roka to see if they still have any on closeout. Especially given that Dev is pretty small.
OK, that is awesome, I will email offline and we can see if this can be made to work!
Jordan, thanks for the info. If Logella’s does not work out, then I will follow up with Roka. Not that I am racing now, but I would assume wearing one of these under the wetsuit for the swim + bike during a cold rain race would be illegal if your wetsuit is already 5 mm thick.
check with Andre at Kiwami. He may still have a torpedo around…
Not entirely sure. I actually have an old Kiwami Torpedo (their full rubber suit and probably even a Kaiman too - which just had rubberized legs), and I’ve thought very strongly about packing them for Norway. But they are just so unbreathable, I can’t really imagine wanting to wear one for a loooooong day.
As to your question, I am not sure. The rules are generally not explicit about the material for race clothing; just for swimskins. I.e., I think that if you wanted to race the ENTIRE race in it, you might be able to make a case that should be legal. Because it’s your race kit - not your swim skin - that’s rubber.
That was the approach which was taken with the Kaiman - which had rubber legs and a rubber trim piece at the very top. It was for very short races in cold weather. Of course, that’s a super-duper niche within something that’s already niche, so no surprise Kiwami discontinued it. But I do believe that athletes in ITU races were allowed to wear it, even when the ITU was not allowing swim skins.
I recall Bevan Docherty in Vancouver '08 wore a race kit from Orca of similar design - rubber legs, but who knows how the rules have changed in the past 10 years.