carleton

Since I moved from Atlanta to Portland, I haven't joined a club/team. So, I'm not locked into wearing the club skinsuit.

Any suggestions out there for a good skinsuit?

Brian Ratliff

Team Sales (aka Cento Cycling) in Tualatin has "generic" skinsuits. That's the only place I know of that sells skinsuits off the rack. He imports stuff from Italy, so it's decent stuff.

(full disclosure: his shop sponsors my team)

carleton

Those are great prices (just over $100). The Castelli and Hincapie offerings start at $300!

wens

Rumor has it the castelli and assos stuff is fast. $$$ though.

carleton

Yeah, the Castelli stuff is fast. My former team's kits and skinsuits were Castelli. The skinsuits were really nice and the normal kits were very form-fitting, basically a 2-piece skin suit. The KISS 2 chamois is really nice. I've been wearing those skinsuits for over two years and they all need to be replaced and the kits need to be demoted to training kits.

I was on a different team back in 2011 and our kits were made by Voler. The skinsuit was fit awfully and was thick and hot. The chamois fit like an ill-fitting wet diaper. I wound up sending them back for a refund.

carleton

Here is the Castelli 2-piece kit that seems to fit like a skinsuit (I'm on the right):



The material was very thin and layed down at the edges of the sleeves and legs. They didn't double-over like normal "cuffs" of cycling shorts and shirts.

Nice, but dreadfully expensive...especially without a shop sponsorship to give them to me for free

Baby Puke

Who's that handsome guy on the left?

You can buy one-off's from Champion Systems who make a very good speed suit.

carleton

His name is Henry. He's a handsome little guy (a real lady killer). Oh and Baby Puke is his dad that's holding him, hahaha.

I'll look into Champion Systems. I've heard good things about them.

VanceMac

Or... just pick a team already?

Kayce

Ive never had champs skinsuit, but their bibs are the worst Ive ever owned.

Baby Puke

No investment in their stuff, but a lot of top track riders west them including the Malaysian team, and Bobridge when he set the WR in 4k a while back. Probably good staff.

AlexTaylor

My (old) club changed to champ systems last couple of years and they were all raving about the skinsuits.

saba

Pactimo as well

wens

I've heard the chamois changed and the quality went way up in the past few years.

MarkWW

I've worn verge, champsys, and assos skinsuits.

Verge is - and always will be - garbage to me.

With champsys, I've used both their long sleeve skinsuit and long sleeve speedsuit. The skinsuit had a strange cut that resulted in wrinkles through the torso while in a racing position. A few guys on the team had the same issue. I don't know if the torso was cut too large or just wasn't designed for that position.

The speedsuit had a good cut in the legs and torso, but the sleeves were tight. My one sleeve started to unravel after wearing it for two race nights. I was able to re-sew it myself and I haven't had problems since. This is probably my preferred skinsuit of all that i've tried.

The assos chronosuit also had a good cut, but it uses the large assos chamois, which some might not like. I also had an issue of the lycra 'falling apart' for lack of a better term across the shoulders. I'm not sure if this really is a quality issue or more a matter of circumstance. Basically, I wore it for one season, had team kit the next season, and then went back to it the season afterward, which is when the problem came up, so it might have just been from sitting around being unused.

My new team will be using castelli, which I don't have any long-term review on, but just based on trying the sample kit, the legs felt very loose (not a sprinter) and the shoulders felt tight.

I also tried a fit sample giordana skinsuit, but I don't really remember anything about it. Which could be good.

Hope that helps.

Soil_Sampler

Don't know much about skinsuits but, I do know a little bit about inserts.

El Chingon!

https://www.elasticinterface.com/

Not the Slowest

Voler?

Brian Ratliff

Seems like a thumbs down?

wens

My team's going to be on verge this year, so this is concerning for me. What didn't you like about them, fit?

Related, has anyone ever gotten a skinsuit modified to fit them better?

queerpunk

Probably, but note that some companies do fully customizable skinsuits. I was talking to Tela Crane about the company that she works for, JL Velo. Basically they can do skinsuits that mix and match leg band size, bottom side, and top size. Seems pretty cool especially for some of the more uniquely-proportioned racers (possibly more common among women than men; or, possibly more common among sprinters than enduros).

Not the Slowest

Hmmm, Oh well. All my regular bibs are from them and feel good. I do have a Champs-Sys skinsuit that feels good.
I do know that a skinsuit fit is a tough balance of top vs bottom.

Looks like you may just have to try some on if you can and go from their. A track buddy of mine has an Assos skinsuit and the color faded, most likely due to not following washing instructions. This voided his Assos warranty.

VanceMac

That is outstanding, given that skinsuits seem to be mostly about fit (assuming a minimum baseline quality). I've been quite pleased with my team's switch from Voler (no complaints, but just okay) to Castelli (very impressive across the board, especially the San Remo for road use). This one currently on sale at Comp Cyclist for $179 (only size Large):

queerpunk

Yeah. They're not the only company that does it, but it is extremely cool.

MarkWW

yeah, all my verge kit had a very non-race inspired cut. The lycra stretched out within a half season for me as well, and the old chamois looked and felt more like a brillo pad than anything else. My later kit from them had a better chamois, but I don't have any interest in trying their stuff again to see if they made any other improvements. I'm sure yours will turn out better.

Velocirapture

The company that makes our club kit (OTR clothing) is just moving into the international market. They also do customised top/bottom kit, and use high quality lycra and chamois. i'm thinking of ordering bunch of non-team specific kit from him as i find it really comfortable.

The owner was also showing me some new fabric samples that he including in his stuff, as well as chamois that have one a design award somewhere (not too sure of the details), because its made of a responsive fabric that -if i recall correctly - stiffens slightly on impact, to spread the pressure of bumps etc.

Prices are good too (certainly locally), and with the current exchange rate i'm sure it will be for everyone else, too. I'll see if i can get international contact info to post here.