I’m looking for a new TT skinsuit for the 2021 season. It will be used in CTT events so no need to be UCI legal.
Everything I’m seeing online is 2-3 years old in design. I’m sure they’re all quick suits, but I was surprised not to see anything with more recent grandiose claims about how fast it is. Did skinsuit design stop in 2018?
I’m looking at the Endura Encapsulator. Have I just not been looking in the right places?
I picked up a Nopinz Flow skinsuit in the Black Friday sale last November half price - ok it’s the 2020 colour but the same suit - full price is £335 - haven’t ridden it in a race yet but feels great when I tried it on. I also have a tripsuit which is the previous top of the range suit - that is good as well and very fast. Plus you get the pocket in the rear so as they say “nopinz” to ruin your suit. They are a UK company but ship worldwide…I would say 90% of UK TT riders use their suits…great kit
I think skinsuits have stagnated since the UCI rule changes, Endura added silicone textures to their skinsuits which the UCI banned, I guess that the cost of developing fabrics and wind tunnel test means that it’s not worth companies developing both UCI compliant and non compliant suits.
How ever it does mean that a skinsuit design from 2018 will still be competitive and probably less expensive, also fit is more important than design. +1 for NoPinz
True, in the end it’s good news if kit from a few years ago is still the cutting edge. Just surprised me given the usual nature of these things.
Time to go and have a proper look at the NoPinz suits 
+1 for Nopinz
Got a custom suit made in club colours last year.
Latest thing in skinsuit design is personalisation. Heard an interesting podcast interview with the Huub Wattbike guys on this - basically their testing showed that there is no one fastest suit, different suits work better for different positions and body shapes. Not just in terms of customising the fit (though obviously that’s important) but also use of different materials in different places. I.e. somebody with bigger arms and shoulders might test faster with striped material on that area whereas somebody with skinny upper body could test better with smooth material (or other way around, can’t remember the detail!).
Don’t think that level of personalisation is available to us mere mortals at the moment! Nopinz do a 3D custom scanning and fitting service which I guess should at least nail the fit aspects, but it’s not cheap - Tailored for Speed 3D Fit - Nopinz Custom Cycling Kit Fitting Service.
Have seen some consideration given to different positions and which suit will work best. E.g. Aerocoach offer a suit which they claim is optimised for a drops bar position so suitable for track racing or road bike TTs. I did see another skinsuit maker who recommended different versions of their suit depending on how wide your arm position was, but can’t find them now so either it’s not one of the big names or they’ve simplified/streamlined their offering.
But overall I’m not sure you can go too far wrong with any of the main suit makers as long as it’s snug enough (hint - if you’re not ever so slightly worried about popping a seam the first time you put it on, it’s probably too big…). NoPinz and Velotec usually seem to be the most popular recommendations on the UK scene.
That will be Nopinz open & closed position suits.
Ah, think that was the Tripsuit which has now been replaced by the Flow-suit which no longer seems to have that option which is why I couldn’t find it!
Yep I have a tripsuit which has the pattern of ribbing on the lycra slightly different around the arms/shoulder depending on how close your elbows are on the pads - the flow suit is only made in one option and I have just got one - supposed to be faster but haven’t used it yet…we will see! 
I have a tripsuit Off the shelve and a flowsuit tailor made. The flowsuit tests around 6 watts faster at 45kph for me, mainly because of the better fit (my arms are too long for off the shelve stuff).
I think going custom is the best gain a suit owner can make!