Skin suit recommendations for Crits

I heard Eliel is redesigning their skin suits. It doesn’t look like they have released them yet though.

I’ll most likely go with them when they come out.

Have used Coure for a couple years and now on Castelli for just over a year because it’s my cycling team’s sponsor. Both are amazing and I would recommend both, however I think I would give the edge to Castelli. That being said, I feel like Coure is a bit more durable and that just may be down to the thickness of the fabric.

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The single back pocket on velotec is not hard to get to

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The NoPinz suit kind of covers most of the options you might want

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The NoPinz looks good. Now I’m curious about sizing. And this applies to all skin suits. Chest, waist, and hips measurements put me in a M. Height and weight put me at XL. I wear M bibs in just about every brand. Is my height/weight going to mess the sizing up? I guess I could try to split the difference with a L. How do these fit?

Or spend the extra money on a custom fit.

I wear an XL in NoPinz and I’m 6’2" (188cm) and 210lb (94kg), if that helps at all. It runs about a size larger than other brands for me. I wear L in Rapha, Velocio, Jakroo, etc.

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You can get the Pactimo ones without custom here:

On sale now from $300 to $160. Probably worth it at that price IMO. My club uses Pactimo and I don’t really have much bad to say about it. Comfy, tight, aero (at least in looks, who knows for real).

I’m 189cm and weigh 85kg. So maybe a L would be the way to go. I don’t want a baggy fit.

Hard to beat the price but man, those are the worst color/designs. Even the only all black has fluoro lettering.

The black with fluoro lettering doesn’t bother me too much since it’s not too much bright and pretty subtle otherwise. But I agree that the designs in the other styles are pretty shit. Pactimo is one of the last brands I would go to if I was looking for a stylish kit.

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I’m having a hard time getting a good size… how should they fit? I bought a M and L to try both and send back for my team kit order (recommendation from the pactimo rep). I’m 6’0 and 180lbs, but I’ve got like a 42” chest.

The medium feels like a second skin with the biggest issue being lateral stretch on my armpits (not cutting off blood flow it is just noticeable) and I have to pull the suit from the sides to zip it up. Minimal wrinkling

The large feels good to wear but is still pretty flat when standing up, it just bunches slightly at my belly area when I bend over. still tight at the armpit. Not quite as much compression at the legs I reckon but I’m not afraid of the zipper popping. Could easily race in both I think.

Sounds like medium to me. I’ve found the right size is always a little tricky to put on, and can feel a bit tight initially and when standing up, but if you can do the zipper up and there’s nothing actually cutting off blood flow then I think once you get on the bike and start pedaling it will soon adjust to where it needs to be and feel fine. And suits tend to stretch a little over time anyway.

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If there are no restrictions from the team, i would choose drag2zero from Endura 8 watts saving. Aruond 300 euro

Speak to their customer service maybe?

I have the Pro-1 RR suit and it’s great. I also have a Castelli San Remo suit and while the NoPinz doesnt exude the same quality/flourishes it has a great chamois, laser cut arms/legs, and brilliant grippers, not to mention the speed pockets are so much nicer, quicker and aero than pinning a number.

NorCal cycling did a test and nopinz appeared slow

I’m almost exactly the same size and have a medium pactimo skin suit. I definitely wouldn’t want to go up a size. Make sure you’re trying it on while on a bike. They’re designed for an on-the-bike position and not standing up.

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One thing that might be something to think about is the price, a lot of the suits here aren’t exactly cheap and crits do have a rep as being crash heavy and I know I would struggle to swallow the cost of a suit if I crashed and damaged it. While you would have the performance gain but I wonder if for crit racing if the cost/value/performance ratio is swinging in the right direction. For a TT (ignoring the recent WT crashes) I can see the performance/risk ratio being heavily weighted towards performance so ok to spend so much.

I have a Galibier suit with 3 pockets which is less than half (and in some cases a third) of other suits. It’s comfy, tight so can’t be not slippery, plus if I do stack it I’m not out too much cash.

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Saw that video! One of the things that really surprised me about skinsuits/speedsuits…there really is a measurable difference between otherwise very similar skinsuits.

I like what will probably sound like an oddball brand: Cuore Silver suit. It has two pockets in the back, it’s durable, it’s comfortable…and it’s faster than velotec, nopinz, and specialized. If my sponsor ever gets my castelli suit to me I’ll test it against that one too.

But it’s not cheap. I’m not sure what full price is but it’s expensive. Probably over $300?

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I went to the tunnel recently and the cheap No Pinz was slightly better compared to my more expensive Velotec and both were much better compared to the Castelli BP.

Suits are very individual. What works on one person will not always translate to another. Best to find one that fits well (no wrinkles).

:slight_smile:

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