EN TRI TOP WITH SLEEVES IS A GROWING DEMAND!!! Do you support??
In various posts, forums, conversations ... the " demand" for a EN TEAM TRI TOP WI|TH SLEEVES has come up. Most recently in a dashboard comment posted by Mark Stahlkopf today. I personally and strongly support the idea and encourage all those that do to voice their support ... the math is simple: if enough requests are made to justify a special order ... I´m sure EN will pursue the addition to the store´s offering.
I will buy 2 medium for sure!!!
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I want one!
Gabe Petersonsays: "Yes, please! How about the new Louis Garneau M-2 Tri Skin suit for EN kit.
http://www.louisgarneau.com/us-en/product/0/1058307/_/COURSE_M-2_TRIATHLON_SKIN "
Juan … You know that Kona does not allow sleeves on the swim, so anything with sleeves for the bike (and run?) would need to be put on in T1, or rolled down under a swim skin.
The EN/Garneau bike top for this year has form fitting sleeves and a full front jersey and works probably as well as a skin suit for aero biking and certainly for sun protection. @ Kona this year, I wore my bib shorts under a swim skin, then pulled on the bike jersey (full zip makes that real fast) in T1. I could have kept it on for the run, but chose to take it off and put on an EN tri-top. While I would also like to see the sleeved tri suit option in EN colors and logo, I was satisfied with the option provided by this year's bike jersey, which fit me very snuggly all over, especially in the arms and shoulders. And the full front zipper offers lots of cooling options on the run, if need be.
I already have a few long sleeve racing jerseys, but would strongly endorse this piece of gear, whether they are done as an official EN product, a small batch purchase or custom one-offs. The last 18 months of chatter coming from alphamantis and wind tunnel accounts is just too overwhelming to ignore, and these are very very cheap speed once all of the basics (position, the right aero helmet, etc) have been covered off.
To address a few of the concerns:
-the time and coordination required to put these on (or take them off) in Ts 1 and 2 are negligible. Best practice in Kona for one piece suits (like to Octane) was to wear it rolled down at the waist, and underneath a swimskin, to comply with the "no choulders" rule. Then pull up the body and arms of the suit while moving through the transition. No time cost. For the two piece like the Kiwami, Castelli Stealth t1, Garneau m2 skinfit and (edit: Fusion), best practice was to put it on like a jacket (they have full zips) in the t1 tent, and while running to the bike, straighten out the body, roll down the arms ( I rolled mine up like a arm condom to avoid wrestling it on over a wet torso), and zip up. No time cost.
-These are not meant to be running jerseys, though Kienle, Hoffman and others did in Kona anyhow. However, they come off insanely easy. If a one piece, you could always run in it with the zipper down for cooling (see Hoffman, Kienle, Rapp in AZ, etc), or you could peel it down at the waist and let the top part flap around loose (it weighs nothing), and put on a normal singlet in t2. If I'm blessed enough to qualify for Kona, I'll probably do this, and it will be a male version of Liz Blatchford minus the bra (see http://www.slowtwitch.com/articles/images/6/86976-largest_2013KonaFrun3.jpg.)
-Paul's point is correct ... wrinkles are bad, <g class="gr_ gr_80 gr-alert gr_gramm Punctuation only-ins replaceWithoutSep" id="80" data-gr-id="80">but</g> generally speaking, the findings seem to show a well-fitted, off the rack top will be faster than a regular <g class="gr_ gr_47 gr-alert gr_spell ContextualSpelling" id="47" data-gr-id="47">singlet</g>. The key to well-fitted is, though, no wrinkles, and this can be identified visually pretty easily. I have a medium Castelli t1 that I thought was "fitted" until I saw my race photos, and there <g class="gr_ gr_79 gr-alert gr_gramm Grammar multiReplace" id="79" data-gr-id="79">are</g> a shit-ton of wrinkles along the arms and shoulders. When I tried on a small Octane, it was absolutely smooth in the aero position and almost made a mockery of the t1 fit. (I'd post a pic of the Octane, but in my current body composition position, you can just Google "Python Snake eating a pig" to get a sense of the whole distended, stretched disaster. </p>
here's the Castelli fail:
[IMG]http://i58.tinypic.com/zv38lh.jpg[/IMG];
Oh - last part about the top 10 in Kona - many of the "custom" suits of the M and W front runners have been understood in the ST community to be "custom tailored, bespoke and made to measure to the individual athletes." The "custom" in a number of these cases, in fact, referred to customized graphics applied to otherwise stock tops or suits.