I had a few things that I needed to check out , fit including sat up and in the tt position , comfort and would the speed pocket steam up in a hard session .
The session I chose was a sweet spot turbo session for three reasons , one I could hold the tt position ,two I could really have a look at the suit whilst wearing it and see if I could find any faults or parts I liked , and three I sweat like a beast in the garage on the turbo so it was going to give the suit a good test .
I started my warm up dropping between tt and sat up position , the suit moved well with me and didn't seem to bunch up when moving between positions , the chamois felt good at the back but a little thin at the front at the start , but as the ride went on it felt a lot better , it wasn't a case at the start of discomfort more I felt I wanted a bit more , I think using a new adamo tt saddle might of added to this is my other saddle is well worn in so softened up a bit ,
As the steam started coming down from the garage ceiling it was time to start hitting the session , the suit felt good , I couldn't feel the speed pocket , and shuffling forward on the bars didn't seem to make the suit pull around the speed pocket ,
Looking over the suit during the session all I could really pick up and these might just be personal to me and something I like in a suit ,but I would have the sleeves slightly shorter , I have wrists like a small child so need something really tight at the wrist of that finishes just above the wrist , the sleeve grippers are really good and managed to hold the sleeve when I pulled it just above the wrist onto my hand which I figured is about the size of a standard mans wrist .
The leg grippers as well where rock solid and stayed where I put them which is nice as a lot of suits ride up or fall down on the leg gripper during a race , I personal like no gripper at all but that's something that is very hard to get right on a suit that is off the shelf with people having very different leg sizes ( example , my impsport and bio racer skinsuits without leg gripper ended up rolling up at the end aka aero suicide ,or ended up by my crotch in a race meaning there was a load of material bunch up )
Again these are things I like that a lot of people don't , and going down the road of a specially fitted suit from a off the peg .
The speed pocket didn't steam at all ,there was a a bit of a line where the slit was to put the number in that was a bit wet ,but no steam and no lose of number visabilty.
All in from the test and the quality would I buy this suit ? Hell yeah , I would put it somewhere between everything else from the big names in skinsuits and the smart aero suit , I think the quality and fit is as good as anything else and with the speed pocket already fitted all for £150 you really can't go wrong , noticed they do a less branded version that you can get with the arm bands for under £200 .
Talking of the arm bands I wore them on the test as well , you put the number in the same way as the speed pocket , then work the band up your arm and into position , the band fitted perfectly between my elbow and shoulder and you can adjust it so the number is in the perfect position , it has the clear coating on the front that again didn't steam up but I did notice it was very sweaty behind which you would expect and less so than wrapping your arm in cling film which I've seen people do , added with the fact this was Lin the garage on the turbo so no wind aiding cooling .
The skinsuit test was done and I had smashed out a good session so all was good and I peeled the suit of dripping wet very impressed , will be racing in the suit a lot over next year and looking forward to it .
Second test of the weekend involved the single use speed wallet , this is where it all started and what has lead to the retro fitted stuff .
These are aimed towards people doing single events or using multiple kit they need to attach numbers to randomly for events , they come in various sizes and a arm version ,
For a week in week out tt rider I would go for the retro fitted pocket and working it out would probably cost the more in single use wallets over the season than a retro fitted pocket , but for a single event a very useful item for the kit bag ,
Being impressed by the other nopinz kit I thought I would put abit of extra faith in the single use stuff and fitted the wallet to my training top and stashed it with my food supplies for the ride ,
This could of ended very bad as I like my food on a ride but I had faith , the plan was to put the food in and seal it , I would need something about 45 mins in so if it was still there by then I would be happy it holds well and rip it open to get my goodies or be desperately re tracing my route looking for my food supply .
I'm very happy to say I didn't lose my stash , the eagle eyed of you will notice different food in each pic ,the reason for this is I thought if the worse did happen ( don't forget I'm putting two bars of food in a wallet only designed to take a paperweight number so was pushing my luck ) then at least I would still have a few bars in my pocket , the first pic is of my jersey when I took it off at home , the top had peeled away a bit but I think that was from doing short sprit efforts and being in and out of the saddle a lot with the two bars rattling around in the wallet , but it held for a 90 min ride so really impressed as I hadn't got it fitted as flat as it should be with a number either .
The arm wallet stayed put as well and didn't flap around in the wind either ,
For someone looking at a season long solution racing week in week out I would go for the retro fitted speed pocket especially as the seams etc are so good once it's in its in at a one off cost , the wallets I would suggest for one off events or for a introduction into a life without pins .
Think the whole nopinz system has really taken the next step both in searching for aero and with the new skinsuits getting thinner and tighter fitting looking for every watt of saving really think the nopinz system is the future .
Would love the chance to aero test the kit to see how the aero claims stack up , but as far as I can see I'm sold and happy to have my race suit fitted with the speed pocket for next year .
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