Long Sleeve or short Sleeve skin suites for TTs

[bgoetz]

The time has come to order our team kits. I will be getting a short sleeve skin with pockets for TTs and road races that I can get what I need into the pockets.

For TTs I am stuck, I know I don't want pockets, what I can't decide is how do I want the sleeves. It seems that all of the pros are going long sleeve skins, so I would assume there has to be a reason. My concern is I don't want to sacrifice as much or more time that I gained from the sleeves from overheating, plus with a long sleeve if the sleeves are not the perfect length, then you get wrinkles. So I am kinda leaning towards a mid-sleeve, which would allow for some additional cooling and I could pull the sleeve tight to get rid of the wrinkles.

Does anyone have any real data that compares these three options on a skin suite?

 

[daveryanwyoming]

Originally Posted by bgoetz ....Does anyone have any real data that compares these three options on a skin suite?

I've tested a couple of suits in the tunnel against each other and a few more in the field during PM based aero testing sessions. At least in my case long sleeves are measurably faster than short sleeve jerseys and skinsuits with minimal seams have consistently tested fastest. And yeah, wrinkles aren't great so size your TT skinsuit tight and take it in if it flaps around while riding in the aero position. I wasn't aware of how much my older team skinsuits flapped around in the wind until I saw footage taken in the wind tunnel while down in my aero bars. I was able to take those skinsuits in quite a bit with some creative stitches and tucks but ultimately I went with a Castelli Body Paint suit in a medium (I normally wear Castelli kit in large) and it tests as the fastest suit I've owned and is drum tight without having to take it in.

-Dave