Yesterday’s 22km run destroyed me. I really should have rested today but I was craving a bike ride. I did a short ride since I listened to my body. I wanted to ride for one big reason. I wanted to wear my Roka Skin Suit for the first time and it was awesome. I felt fast in this thing. I don’t know how but it felt cool during the ride on a hot humid 30 degree Celsius day.
It was incredibly tight and it’s probably that tight because I’m too big for it. The leg grippers blend in with the skin suit and it feels amazing. I will be using this for training before my Ironman. The huge downside I see in this Skinsuit is the small pockets. You can barely fit anything in them. Is it because They expect you to have everything inside the bike?
It has a sleek design, the material is very different than my castelli tri suit. This feels much more premium but the pockets are too small making it a big problem in my eyes. Then again, less stuff on the suit creates aerodynamic advantages and you probably don’t want much in the suit while running.
The picture above shows the limitations for storage. This may have been done on purpose since this skin suit is specific for carrying less. What do you think? Would that be a reason for the pocket to be so small? Comment if you’ve used this for an Ironman, I want some input!I’d be interested to see if the pockets were an advantage or disadvantage when choosing a triathlon suit. To me, I really like skin suits with big pockets. They are great for training and skin suits have been proven to give aero advantages over cycling kits. Skin suits for life!
Pros
- Premium Italian fabrics
- Snug aero fit
- Higher quality gear compared to other tri suits I’ve seen in terms of fabrics and cut.
- Makes you feel pro (subjective answer)
- Thin chamois but comfy enough for the bike ride. Good stuff Roka
- The Long sleeves gives an aero advantage and more protection from the sun
Cons
- Expensive, cost me $400.00 CAD (did I mention it was on sale for that price?). This retails for over 500 dollars.
- small pockets, limited on what I can carry on my training rides. I also like wearing skin suits in my rides, this is a big con to myself since I don’t like adding additional bags on my bike.
So far I’ve only worn it once but I plan to ride with it a lot more. I will update this review in the next couple of weeks
UPDATE: it is annoying having to wear this when the pockets are so small. I enjoy wearing skin suits and the next Skinsuit I buy, I will definitely look at bigger pockets. I prefer my Castilli tri suit that cost less.