Skin suits for DH?

Promoted by a GMBN vid that showed how much quicker an aero ish bike and a rider in a skinsuit are in a DH race, it promoted the age old question – Why don’t the top down hillers and enduro riders wear Lycra?

Given it can’t be protection as there’s nothing to stop them wearing armour underneath, I can’t work it out at all. They spend 1000’s on tyres, ceramic bearings and suspension tunes yet £100 on a skinsuit would seem to do much more than all those together.

UCI law, blame Palmer

UCI say they aren’t allow to

UCI say they aren’t allow to

Really? I didn’t know that, how strange. Is that for Enduro as well as DH?

ENDURO isn’t covered by the UCI, pretty sure the EWS discourages Lycra at the very least though

Enormous yellow shorts are mandatory for enduro.

Really? I didn’t know that, how strange

I always thought it was an agreement between the riders, much like the peaks on helmets rather than going bullet. At the worlds they were definitely wearing lycra jerseys and less baggy baggies. Deep section crossmax rims FTW.

http://www.uci.ch/mm/Document/News/Rulesandregulation/16/72/76/MTBReglementsENG_English.pdf

4.3.011 All lycra-elastane based tight-fitting clothing is not permitted.

4.3.012 A full-face helmet must be worn properly both when racing and when training on the course. The helmet must be fitted with a visor. Open-face helmets may not be worn.

The UCI has a remit to promote the sport and iirc it was seen that lycra and no peaks wouldn’t help that.

Blame Tomac.

“All lycra – elastane based tight fitting clothing is not permitted” is the line from the UCI rulebook (it’s all online btw) Terrible rule- what’s tightfitting? What about nonlycra aero suits? But it’s been more or less government by intent and consent I think.

I saw a comment in, I dunno, a Dirt article probably… Anyway, apparently since the banning of skinsuits the wearing of body armour’s massively increased. No such thing as an aero kneepad. Some people did wear them mind, and you can’t tell what’s fashion/trend led but I still thought it was interesting. I’d rather crash in dh pyjamas and pads than in an aero morph suit.

I think it’s basically good when the pros look like the amateurs and weekend warriors tbh. I like that the pinnacle of our sport looks like the arse end of our sport, just better.

Not this again 🙄 😉

Was at Mojo when they made the riders wear those black shiny gimp suit things for attention, they were not unsurprisingly amused.

I think the rule is something along the lines of you must be able to pinch an inch of material.

Not sure if its Brendan Fairclough’s mum or some one else’s mum that supposedly travels with their son on the WC circuit and is well known as the go to person to get your riding kit perfectly tailored.

I always thought it was a gentleman’s agreement to preserve the image of the sport.

I blame Rach.

“If you ask any of the girls, you don’t see them busting out skinsuits ’cause that’s not what we feel like doing. If you win we want it to be on skill and training and stuff like that.
“Fair enough to Tracey if she wants to do that to win, but for the sport and the longevity of the sport, to wear cool race kit and to make an image for yourself is more important than the odd win here and there.”

With the greatest of respect to Miss Atherton,

longevity of the sport, to wear cool race kit and to make an image for yourself is more important than the odd win here and there.”

is fairly quickly dismissed when you remember that road riding is both older and more popular than DH.

Not this again

If this has been done, I apologise, I’ve been on here a long time and don’t remember the discussion. I’m not asking to be provocative at all, I just saw the GMBM vid and thought that any speed based sport would be doing all it can to go quicker.

Yeah, but it’s a RACE.

Not this again

If this has been done, I apologise, I’ve been on here a long time and don’t remember the discussion. I’m not asking to be provocative at all, I just saw the GMBM vid and thought that any speed based sport would be doing all it can to go quicker.

Oh no nothing personal, the subject just gets recycled every year or two 😉

Looking orsumz is more important than winning.

To be fair that must a pretty old quote from Ms Atherton, I’d imagine her viewpoint might be slightly different now, possibly

The rider’s lobbied for it for years. They tried verbal agreements regarding skinsuits and helmet peaks but someone would always break the rules. Barel had his mechanic remove his peak just before he entered the start hut more than once.

It does help with the image in my opinion but some people have no such concerns about hurtling down a mountain dressed like a figure skater. And no, skiing is not the same.

Also think of it from a clothing manufacturers perspective. They pay salaries to riders to run their kit and sell product off the back of it. How many skinsuits do you think they could sell? Peaty was one of the most vocal critics of skinsuits. Maybe because he wants top riders wearing Royal Racing kit.

And yes top riders do have their kit tailored. They receive a box of that seasons race clothing and have it taken apart and put back together in a more body hugging cut.

I think in general racers look better than ever now that the wannabe MX look has died off a bit. Mtb specific clothing is great now.

Winning certainly doesn’t pay the bills in World Cup DH

but just like 27.5 wheels being faster, its only an advantage until everyone is doing it, then its irrelevant again.

Seen this? Pinkbike

Aero is definitely a consideration among top teams and I do think Race wear seems to be getting ever more fitted.

Anybody not riding in cutoff jeans is taking it too seriously.

Dirt jump attire is much more aero than DH PJs

DH skiing doesn’t seem to have a problem with it, it seems a bit of a weird attitude tbh – it’s a race not a fashion parade.

It did annoy me when people that wore baggies and didn’t win made out that it was in some sort of way cheating, it wasn’t it was just racing.

And if you look across on Pinkbike, there’s an article about some of the Specialized riders using wind tunnels to optimise their tuck FFS!

Like the man in the proverbial orthopaedic boot I stand corrected.
Given that DH is (albeit a bastardised version of) a time trial, I wonder if they’ve start looked into more aero frame designs. DH kit is defo more fitted then it was 5 yrs ago, and as a former fat boy I appreciate that.

Big row a few years back wasn’t it? Ended up with the kiddies who wanted to look “cool” and different , and thus identical to everyone else, getting their way. Always seems rather lacking in professionalism, wearing second best kit. Never understood why Miss Atherton objected,her arsr is alright.
That visor wording from the UCI. Is that correct and is visor defined as a visor covers your face. Helmets have peaks.

bombjack – Member
Like the man in the proverbial orthopaedic boot I stand corrected.
Given that DH is (albeit a bastardised version of) a time trial, I wonder if they’ve start looked into more aero frame designs. DH kit is defo more fitted then it was 5 yrs ago, and as a former fat boy I appreciate that.

I don’t think aero is anything much of a factor in a typical DH race as a time trial – DHers arent going flat out at top whack in a straight line int he way a TTer is – and the aero only really becomes a huge factor at those very high speeds (proportional to the square and all that). Grip and technique in corners far more important.

aero only really becomes a huge factor at those very high speeds (proportional to the square and all that). Grip and technique in corners far more important.

True but races are won on hundredths of a second, aero gear could quite easily gain you than on any track I’ve seen raced.

I don’t think aero is anything much of a factor in a typical DH race as a time trial – DHers arent going flat out at top whack in a straight line int he way a TTer is – and the aero only really becomes a huge factor at those very high speeds (proportional to the square and all that). Grip and technique in corners far more important.

It’s worth watching the gmbn video. They showed a significant difference. Not 100ths, but many seconds. No doubt not very scientific, but interesting.

Depends on the track too. Mosley’s Ft.Bill outfit (which sparked a lot of it) was believed to gain several seconds on that course, and it would be more if it was a windy day. Down the like of Val Di Sole, the margin would be much smaller

Can’t believe no one has mentioned Ben Reid’s mum’s custom tailoring yet. DH pyjamas cut as tight as you can get away with. That always seems to come up in these “aero” DH discussions

I did but got it wrong

Ah yes, I scanned and didn’t connect when you mentioned Brendan. Beaten well to it 🙂