Alright Clysdesdales and Athenas

How smooth are they? And what's with the knee pads? They look like surfing suits to me.

or scuba suits.

How do they feel through the shoulders and gut when you're using them?  I'm a bit shorter but nearly the same weight and rented a suit in the spring through wetsuitrental.com. They sent me one of their XXXL 2XU's.  It was a bit of a squeeze through the gut (to the point where I couldn't wear a shirt) but otherwise was just fine. 

Best of luck with your comparison and let us know what you find!

What do you mean by smooth? Knee pads - I assume these are actually scuba suits. They told me its nearly impossible to find tri specific suits for the "larger" crowd.

Horse hockey. Try Promotion.

Wetsuit #1 - wore last night. Out of water - feel like the little kid on The Christmas Story. In the water - buoyancy, awesome, actually almost too much. Movement was no problem in the water. Felt very natural.

I'll have to look into it. According to Promotion's websuit even their suits only go up to 245 pounds. I'm not saying your wrong, I've never used their suits.

The gut is a little tight. I have a long torso and the shoulders felt fine. The trick is working out all the slack. I will say Wetsuit #1 takes a while to put on. Very little stretch to the suit at all.

I'm about 245 (a little less), and I'm not even in their highest size.  Granted, I'm female.  Don't know how the men's sizing works. 

I was more saying it was horse hockey for the rental place to say it was soooo difficult to find TRI SPECIFIC suits.

If you are interested, I would suggest calling promotion...they're really good to deal with, and will help you with sizing.

We have a guy in our tri club that had one made for him.

I found a nice tri wetsuit on Ebay.  It says 210-230 but I am 240 and fits fine and make quite a difference in the water and was really nice to have for an ows last weekend when the water was cool. http://cgi.ebay.com/NeoSport-Triathlon-Wetsuit-Men-Sprint-John-XS-M... />
(although mine was $90 with free shipping..just showing the item)

Edited by kklems 2009-08-04 5:17 PM

You should try Desoto or Quintana Roo's largest or second largest sizes. I am 6'4" and was 245 when I tried QR's largest size (listed for 242 lbs +), but once I got in the pool to try it out, it was too big and filled with water.

Akona makes scuba wetsuits. Stick with tri-specific wetsuits if you are doing anything other than a sprint. Your shoulders/back will thank you. My two cents.

I appreciate your inputs. I posted looking for a wetsuit in the classifieds and they (wetsuitrentals.com) contacted me. I'm trying both suits at NO cost to me and giving them my feedback. I would normally agree and not take the word of someone trying to sell me a suit and them saying I would have a tough time finding one. Like I said, I get these suits for nearly 6 weeks at no cost to me, so I'll give them my full attention and return them with my feedback. I just figured there might be others that would like to get the same feedback.

The size charts are not always right, they can go either way, large or small.
I'm 5'10" @ 265 pounds and I wear a Zoot XL suit. Fit's me just fine.

If these are not a Tri wet suit you are not going to want them, trust me. A tri suit is made for , well, tri's. They are smooth to help you move thru the water faster, they will NOT be thicker then what USAT will allow (5mm) and will have the thick parts in the right spots to make you float flat in the water. Also they are made to allow full motion of your arms. How warm they are comes after all that. Dive suits, surfing suits ect. do not do any of that, they are about warmth while doing what they are made to do.

First of all, a HUGE thanks to Constiner for acting as a guinea pig for us   This is going to help so many people!

A bit of background for the rest of you...  For the last 3 years we've had 1 wetsuit in our inventory that fit a body more than 250 pounds.  It's a QR from a line that's been discontinued.  Disappointed to learn we couldn't get more, we began seeking alternatives for triathlon wetsuits for the 250+ crowd.  A couple of the lines we carry show that they will fit that size, and they often can fit a 250+ fit athlete.  A 250+ newbie, however, is built quite differently. 

During our search, we were constantly forced to turn away athletes that we couldn't fit into a wetsuit.  That SUCKED.  We're all about encouraging newbies into embracing this culture of healthy living and leaping outside one's comfort zone, but we were essentially telling some of the bravest and hardest-working of the bunch that they were too big to be included.

NOBODY we talked to (and we did look high and low) was able to provide what we needed.  We were repeatedly told that triathletes just don't come that big.  Yeah.  Ouch.  Had we found a triathlete specific suit that truly worked for this crowd, we'd be carrying it right now.  What's been said about a triathlete specific wetsuit being the way to go is absolutely right.  The suits are designed to provide buoyancy that helps you maintain a proper swim position and to be flexible in all the right places to avoid interference with your stroke.  They also can include nice features like special coatings or friction grabbing surfaces where they can do the most good.

Finally, we decided to expand our search outside the triathlon-wetsuit arena to find a suitable substitute.  We turned to the Akona line (which are scuba suits) because we had heard that they had incredible flexibility and that they were available to fit over 300 pounds.  We're currently testing the suits with several 250+ athletes across the country to see if the suits would be a viable solution for the Clydesdale/Athena crowd.  We've gotten pretty good feedback on the Akonas so far (they're also great folks to work with) and we'll continue to provide them until we've found a triathlon wetsuit that truly works for the 250+ crowd. 

If anyone has personal experience with a triathlon wetsuit that fits a not-so-tight athlete of 250+ pounds, we are ALL ears!  Thanks for listening

I understand what you are talking about. It does suck that these companies don't even want to have even just one line for us big guys/gals.

What would be a good test I think would be to test them side by side with a tri suit. I'm a relatively good swimmer. Even at my size I'm strong in the water. My last tri (2 weeks ago) I was ranked 7th out of the water (405 racers) half mile swim in 12:30.
I tend to be just as fast with or without the wetsuit. So take someone like me, do a half mile swim in a tri wetsuit then a half mile swim in the non tri wetsuit and see what the difference is. Both time and feel. Of course it would also need to be a clyde that can handle a back to back half mile swim..

I'm in the process of working with Kristina to act as another Guinea Pig for the Akona suits. Being an 320# Clyde, I can help evaluate the biggest sizes. Another non-tri specific wetsuit I found online was NRS. I think because theirs are made for boating, that the range of motion and ability to swim would be pretty good. They have several USAT thickness compliant suits. One that would seem to be ideal for late spring or early fall swims where you're right on the edge of needing a wetsuit, but would use it more for bouancy than warmth.

Take a look at surfing suits over scuba suits.  Scuba divers want to avoid excess buoyancy so typically the suits are designed to give less float.  As far as manufacturers go take a look at Tilos.  They make surf and scuba suits and deliver a lot of suit for the money.  I'd also look at Henderson's Hyperstretch line.  We used them exclusively back when I was an aquarium diver in New Jersey.  Very soft, very flexible and they saw daily use so they were sturdy too.  

Thanks so much for the leads.  Unfortunately, I see the same sizing issues with both brands - only fitting up to 250 pounds...

that's where I was saying that the size charts are not right. I'm 5'10" at 261 (this morning) and wear a Zoot in size XL. Going by their chart it should never fit me. It says a chest size up to 47" and weight of 230. Like I said I'm 261 and I have a chest of 54-56. I carry all of my weight in my chest and gut.

I'm a about your size and wear a quintanr roo hydro full and it fits fine.

Try also neo-sport i got one of their large wet suits and i am 6'4" 270lb tho taller so not as husky for my weight. i went with the large because i did not want to have any excess material its tight but not overly so and relativly inexpensive but fairly well made and good for the price. The size sheet is a little misleading as they probably are for all wetsuits.

Try the Henderson Hyper stretch. We had guys at the aquarium that were 6'3" 290 pounds that wore that suit.

I think one of the interesting issues is that in the Triathlon world, I have discovered I'm HUGE ... I mean, they don't make wetsuits any larger than I bought. I'm not all that big in the real world, but I am an Athena (152 - 155 lbs). As a runner, there's still lots that fits me as a Medium, but in the triathlon world, gosh darn it all, I'm an XL. But what's in a number? (Or Letters?)I wonder if manufacturers are going cotton-on to the fact that not all triathletes are tiny people. And that doesn't mean we're not as fit, it just means we're tall, well muscled, strong tri-ing machines!I think there are a lot more "normal" people taking on the challenge of a triathlon. I applaud us all! I hope manufacturers will sit up and take notice.By the way, I have an Xterra Vendetta wetsuit and I LOVE it. I could float to China in that thing and enjoy the ride .... However, I am short-waisted so a "normal" wetsuit on me is a bit bunchy. Ditto swimsuits ... does anyone know of any petite swimsuits? I know, I know, it's an oxymoron, an Athena looking for a petite suit ... (How 'come my message all runs together? Where did my paragraphs go? Rookie sigh....)

First off, I find it very cool that you signed up and are willing to openly communicate with us. 

I had placed my order with you guys on 8/12 for my Sept. tri before I saw this thread but I have been very concerned about sizing as well.  I just don't see how we can go by weight here.  I am around 5'10 1/2, 218lbs but that can be a lot of different shapes IMO.  At that size, I'm a 34 waist in jeans whereas I have friends with that similar height/weight that wear a 38-40" waist in jeans.  I carry a lot of weight in thick thighs and wide shoulders and have always had a tough time fitting in clothing.  I did not this on my order but I'm nervous that it may end up being tight in the chest.