Tri suits

I've raced in both one-piece tri suits and in two pieces, and for the last several years I've settled exclusively on wearing two pieces for four reasons.

First, there's the swim.  More than once I've had chafing under my arms from where my sleeveless wetsuit met the armholes of a one-piece. And I've felt constricted enough by a full wetsuit; I don't need to also have the construction of a tri top.  So I prefer to wear just the bottom of a two piece and put the top on in T1.

Second, there's the bike.  I prefer to wear a tight bicycling jersey these days that covers my shoulders. I've had bad sunburns in the past, and I don't want any more and I don't want to worry about sunscreen.  I think I've only seen one short sleeved tri suit for sale, and all the ones I've owned are sleeveless.  And bike jerseys have better pockets.

Third, there's the bodily functions.  So much easier as you can imagine.

Fourth, it's easier to race in the clothes I train in.  I can easily wear the tri bottoms on the bike, in the spin class, for a run.  It's a little goofy to wear a one piece all the time, and a tri suit is something of an attention getter in the spin class or the local multi-purpose trail.  "Look at me, I'm a triathlete!"  Not my style.  I can mix tri bottoms with any sort of top.

The only downside is that yes they can ride up.  I also have a long torso so I just need to check once in a while. I've never had a lower back sunburn out of a dozen half IM and IMs where I've worn two pieces.

I have a long torso too and only go with a tri suit ("unitard" as my family teases me!) after starting out with a 2 piece setup.  I've had several DeSoto suits and a Zoot.  I really like the DeSoto's, top notch quality, the Zoot has lasted a long time too, was a tad below the DeSoto.  I hang out on eBay and buy closeout's/barely used items.  Last one I bought was a never used Desoto Lift Foil for $70, like this one.

Worth it, depends, I've gotten much more than 2 years out of every one and I use them for bike rides too (no pool swims).  I went down on my bike once in a race with a DeSoto and slid on my side and back.  Suit was absolutely fine, skin not so much!

There are a ton of short sleeved one piece suits out there.  I personally own five of them (Desoto, Fusion Sports, LG, Pearl Izumi, and Kiwami).  The new Desoto suit (the FliSuit) has a hidden fly which makes taking a pee quite easy. https://www.desotosport.com/collections/mens-trisuits/products/riviera-flisuit

I notice reading that web page that it says "GREAT NEWS: Sleeved trisuits are now legal for use in Ironman and 70.3 races, and it remains legal in many other races not owned by WTC."

I did some research, and apparently Desoto has made a sleeved trisuit for a while, but WTC didn't allow them. Sometime in early 2016 WTC started allowing them.  So that's at least a partial explanation why it was hard to find sleeved trisuits in the past.  Also I don't usually buy this kind of thing online but at the local store or at expos, so they stock what sells.