A Tale of Two Trisuits
We've seen quite a bit of cool stuff from Epix Gear. They broke onto the apparel scene with some extreme design ideas rooted in excellent fit and function. Now they're continuing to expand on two different fronts. First, is their new "X-Clusive" program, which basically means custom-printed suits. They're offering custom-printed suits in either the standard cut or Airflow cut, featuring the same fully-sublimated printing that will never crack, and resist fading much better than other printing methods. Okay, that's cool - the Epix suits are great. But what makes the X-Clusive program REALLY cool is that there is no minimum number of suits. That's right - you can print just ONE custom suit if you want. That's HUGE!
Just think of it - for the same price as the entry fee for one Olympic distance race, you could have your own custom jersey. Just for you. In any colors you want, with the craziest design you can think of. And if you aren't very creative, Epix has some templates for you to start from. Well, when we heard about this, we were sold, and went straightaway to design a custom suit for TriRig. Epix sent us a couple design ideas, and we customized from there, ending up with something unique, and not seen anywhere else. The process was easy, and it was really fun to see the design develop. The suits arrived about six weeks after we placed the order, and they're beautiful. They're exactly what was expected, and it's undeniably fun to pull on a jersey that is distinctly, uniquely yours. This level of customization is normally reserved for much larger teams with much larger budgets. Epix is making it available to everyone, and that's awesome.
Features
We chose to have these suits done with the standard trisuit cut. That means we didn't get the leg pockets or the upgraded chamois of the Airflow model, but did get two larger pockets versus the single mesh pocket of the Airflow. Ultimately, this suit is meant mostly for racing, although it's certainly comfortable enough to ride in for a couple hours at a time. But for 3+ hour rides, a cycling-specific kit is preferable.
As we've noted before, the biggest point of concern on a trisuit cut is the waistline seam -- there shouldn't BE one. And Epix smartly leaves it out, using just one panel of fabric on the front. It goes all the way from the leg grippers to the top of the shoulders. This just makes for a much more comfortable suit than one with a waistline seam, especially when you're folded up in an aero tuck. Sizing is true to what you'd expect in other brands, or perhaps just a hair larger than average.
So that's the Epix X-Clusive program. But that's not all they're up to. Epix is also exploring high tech fabrics, and are now making suits with Coldblack tech. Hit the next page for more.
