Skinsuit controversey

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Not that I ever wore a skin suit when racing DH, but I still think this is a silly arguement.
 

NJ-XC-Justin

KY-DH-Freddy
Not that I ever wore a skin suit when racing DH, but I still think this is a silly arguement.

Someone comes to you a half hour before the race and says I'm from the future and as it currently stands you, having trained hard and with your GF/wife/whatever and friends looking on, will get second place by a half second. He leaves and you look in your bag and find a skinsuit and know it will cut more than that amount of time off.

Looking the part and "growing" the sport through cooler clothes: Second place. Dressing for performance amidst looking dorky: First place. It's not silly, it's a real question.
 

jbogner

NYCMTB: President
JORBA.ORG
I can buy the anti-skinsuit argument if they mandate armor at the same time. If it's just about safety, then I'm for it. The courses are an order of magnitude tougher now than anything Tomac raced on in a skinsuit, and we don't want the win to go to the guy who was just stupid enough to not wear necessary safety gear. And skinsuits with armor really do look horrible.

But I don't care for the rule as it's currently written, banning skinsuits but only suggesting armor. If it's only about fashion, it's pretty lame.
 

Ian F

Well-Known Member
Someone comes to you a half hour before the race and says I'm from the future and as it currently stands you, having trained hard and with your GF/wife/whatever and friends looking on, will get second place by a half second. He leaves and you look in your bag and find a skinsuit and know it will cut more than that amount of time off.

Looking the part and "growing" the sport through cooler clothes: Second place. Dressing for performance amidst looking dorky: First place. It's not silly, it's a real question.


No, you misunderstood me... or now that I look at it, my post was rather vague...

Anyway, I personally never wore a skinsuit. I was never fast enough for that to matter and in the Expert ranks, even in the top 3, the times were rarely that close. However, if I felt that wearing one would have put me on top of the podium (or hell... even on the podium), you're damn right I would have, looks be damned...

What I meant was I think outlawing them is stupid as well as the arguement for doing so.

There's been a similar arguement off/on about clipless pedals in BMX...

No... I never understood not wearing armor either... but that seems to be mainly an Aussi thing... although since the Aussi's are among the top of the heep, they have a lot of copy-cats. Me, on the other hand: cycling shorts & jersey; V-Top pants; Dainese jacket; full-length pants and moto jersey (keeps the armor in place); FF helmet. Hot as hell sometimes, but a whole lot more comfortable than a cast... BTDT.
 
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Ian F

Well-Known Member
Gotcha.

Are clipless not allowed or frowned upon in BMX?

Yeah... most pros use them... but there's been griping for years about how it's not "true to the sport" to use them... but in a sport where the gate-start is 99.9% of the race, you take any advantage you can get.
 
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