Reviewed: Runderwear Men’s Triathlon Suit
We review the Runderwear Men’s Triathlon Suit as part of our 2020 race kit roundup.
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Runderwear Men’s Triathlon Suit
$130, Runderwear.com
If you’re in the market for a basic, sleeveless tri suit from a brand that specializes in preventing chafing, then you’ll love this well-fitting suit from Runderwear. Runderwear was created as a solution to running shorts and running short liners that caused uncomfortable friction for runners. Since then, Runderwear has expanded its offerings to base layers and tri suits, to good effect. Though this is likely a shorter course suit, due to its fairly thin, but still tech-y foam padding that is hypoallergenic and antibacterial, there are lots of panels on this suit to help give an excellent fit. When compared to the other two mens suits in this review, the material is a slightly thicker Italian-made Darwin fabric—better for colder races and likely more durable for a few seasons’ use, and also UV- and chlorine-resistant.
Despite the midrange price, the suit still has a few great features like super sticky leg grippers to prevent riding and bunching. Also, two medium mesh pockets in the back provide ample storage for as many gels as you might need at any distance (as well as the resulting trash), but the fact that they’re top facing means that this suit might fare best when worn with a wetsuit or speedsuit in the water to prevent any drag.
We found this suit to fit very well, and despite the lack of bells and whistles, it does its job and gets out of the way like a suit should. Durability is key as Runderwear’s offering remained elastic after a good amount of washing and abuse. This suit definitely falls into the no-frills, fit-above-all category of tri suits. Using an old-school shoulderless construction, this simple suit does a great job of mapping to the wearer’s body—no surprise given Runderwear’s background in amazingly well-fitting (and chafe-free) running underwear. Consider this suit if you’re looking for something that falls more into the budget category, yet does a great job of getting out of your way and simply doing its job.