Is This the Craziest Winter Gear Item We've Seen?
The Rapha Pro Team Thermal Aerosuit is a $440 one-piece, full coverage, insulated skinsuit with wind and water protection on the chest, arms, and front of the legs. It’s essentially a pair of thermal tights (with chamois) stitched to a softshell jacket. It looks like a wetsuit. It’s super expensive. It’s only available in pro black. It’s bonkers.
One of the annoying realities of riding in winter—and I’m writing this from 6500 feet elevation in Durango, Colorado, not the beach in So Cal where “winter gear” consists of arm warmers and a vest—is the accumulated bulk of layering up to stay warm. The sheer size and confinement of your winter getup can make riding uncomfortable, even if it is warm. I’m always hunting for the most insulation I can get in the fewest/thinnest layers, and simplest package. By building this glorified union suit, Rapha removed some gaps, some straps, and redundant material, and, perhaps, built a better fitting piece. (It's worth noting that Rapha isn't the only brand to make one; Castelli has a version too—the $349 SanRemo Thermosuit.)
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This isn’t to say I’m entirely on board with this piece. One-piece cycling suits have their drawbacks. It’s a lot of money up front; if you wear a different size in your tops and bottoms, you might have trouble with fit; if you crash and rip the bottoms, you’ve lost a top too; the flexibility of mixing, matching, and removing tops and bottoms is lost; and you've gotta figure out how to keep the top half off the floor when going number two in a nasty porta-potty.
But as I’m looking ahead to months of riding through the winter snow, rain, and a mix of the two, the idea that I could be a little warmer, a little more protected, and a little more comfortable is attractive. Maybe Rapha’s onesie isn't so bonkers—we'll just have to wait and see.
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