Gear Review: JAM! TriSuit

author : Iron MaYden
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JAM! Trisuits is touted to be a trisuit for women, by women, and offering “more upper body support than what has been traditionally available in one piece trisuits”.

Gear Review: JAM! TriSuit
By Type A Girl Pilot
B.T.com Gear Reviewer

 

Women only
Named after the founders of the company, Juli And Michele, JAM! Trisuits is touted to be a trisuit for women, by women, and offering “more upper body support than what has been traditionally available in one piece trisuits”. As a 36C, JAM! has definitely integrated an extremely powerful compression bra into their suit as I can almost say that I felt little to no breast movement at all while running in it. Surprisingly enough, I was pleased that with such a great degree of compression, there wasn’t a suffocating tightness around my torso that would affect my breathing, it is accomplished without use of underwiring. The trisuit only comes in a one piece design that unzips like most, down the front. This means that when unzipped, the bra is split, and even with this type of entry/exit the bra still performs well when it is zipped up.

While unique in its breast control quality, I found that the type of band on the bottom of the sewn-in bra lends itself to chafing – it did not have flat seams and was stiff. This is the reason why this suit would perform best during a Sprint up to an Olympic distance run, which is also the distances that the creators for this suit had in mind that their JAM wearer would be competing in. Unfortunately I could not conclude that there were many more exceptional qualities to the design of the suit other than the superior breast motion control.
 

The Product

JAM! Trisuit

 

 

The Maker

TYR (www.jamtrisuits.com)

The Price

MSRP $130.00

The Rating

  (3/5)

 

Fabric
The fabric used on this suit is a 75% lycra and 25% spandex blend. I am not a fabric expert, nor will I go into a diatribe of good and bad fabric blends. All I know is that I want something that wicks away sweat, dries fast, and isn’t hot. JAM!’s fabric on their suit felt very thick and heavy and I felt hot in it compared to other brands I’ve worn under similar conditions. It was slow to dry when wet, and felt like it trapped moisture versus wicking it away. Perhaps this would be a good early spring or fall suit to wear, but it was just too warm to be in.

I had the same complaints with the chamois pad. After coming in from a ride to see how the pad held up, I was dismayed to find beads of sweat on the surface of the chamois after removing the suit. Moisture was not absorbed into the pad, however, the pad is very minimal and comfortable on the saddle. I had written to JAM! regarding this problem and they haven’t ever heard of this being an issue before. So I washed the suit, hoping that like brand new towels, you have to wash them a couple of times before they are absorbent. After 3 tries, I have concluded that the chamois doesn’t absorb moisture well.

Fit
While in the roundabout discussion of nether regions, it would be fitting to discuss the fit of this suit “down there”. I was testing out a Medium, as it was appropriate for my body. I do not have a long torso, however it felt as if I did in my JAM! After moving around in the suit for a bit, I began to get that very uncomfortable split feeling. Yes, you know what I am talking about – the wedgie. The Full On Female, forward to back. Enough said. While running, within 10 steps I was uncomfortable, but it was not noticeable on the bike while seated. I can appreciate that not every piece of clothing will fit me well and that it may have just been one of those things. I was glad to know that I wasn’t the only one having this problem, yet sad to find out that it may be a design or manufacturing flaw for this new start up company. Another BT’er, user name kelpeng, also has complained of this problem in this suit. Again I had written to JAM! about it and like the beading of moisture on the chamois pad, they said they haven’t heard of this complaint yet.

Being the wonderful businesswomen that the JAM women are, they offered me a Large to see if it would rectify my wedgie problem, but the Large was exactly that, too large anyway.

Are you gell'in?
There is always the one final touch that can make or break an initial purchase for me. For trisuits, tri shorts, running shorts, tops, it’s the pocket. JAM did not integrate a pocket into their trisuit, their reason being that after consulting with one of the owners’ nieces, a nationally ranked triathlete, that the pocket would produce drag during the swim and that most people would be happy taping their gels to their bike anyway. As mentioned earlier, this trisuit was aimed at the Sprint to Olympic population, where carrying gels may not be much of a priority. I would have at least had the option to pick a suit with or without a pocket.

In the drab world of mostly black, dark blue, gray and white apparel, JAM! suits stand out in a crowd. They primarily use 3 colors: Kiwi green, Raspberry pink, and Grape purple, fresh colors reminiscent of spring and jelly beans. Their thoughtful trim styling is very slimming and flattering to the figure.

 

JAM! Trisuit (www.jamtrisuits.com)

CategoryScoreNotes
Primary Objective  The objective being breast support.
Comfort  The bra lends itself to chafing – it did not have flat seams and was stiff. Beading of moisture on chamois. The wedgie.
Styling  JAM! suits stand out in a crowd. Their thoughtful trim styling is very slimming and flattering to the figure.
Practicality  Overall, for a sticker price of $130, it is hardly a great value with other suits with more comfortable fabrics on the market selling for less. A regular tri top with your favorite sports bra underneath for added support would do the trick.
Price  Probably a little steep for the beginner triathlete.
Overall  The JAM! TriSuit For Women is geared toward the Sprint and Olympic lady triathlete whose only thing they ever wanted in a tri suit is for it to have great breast support. This is the Go To suit if that’s all that is important to you.
Rating

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date: January 29, 2006

Iron MaYden