UK-based cycle racewear brand Nopinz has just announced their latest product: the SubZero Turbo range. And it’s not just a fancy name!
Described as “the world’s first indoor cycling kit designed to actively cool the body’s core temperature”, the SubZero range includes sewn-in pockets for holding replaceable frozen gel packs to help keep your core temperature down.
Temperature management is a big concern for indoor riders, particularly when engaging in high-intensity efforts. In our “How much fan do you need when riding indoors?” article, we explained how every watt of pedal power also creates ~3 watts of heat. Our body’s cooling systems get rid of this extra heat mainly through perspiration (evaporative cooling), but the solution from Nopinz adds conductive cooling to the mix.
In conduction, energy is transferred through physical contact with another object (your couch warms up when you sit on it, or your skin gets cold when you hold an ice cube). The gel packs in the SubZero line are placed in FreezePockets (a patent-pending design) over key temperature regulation points (lower back, upper back, and wrists) where they absorb some of your body’s heat, which should reduce the cooling load on your circulation system.
Outdoor riders will recognize that this is simply a more well-designed and cleaner version of the proven “ice bag down the jersey” hack which racers have been using on hot days for many years.
Many serious Zwift racers are investing in dedicated spaces with powerful fans and even air conditioning or dehumidifiers. Not everyone has this luxury, though, and Nopinz says their new SubZero range “provides a marginal gain and performance advantage that is accessible to all.”
Nopinz founder Blake Pond, a former elite-level road and TT racer and now a keen A+ Zwift racer, poured many years of indoor training experience into the SubZero line. He says, “I knew there must be a more effective way than relying purely on cooling fans, so I decided to try putting ice packs into my kit to help me stay cool and boost my performance especially when racing in Zwift. The concept worked so well that it had to be part of our new indoor kit range and SubZero was born.”
We’re testing the SubZero line here in the Zwift Insider Pain Lab, and early results are positive, even though it’s difficult to quantify the marginal gains outside of a true lab setting. Nopinz is working on getting into some labs for tests, but it has been difficult due to COVID restrictions and closures. They do, say, though, that “Initial signs among our own athletes have been very promising! This doesn’t come as a surprise as many studies show that keeping your body temperature down allows you to perform at your best for longer, so we feel we’ve provided an additional solution to an existing problem for many athletes.”
Nopinz has partnered with World Tactical Racing Leagues (WTRL) and one of the leading teams (R3R Nopinz) will wear the SubZero line during the upcoming World Championships held on the Zwift in early November.
Product Line Details
The SubZero range includes:
- SubZero shorts: indoor-optimized bib shorts with FreezePockets between shoulder blades and on the lower back. Chamois pad is optimized for indoor riding with improved moisture management compared to those in standard bibs. Men’s and women’s versions available. (£139.99, two sets of gel packs included)
- SubZero sweatbands: a brilliantly simple dual-purpose accessory. The FreezePocket is located on the inner wrist to help to provide a cooling effect where the skin is thinnest. In addition, the bands have a highly absorbent toweling upper to absorb sweat and keep you fresher and more comfortable during intense sessions. The FreezePockets are designed to fit energy gels, so once your body has defrosted them (usually within 20-30 mins), you can get that all-important boost for the end of the session or race. (£29.99, two reusable gel packs included)
- SubZero suit: specifically designed for e-racing where live streaming requires a top to be worn, the SubZero suit has similar qualities as the SubZero shorts, but with an ultra-lightweight, breathable top for modesty. Men’s and women’s versions available. (£189.99, two sets of gel pack included)
- Superlight Eco-Jersey: if you like to wear a jersey for indoor sessions, this ultra-light top is perfect. It’s also ideal for extremely hot outdoor rides. Men’s and women’s versions available. (£79.99)
Learn more at nopinz.com/product-category/subzero-turbo-range/
Questions or comments?
We’ll be posting our review of the SubZero range once we’ve got more Zwift races completed in the kits. Got questions or comments? Share below!
Oh, I like this!!! Those pockets for freeze packs are ingenious! Could have used this kit this past summer. Now the only question is … how much am I willing to spend?
It’s exactly a half year away from April 1. Coincidence? I think not.
do you have to enter the weight of the freezer packs onto Zwift profile 🙂
lol…of course you do you sandbagger!
This seems like a colossal waste of money compared to standard cycling shorts and a couple $20 box fans.
I have an air-conditioner and three fans blowing on me from different angles, and in the heat of humidity of summer they have little to no effect. I’m sometimes afraid the puddle that forms beneath me will reach the Kickr and blow something up. The addition of strategically placed ice packs will certainly help (for a short time, at least).
Go for a real ride in the summer
I want to look like the deep from the boys too 🙃
literally my first thought!
I was interested but I’ve just checked their site and it states:
“Our SubZero ice-packs generally last 20-30 minutes at moderate intensity or 15-20 mins at high intensity.”
This just isn’t long enough. If I’m going to do a tough ride they usually last over an hour and have a 15 minute warm up. These packs will therefore offer virtually no benefit once you’ve completed your warm up.
I’ve been testing the kit in races. I find they last about as long as SubZero says. But keep in mind they ship with two packs for each pocket, plus a nice little insulated holder… which makes it easy to slip the pack in just before the race begins, then swap it for a new one about 20 minutes in. Not too tough to do, and the fresh pack feels great mid-race.
Sure, it would be nice to not have to swap at all. But I don’t think that’s possible, at least not without a giant ice pack, which wouldn’t feel great!
That can be said of every ice pack on the market. In the high heat and humidity of summer, and the heat generated by the body itself, nothing is going to last very long short of riding inside of a meat locker. But … for a 20 – 30 min Zwift race, it should do nicely.
@eric: Did you put the kit through a couple wash / dry cycles yet?
The idea sounds really cool (pun intended) and I like the look but fear it might be a longevity disaster comparable to other lightweight hot weather kits like the new one from Giardana.
I’m already picturing my wife having to swap cooling packs mid race 🙂
One cycle for each kit so far. But I don’t put my kits in the dryer – I let them hang and air dry, as instructed. Doing this, I’ve never had longevity issues with my kits, including the lighter weight indoor kits from Castelli and Le Col+Wahoo.
Is it just the Giordana jersey you’ve had longevity issues with? Looks like you’re not alone, if so: https://www.triathlete.com/gear/bike/reviewed-giordana-fr-c-pro-bib-short-and-short-sleeve-jersey-lyte/
Yep, happened to that one. Luckily I didn’t even pay close to the price listed in that review. After the second wash it started to fall apart. Didn’t put it in the dryer, learnt that lesson from an Adidas Adizero running singlet that didn’t survive there.
Also had a Nike AeroSwift singlet with similar open hole design rip when I tried to take it off while it was wet.
That’s why I am a little worried about super lightweight and open hole designs in shirts.
Would this be considered indoor race doping? Can you say UCI ban?
See also, Texas.
Or just by a Slurpee® Machine for the Pain Cave. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5777660/
No matter how long they last for, 15-20 minutes worth of cooling will still be beneficial to anybody riding indoors, it will mean less cardiac drift and you can conserve some energy. Whilst racing, I’d rather overheat for 20 minutes than for 40 minutes.
Just a thought, can the gel packs be heated to increase core temperature? training in the garage at -5c is a little uncomfortable 😏
Nice, but c’mon, $300 for the set? I guess you can ride it outside
For me it would not work .i sweat to much .with only one fan is to much it feels like a ice pack itself 30 35 degrees
I wonder how well these will work in a high humidity (greater than say 80%) environment, which is where I have the biggest problem in the summer in my garage here in the southeastern United States.
Well, they’ll still cool the skin/blood just like they would in a dryer environment. But a freezer pack can’t fix the problem of high humidity, which causes your sweat to not evaporate and cool you as it should. That’s a separate issue!
For that issue, lots of racers run dehumidifiers…
I picked up bibs and sleeves, been using for a couple weeks and absolutely LOVE these for longer rides/hard efforts. I don’t usually race, so for me this means at least 60k in zone 3+, and I routinely do 100km indoor rides at 80-90% FTP.
First, the gel packs themselves are effective, and definitely brings my HR down 3-4 bpm. The 30 minute life is about right, and the mini soft cooler can keep spares cool and accessible for maybe a couple hours, but I’d recommend a better cooler or throwing some ice in there too for longer efforts. When I do a 2.5 hour metric, the last gels aren’t very chilly.
Swapping packs mid ride takes a bit of practice. The pockets have ample room and are accessible, but if you’re wearing any top, I’d suggest the top go inside/under the bibs because the top pocket is close enough to the neck line that you might drop the gel in between top and bibs, missing the pocket.
The bibs themselves, aside from the nifty gel pack feature, are excellent indoor bibs. Chamois is designed for indoor, outstanding moisture management, reinforced in all the right places and more comfortable than many of my top end endurance road bibs. Adding emphasis to the fact that these are indoor only, other than the area around the chamois, the rest of the material is so porous it’s basically see-through. That said, these are very rugged–no way will you be wearing through these after a season or two of rubbing on the saddle.
Even with fans, though, you’ll still get sweaty, just not quite as bad. I can practically wring out a set of bibs after 2 hours, even these, but these set themselves apart because the chamois seemed fine.
Highly recommended (bibs). Not sure I’d spring the extra $ for the top.
FWIW, the sleeves were too tight, returned for replacement, have not tried them yet.