Road bike setup for Time Trial

lamai

I am going to be doing a few sprint triathlons in the next few months, I have a Giant SCR 4 entry level bike. What options do I have, can I put aero or time trial bars on it? and would it be worth doing on this bike

thanks

2 Wheels Good

Have a set of Profile T2+ Cobras on my Litespeed and they do the job. Think the time triallers will have better advice but for someone who uses them for Adventure racing and getting by our prevailing winds they work fine. Take a bit of getting used to but definitely add a couple of mph into the wind.

spurscormac

quick question...

how much do they cost - and would they work on a MTB ?

Reason for asking is that am doing the connemara adventure challenge, checked out the course last weekend, and found the wind very strong on the road section - slowed me up due to the high riding position of the MTB.

Probably gonna invest in a road bike to do Gael Force, so if the aero bars work, might splash out on them now.

Ryder

When i was in school, horror of horrors I had aerobars on my mtb. Obviously not nearly as good as a road bike, but worked fine to reduce wind resist and offer a diff sent of hand positions.

Lumen

@lamai, if I were you I'd take it to a shop that knows about tri position (e.g. Wheelworx) and get the bars put on and set up for you.

There are lots of bars available, some more adjustable than others. You may or may not need the adjustment, so it's better to get a fitting done at a shop where they have a few lying around.

The basic problem with road bike tri fit is that the toptube+stem is too long, whihc means the pads will be nearer your wrists than your elbows, but for short events I don't think it makes any difference (for Olympic tris you might want to be more fussy).

One rule of thumb with TT/tri position is: don't mess with your saddle position unless you have the time and commitment to train regularly in that position, or else you'll just end being slower as your muscles won't be used to it.

2 Wheels Good

Got mine on ebay for around €100, but you'd get non carbon for cheaper. Depending on your handlebars they should work, depends how much free space there is to clamp them on. They helped last year in Gaelforce, wind was nasty up through the valley!

Murph100

Damn ! I was half tempted whack on some tri bars and rotate the seatpost to get more forward, pure genius or nuts ?

Lumen wrote: »

One rule of thumb with TT/tri position is: don't mess with your saddle position unless you have the time and commitment to train regularly in that position, or else you'll just end being slower as your muscles won't be used to it.

Lumen

Murph100 wrote: »

Damn ! I was half tempted whack on some tri bars and rotate the seatpost to get more forward, pure genius or nuts ?

Opinions differ. The counter argument is that rotating yourself forward over the bottom bracket allows you to get lower whilst keeping the angles the same as you're used to (wth the important exception of your neck).



Best to do a bit of experimentation and see what feels right.

There is also an obvious and important distinction between tri and TT position - the 5cm rule. If you care about such things.

Murph100

5 cm rule ? ... enlighten me ..

Lumen wrote: »

There is also an obvious and important distinction between tri and TT position - the 5cm rule. If you care about such things.

Lumen

Murph100 wrote: »

5 cm rule ? ... enlighten me ..

UCI rules wrote:

1.3.012 The point of the saddle shall be a minimum of 5cm (see article 1.3.019 below) to the rear of a vertical plane passing through the lower bracket spindle. The saddle support shall be horizontal (see figure 1). The length of the saddle shall be 24 cm minimum and 27.5 cm maximum.

Doesn't apply to triathlon/IM, hence why they tend to use much steeper seat angles.

niceonetom

For what it's worth, I changed everything on my road bike for a TT position that is as aero as I can get it with the frame I have. I used a zero offset seat-post and a saddle with long rails so the tip of the seat is very close to the 5cm rule, and used an adjustable 90mm stem to get the pads as low and close as possible.

I didn't do this randomly, I spent a lot of time setting it up on the turbo and tried to replicate my hip angles from the standard set-up using video for reference. The saddle is much higher and further forward, but it doesn't feels that different once your torso is correspondingly low and forward. I was, as Lumen points out above, using the rotate-everything-around-the-BB method. I also did enough miles on the road to make sure that the handling wasn't ridiculous (though it was a bit twitchy) and that my knees could take the strain.

It worked well and I got a decent time out of it, but it's a pain to swap all the components, and I won't be doing it again until a week or two before my next TT. I'm also starting from a point where I have good flexibility in my hamstrings and back, which must be an advantage.

It works for me, but I would be hesitant to recommend it to others as it's a bit high risk.

blorg

I keep a second TT saddle (padded nose) on a zero-offset seatpost. Works quite well and quick to swap. I have my bars as low as they will go as it is. Aero bars have quite a benefit on their own but I do think the different saddle position adds to it.

Murph100

Hmmmm... must give it a lash, the Argon 18 seatpost on the Gallium is reversible so hopefully that will work. Never really considered tri bars seriously until caught in a headwind with 2 mates on tri bikes, who would not be powerhouses by any means but they made waaay more progress in the wind than I could in a full tuck.

Lumen

It's worth pointing out that Niceonetom has the flexibility of a maggot, and Blorg isn't far off.

What I'd pay for a longer set of hamstrings....

Murph100

Work on it, its easy !!

2 months ago I was over an inch from touching my toes, now I can touch the ground with closed fists, aiming for flat palms on the deck, not bad for 42 and stuuupid long legs ... and this was only with 20 mins stretching 4 - 5 times a week ( still hate stretching hamstrings though, yeeuuuch )

harringtonp

Did a TT with Cork Tri yesterday eve with setup shown in photo. And my setup is somewhat random. Biggest problem is you get something that suits, undo everything for next sportive/group spin and then have to redo it. And its hard to get the exact same position again (on way to TT yesterday arms were getting a bit numb: stopped, widened and lowered TT bars (they were tilted up a few degrees) and it seemed to do the trick.

Very experimental for me !

Paul.

niceonetom wrote: »

For what it's worth, I changed everything on my road bike for a TT position that is as aero as I can get it with the frame I have. I used a zero offset seat-post and a saddle with long rails so the tip of the seat is very close to the 5cm rule, and used an adjustable 90mm stem to get the pads as low and close as possible.

I didn't do this randomly, I spent a lot of time setting it up on the turbo and tried to replicate my hip angles from the standard set-up using video for reference. The saddle is much higher and further forward, but it doesn't feels that different once your torso is correspondingly low and forward. I was, as Lumen points out above, using the rotate-everything-around-the-BB method. I also did enough miles on the road to make sure that the handling wasn't ridiculous (though it was a bit twitchy) and that my knees could take the strain.

It worked well and I got a decent time out of it, but it's a pain to swap all the components, and I won't be doing it again until a week or two before my next TT. I'm also starting from a point where I have good flexibility in my hamstrings and back, which must be an advantage.

It works for me, but I would be hesitant to recommend it to others as it's a bit high risk.

blorg

@harringtonp- technically the inclination of those TT bars is illegal. They have to be flat. Not that anyone is going to check mind you.