Setting up a road bike for triathlons

BTH

Ok, so, complete newbie, bought my first road bike late last autumn with my sights set on a few triathlons this summer. Got the aero bars and did a couple of tri's and been happy with the results. My bike being by far my strongest. I now want to get my road bike set up to suit tri's more than it is currently, but there's an awful lot of info, some conflicting, on the web about this. I also have no way of measuring the angles mentioned. I can't afford a tri bike right now. I know Mr Skef (right?) is renowned for his bike set up abilities, but does he do the same for tri setup? Or is my best bet Wheelworx (didn't find them helpful when I was buying my first pedals there) or CycleSuperStore? I want someone knowledgeable who can tell me when I'm doing right and what I should change. I know I'll likely need a new seatpost to move me forward and open the hip angle, but hopefully not much else as the aero bars I have are very adjustable. Can anyone recommend anyone/where that can advise me on this?

Thanks

BTH

No one??

Or am I better off trying my luck over on the A,R,T forum??

blorg

Mr Skeff is a very good TT rider so I imagine he would be able to help there although I believe tri fit can be a bit different to save muscles for the run.

As a very rough guide you want to rotate yourself forward. On a road bike you probably won't be able to get it 100% optimal anyway so while on a tri/TT bike you could do it too far for optimal fit on a road bike that fits you PROBABLY want to drop your bars as far as possible while moving your saddle forward and up. I have an inline seatpost that I use for this purpose and have a TT-specific saddle as far forward as possible on it.

I had worked my position out on my track bike set up with TT bars and while I found on this that it WAS possible to set the bars too low (resulting in discomfort and loss of power) it is not possible to go too low on my road bike. This worked for me anyway.

daymobrew

CycleWays are doing a bike fit service.

BTH

Cheers lads. Going to give this a bash myself first with the aid of our good friend google. Maybe call in some professional help later on. First step, I need to move he saddle forward by 5-6cm. Most of that I can get from the saddle rails, and for the rest I'll need a seatpost with zero offset. I'm not sure what I'm looking for, as there seems to be a hell of a lot of different sizes and types. Damn my uneducated ways!!!

tunney

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Ok, so, complete newbie, bought my first road bike late last autumn with my sights set on a few triathlons this summer. Got the aero bars and did a couple of tri's and been happy with the results. My bike being by far my strongest. I now want to get my road bike set up to suit tri's more than it is currently, but there's an awful lot of info, some conflicting, on the web about this. I also have no way of measuring the angles mentioned. I can't afford a tri bike right now. I know Mr Skef (right?) is renowned for his bike set up abilities, but does he do the same for tri setup? Or is my best bet Wheelworx (didn't find them helpful when I was buying my first pedals there) or CycleSuperStore? I want someone knowledgeable who can tell me when I'm doing right and what I should change. I know I'll likely need a new seatpost to move me forward and open the hip angle, but hopefully not much else as the aero bars I have are very adjustable. Can anyone recommend anyone/where that can advise me on this?

Thanks

Most (actually all imho) bikeshops don't do fantastic tri fits.

If you are getting a bike fit bikefit (or similar name) is the place to go. Fernado Fuentes is the main guy there and he is a top triathlete (and damn good cyclist) and he got F.I.S.T. certified last year.

F.I.S.T. is a system designed by Dan Empfield of Slowtwitch and Quintaa Roo fame. Its gone from being a system that people used to fit bikes to one that manufacturers now keep in mind when designing TT frames (the new Trek Speed Concept being case in point). Now they designed Tri frames and you can get a great TT position on them, rather than TT frames that you can't get a good position on. North american frame manufacturers have twigged this well before the euros so you're more likely to get a better Cannondale/Felt/Cervelo/Trek/Scott fit than a Pinarrello/Colango/DeRosa

Fitting is expensive and alot of the measurements can be done at home. You can get a good approximateion of a FIST position by following the guidelines on Slowtwitch.

Set the bike up on a trainer. get someone to take photos, then load the photos onto a computer and measure the angles there. Repeat until close to it.

You can get uber technical and use powermeters, known hills, and multiple runs to calculate you CdA (drag) and power output for particular HRs and then use software to determine when the loss in power exceeds the gains in Cda reduction but thats more than most need

IN short - go to slowtwitch, read up, do a home fit and if you get serious get a bike fit from fernado.

(note I have no connection to fernado other than I know and respect him)

Lotsafish

OP, where did you get your aero bars from? Did you fit them yourself?

Lumen

tunney wrote: »

You can get a good approximateion of a FIST position by following the guidelines on Slowtwitch.

<snigger>

BTH

Thanks Tunney
Slowtwitch was going to be the source of most of my info on this. What's the best way to measure the relevant angles on a computer?? Take a pic and hold a protractor up to the screen?!?

Lotsafish, I bought BBB ones in my LBS and fitted them myself. Height length and width adjustable and just played around with them until it felt ok. They have made a huge difference.

tunney

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Thanks Tunney
Slowtwitch was going to be the source of most of my info on this. What's the best way to measure the relevant angles on a computer?? Take a pic and hold a protractor up to the screen?!?

Many ways to skin a cat. Some software will have it that works too

mloc123

BetterThanHoyte wrote: »

Thanks Tunney
Slowtwitch was going to be the source of most of my info on this. What's the best way to measure the relevant angles on a computer?? Take a pic and hold a protractor up to the screen?!?

Lotsafish, I bought BBB ones in my LBS and fitted them myself. Height length and width adjustable and just played around with them until it felt ok. They have made a huge difference.

http://www.sgrillo.net/scale.htm