Would I be any faster with a TT bike?

freehub

I did this on my own today

http://connect.garmin.com/activity/28897526

I was pretty pleased, I know average speed is not a judgement, but with similar conditions I'm 1mph up from when I did a similar route last year when I was at my peak in August, and it's only April.

I was struggling to be aero at all today so for the majority of it and to sit up normally either on the huds or hands in the middle of the bars, not to mention getting on the drops felt like my balls where being forced into my body and was not comfortable.

Had me bottles, saddle bag, mudguards, all the usual stuff on and thought I'd push abit today and it seems the rest has paid off and my worry of over training must have being worrying about nothing.

And woah garmin is screwed, reckons my average moving speed was 63mph for part.....

Murr X

You would almost certainly be faster with a TT bike but then adding aero bars to your existing bike and working to achieve a respectable aerodynamic position would help greatly and be much cheaper too. A timetrial bike is essentially not much better than a standard road bike if your body is not aero when riding.

Its the position on the bike rather than the bike itself that makes the real difference (in general). If you are planning to fork out for a TT bike just think twice and consider a powermeter instead. 8)

I'll let Alex Simmons take over on the technical TT bike bits.

Murr X

redddraggon

defo

shockedsoshocked

If you're not comfortable on your drops you may wanna look at your setup.

freehub

I am going to be soon. Although I do insist it cannot be too set up wrong, I went to Paul Hewitts in Leyland to get it sorted out. He did say I could do with a stem 1 or 2 cm shorter than the one I have on now, allthough that'd make me even more sat up than I am now, unless I'd compensate with lowering the stem at the same time?

Murr X

freehub wrote:

I am going to be soon. Although I do insist it cannot be too set up wrong, I went to Paul Hewitts in Leyland to get it sorted out. He did say I could do with a stem 1 or 2 cm shorter than the one I have on now, allthough that'd make me even more sat up than I am now, unless I'd compensate with lowering the stem at the same time?

freehub,

Do you think the reason you cannot get into a low position is because you are not comfortable in the "saddle" area? If so I used to have this problem when I was young and although my hands and arms were comfortable enough when low down, it was the saddle that would cause problems for me and after a few minutes caused numbness and discomfort if I did not stand up or change position.

In my case the problem was helped greatly by finding the correct saddle, you may have to do the same thing and try out different ones. Also playing around with the saddle position might help and is worth a try.


Murr X