Time trial bike

bigricky

hi all,

i am thinking of buying a basic time trial bike, should i go for it? or stick with my trek madone with clip on aero bars?mainly riding club 10s and some 25 mile time trials

SteveR_100Milers

How fast are you on the trek, and how much faster do you want to go?

In my experience, the transition between a road bike with tri bars and a TT bike was / is 15s on a 10 mile TT.
Then again you might be one of the ones to benefit massively from a bike and training.

Good luck!

incog24

If you're sure you want to do testing, then get a decent bike. I got a trinity alliance second hand for just under £800, and that's plenty fast enough. If you're not totally sure then stick with the road bike and clip ons for the time being.

Time difference wise will be fairly dependant on how good a position you get with clip-ons. The frame/bar set up may give you 15sish, but if you get much more aero you potentially could save more than that.

Pross

As above, it's the position that counts. Make sure you are able to ride in a good position on a TT bike and also consider if you are getting the best aero position possible on your road bike as there may be room to improve with no expense. I have seen riders with time trial bikes who may as well have been riding on the hoods on a road bike due to lack of flexibility or a gut that was too big. I personally wouldn't bother with one just for club events and would only consider one if I was riding regular open events but that's just me, only you can decide if you want to spend the money. Remember though that the bike will only improve you once, you may get that big jump on your PB as a result but then you have to look at other ways to improve further

love2ride

Planet X. £1000. Unbelievable, wasn't sure whether to go for it but it is amazing. Tad heavy but it is pretty stiff and strong. Best investment.

fiftyacorns

Hi

Id also say your height is important for the benefits of a TT bike - if your small then your TT posn will be similar on a road bike and a TT bike, while if your tall the difference can be more significant

Also agree with the PX - great value, and a great frame

sub55

fiftyacorns wrote:

Hi

Id also say your height is important for the benefits of a TT bike - if your small then your TT posn will be similar on a road bike and a TT bike, while if your tall the difference can be more significant

Also agree with the PX - great value, and a great frame

WHAT

fiftyacorns

the headtube on a shorter riders TT frame is going to be not much different from the headtube on their road frame. That makes it a limit on their ability to get low on the TT bike.

You can see this by the use of ergo-stems or newer setups like Emma Pooleys at the olympics

sub55

where as i can see where your coming from, i think with the exception of very short riders , i will disagree with you.
for nearly everybody its a case of percentages , there maybe the odd very short rider
where there just is`nt room to get it all in. head tube/ head set/ bars.
but in this situation , i would probably go for a 650 wheel set. instead of an ergo stem.

whilst im on the percentages thing , if anybody and they regularly do on this forum says X will save you , Y seconds over Z . they are talking out of their backside.
to know that , you have to have extremely rider specific power data and drag efficiency
figures. which you invariably do not know.

so the only way ergonomic alterations can be described in the terms of times saved , is as a percentage.

Tom Butcher

I'd go second hand - deep section wheels are horrendously expensive now - seem to have shot up in price in the last 18 months or so - it's far more cost effective to get some in with a TT rig - of course you need to be careful what you buy but if you are patient you can find some bikes that have only been wheeled out for the occasional triathlon.

andyrr

I'd personally suggest that a std road bike with clip-ons as against a proper TT bike with good aero bars, deeper section wheels etc would be nearer to a minute over 10 miles but, as has been said, there is no set rule for various bits of equipment as some people will gain more from them, some people's road bike position will be relatively aero compared to a TT bike position, a low front-end road frame might allow a good aero position etc.
Along with clip-ons, an alternative foward-position seatpost, such as Profile Fast Forward, might also help TT'ing on your road bike as when on the aero extensions you are much more stretched out than when on the road bars, a FF seatpost will mean that you are better placed to have make use of the extensions without over-stretching your back. Relatively cheap and can always be sold if/when you go for a TT frame.

John.T

It is quite possible to get a fairly good TT position on a road bike. I have now changed the stem and the bars are about 2.5 cm lower now. The bike is just how I normally ride it, just the tri-bars added.

billybiker

bigricky wrote:

hi all,

i am thinking of buying a basic time trial bike, should i go for it? or stick with my trek madone with clip on aero bars?mainly riding club 10s and some 25 mile time trials

Some good advice above but in the end only you can decide. The thing I would say is that a "basic" TT bike may give very small improvements whilst a more "extreme", and therefore, more expensive bike, will likely be more aero and hence faster. Do plenty of research as you will find that some frames/wheels may be more suited to light riders, some to fast riders and so on. As an example a deep section front wheel will only work in light crosswind conditions so if you only have one front wheel this will not be a good choice. Likewise a disc may not be the best choice on a hilly TT and you may not want to use it again in very strong winds where you could find that bike handling becomes an issue. HED do a wheel comparison in various wind conditions so this might be a start. Good luck!

Tom Butcher

Why will a deep section front only work in light cross winds ? Do you mean it will affect the handling too much ?

I've only been using deep sections this year and that was something I was concerned about - but I've found that they are fine is any conditions I've ridden in so far. I wouldn't bother with a TT bike unless it had aero wheels - that's part of the package - without them it's not really a TT bike imo.

As a guide to the difference a TT bike will make - I've set pbs on both our club courses this year - over a minute off an undulating (the other local club actually use this course and call it a hilly!) 12.5 mile course and over 30 seconds off a proper hilly 10 - that's with a 1k TT bike and a set of Corimas over a carbon road bike and tri bars with Ksyriums. How much is down to the bike and how much is a different level of fitness is impossible to quantify but my training isn't any different and I don't go any better on chain gangs etc to when I set my previous pbs.

billybiker

Tom Butcher wrote:

Why will a deep section front only work in light cross winds ? Do you mean it will affect the handling too much ?

AAaaaargh.. Think I've opened a can of worms here! Certain wheels work better in terms of drag with differant wind directions so its not just handling but drag increases as the wind moves off the ideal. I'm afraid this is a pretty complex topic and not easilly or quickly explained.

I've only been using deep sections this year and that was something I was concerned about - but I've found that they are fine is any conditions I've ridden in so far. I wouldn't bother with a TT bike unless it had aero wheels - that's part of the package - without them it's not really a TT bike imo.

As a guide to the difference a TT bike will make - I've set pbs on both our club courses this year - over a minute off an undulating (the other local club actually use this course and call it a hilly!) 12.5 mile course and over 30 seconds off a proper hilly 10 - that's with a 1k TT bike and a set of Corimas over a carbon road bike and tri bars with Ksyriums. How much is down to the bike and how much is a different level of fitness is impossible to quantify but my training isn't any different and I don't go any better on chain gangs etc to when I set my previous pbs.

I would be very careful using this anecdotal evidence it just can't take into account all the variable, getting back to the original post, this might help,

http://redirectingat.com/?id=92X1020&xs ... 3D12703903

Tom Butcher

Yes drag may differ for different wind angles are you seriously saying that if you only had one front wheel for a TT bike you wouldn't go for what is commonly called an aero wheel - or are you saying that some designs (tri spokes etc) are more versatile than a deep section.

billybiker

Tom Butcher wrote:

Yes drag may differ for different wind angles are you seriously saying that if you only had one front wheel for a TT bike you wouldn't go for what is commonly called an aero wheel - or are you saying that some designs (tri spokes etc) are more versatile than a deep section.

Definately. A deep section front wheel is not the only "aero" wheel available, a road wheel might be termed aero, I suppose, but yes a deep section wheel ( I think mine is 90mm or so?) will stall above about 15 degrees of x-wind (thats the wind the rider feels not the actual wind) so will produce more drag than say a Tri-spoke - but I'd definately class a tri-spoke as an aero wheel. If you only have one "set-up" then it is probably best to go for something conservative although you could always fit a "standard" wheel (off you're road bike) in more extreme conditions and anyway the deep section wheels do look good!¬!! The HED web site shows graphs of most well known makes and you can get a feel for which one will work on the course you are riding. Its all a bit complex and I can't say I'm an expert was just trying to point out some of the pitfalls. That article i flagged up was very interesting with actual wind tunnel comparisons