Ten mile TT Road bike build

Bozabyka

I have a Caad9 that I use for club tens fitted with tribars.
I can average 20 mph on a 10mile tt.
I use the bike for club runs sportives and chain gangs.
What upgrades might be worth considering?
I am thinking of Summer wheels, perhaps Planet X 50mm aero wheels or would non aero be more versatile?
Or an aero helmet?
What do you suggest?

napoleond

Nowt. Just keep doing what you're doing but do it faster.

lawrences

A Skinsuit and a helmet would be the best bang for buck.

Sir Velo

Depends on what you want to achieve.

If it is to go faster on a road bike with road set up then as Nap says just practice and try and go faster/improve.

If it is to go as fast as you can for 10mile and have the money then a dedicated timetrial bike, pointy helmet, skinsuit, etc.

If it is something in between then fit tribars, aero wheels, pointy helmet according to your budget.

SV

simon_masterson

If you're averaging 20mph on a 10, best to upgrade yourself.

I'd expect a skinsuit, pointy hat and shoe covers to make the most difference, though.

Mountaindancer

Save your money and spend more time training to get that speed up. When you get to 25mph then consider upgrades.

pilot_pete

As mountain dancer says. Not being demeaning, but most club riders could average over 20mph for a ten on their unmodified road bike. The biggest aero gain would be tri bars if correctly set up, but you already have these, so to be honest you need to become stronger which is a combination of power to weight (possible diet modifications) but mainly training.

If you ride regularly (3 to 4 times a week) keep a good number of base miles clocking up but start to put in some faster rides and interval sessions where you really push yourself and get that heart rate thumping! You should then see some gains and your 10 time will start to drop.

Good luck.

PP

cougie

I'd not spend £100+ on an aero helmet to use just for TT's unless you're at the pointy end.
At 20mph - its all about the training. Spend money on stuff that makes you get out and get the miles in.

A turbo and a powermeter would help most of all - but only if you can be bothered using them.

Clip on tribars are the best option for you - they'll bump you up to 21mph for the same effort as on the hoods.

ugo.santalucia

If you average 20 mph over 10 miles, it means you are hovering around 30 minutes... there is a hell of a lot of improvement YOU can do to that time, before considering spending money. ANYONE in good health can get to around 27 minutes with a bit of training and MOST will get to a high 25/low 26 with more specific training and hard work. At that point you might have reached your potential and can start considering marginal gains brought in by material.
Moral is: equipment can help you climb the Hillary step, but first you have climb the rest of the damn Everest to get there

smoggysteve

I would say get a bike fit. Not only for TT but to set you up generally. You could find big improvements just from making yourself a more efficient cyclist.

drlodge

I would add...if you keep with the bike as it is, any improvement to your time will be due to your increased fitness and not confused with time improvement due to equipment. You will therefore see real gains. Once your times have flattened off, then consider equipment. Then you can see what improvement to your times said equipment has.

nweststeyn

What they all said ^^

My 10TT average time is about 29 minutes on a bog standard steel road bike with no modifications. That's not great - but I've always been better on longer rides. I am wanting to improve my 10TT time and I've already started feeling the benefit of doing short, sharp efforts in training and working on my own body position on the existing bike. I've made a deal with myself that once I do a 25 minute 10TT time, I can consider spending money on new kit.

themekon

A while ago one of the fastest Time Trialists in the country told a club member. Train to knock the minutes off, spend to knock the seconds off.

ugo.santalucia

themekon wrote:

A while ago one of the fastest Time Trialists in the country told a club member. Train to knock the minutes off, spend to knock the seconds off.

That pretty much sums it up

simon_masterson

Pilot Pete wrote:

As mountain dancer says. Not being demeaning, but most club riders could average over 20mph for a ten on their unmodified road bike. The biggest aero gain would be tri bars if correctly set up, but you already have these, so to be honest you need to become stronger which is a combination of power to weight (possible diet modifications) but mainly training.

If you ride regularly (3 to 4 times a week) keep a good number of base miles clocking up but start to put in some faster rides and interval sessions where you really push yourself and get that heart rate thumping! You should then see some gains and your 10 time will start to drop.

Good luck.

PP

This - I did a 10 on Boxing Day last and even after the seasonal excesses, I hadn't done any cycling that month and nothing you could call 'training' for a few months beforehand, and frankly plodded round. Still averaged 20mph. It's such a short distance, and any gains only represent seconds anyway.