TT: How far over front wheel before it gets dangerous?
burnthesheep
Posts: 675
I'm trying to stretch the limits of my TT setup on the road bike. Limits exist.
I'd rather not die from making a poor geometry decision. Right now, it's appearing that I'm super aero but totally compromising my body geometry in the process at a huge power cost. For 25.5mph in a 10 miler I'm only at about 225w. I'm short a full 40 to 60w from the road position.
I've got a few choices to fix it:
-shorten the crank (but I have a left crank power meter)
-move the torso forward (further over the front wheel), with a stem change or ski/armrest adjustment
-lower the seat (less aero)
-raise the stack (less aero)
-try a fork from a Giant TT bike if it shifts the front hub forward and has the tucked brakes
I feel the wattage vs. mph is pretty good right now. But, the power output as a ratio of my road setup is abysmal. Horrid. Training in position could help, but I feel setup can go a long way too.
How far of having your weight over the front wheel gets into the dangerous area? Right now my elbows rest right in line with the steering tube. Is another 2 inches forward pushing it too far?
With this in mind, it's short TT's. 25min or less once a month. So, comfort be damned at cost of power output and aero.
I'm researching if the angle from the forks meeting the steerer area on a Trinity is advantageous. If I could get one cheap enough and it has the similar mounting as the Propel for the brakes......it would improve the handling while allowing you to move forward.
TT bike is the answer, but that won't happen for probably a year.
Budget: I can afford to grab a cheap stem, a used fork, etc.....
I'd rather not die from making a poor geometry decision. Right now, it's appearing that I'm super aero but totally compromising my body geometry in the process at a huge power cost. For 25.5mph in a 10 miler I'm only at about 225w. I'm short a full 40 to 60w from the road position.
I've got a few choices to fix it:
-shorten the crank (but I have a left crank power meter)
-move the torso forward (further over the front wheel), with a stem change or ski/armrest adjustment
-lower the seat (less aero)
-raise the stack (less aero)
-try a fork from a Giant TT bike if it shifts the front hub forward and has the tucked brakes
I feel the wattage vs. mph is pretty good right now. But, the power output as a ratio of my road setup is abysmal. Horrid. Training in position could help, but I feel setup can go a long way too.
How far of having your weight over the front wheel gets into the dangerous area? Right now my elbows rest right in line with the steering tube. Is another 2 inches forward pushing it too far?
With this in mind, it's short TT's. 25min or less once a month. So, comfort be damned at cost of power output and aero.
I'm researching if the angle from the forks meeting the steerer area on a Trinity is advantageous. If I could get one cheap enough and it has the similar mounting as the Propel for the brakes......it would improve the handling while allowing you to move forward.
TT bike is the answer, but that won't happen for probably a year.
Budget: I can afford to grab a cheap stem, a used fork, etc.....
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Comments
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Then let's nix the fit part and pare it down to just the geometry/handling question if topic content is an issue.
Very simple, weight and distance from the contact patch of the front tire. What's too much.0 -
Dunno, last man to try it out, never made it back.
My pen won't write on the screen0 -
Imposter wrote:
That’s a great shout to. Read that thread op. Some very good tt’ers posting before they got really good iirc. So they learnt a lot and things have moved on quite considerably imo so if you can face the snarky remarks ask your question on the to forum0 -
It doesn’t sound like you’re very far forward at the moment (would be easier to tell with pictures), so unlikely to be a problem, but it may not give you the fix you’re looking for either. Ideally, better to shift your weight rearwards and lower to the top tube.0
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I'd imagine it's a pretty tricky question to answer without knowing how heavy you are - if you have a small head, little arms and narrow shoulders it's probably fine, but you should perhaps be wary if you have a carbon steerer.0
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OP, post some photos of your position, until you do you will only get guesswork.0
