misterwaterfall

Anecdotal advice: If you're used to riding an aggressive position anyway, being in the clip-on's won't change your power much. Before my first ever TT last year, I spent all of 2-3 hours on them, and set a 20' power PB in that first TT.

merlinextraligh

Anybody using one of the new shorter tail TT helmets? They're allegedly faster over a variety of positions, including when you drop your head.

I'm particularly interested for my stoker on the tandem, given that her normal TT position is head down, given that she doesn't need to watch where we're going (and prefers to stare at the ground, rather than my butt).

save10

TT Frame sizing - (which i no nothing about) - I'm generally riding a 53 TT road bike. In most cases is the TT bike i'm looking for going to be the same TT length? or is it longer/shorter?

Ygduf

shorter. get fit before you buy.

save10

i will def get a fitting.

merlinextraligh

It is common to go to a smaller size. My road bike has a 57.5 TT. Time trial bike has a 56mm top tube.

Going a size smaller also facilitates setting up the bike with enough drop.

But nothing's universal, so you need to see what works for you.

Breal

Does anyone TT race on their road bike? Is it allowed? I want to try some TT's but want to avoid having to buy a new bike especially in the beginning.

mattm

I don't have a TT bike, and will probably never buy one. Certainly no rule about having to have a TT bike for any TT events.

I do use clip-on aero bars, but I'm still slow as hell in TTs. Luckily I only have to do them as part of stage races.

waterrockets 

Same here. I did get the a TX state TTT championship with that setup (4 riders, two road bikes, two TT bikes).

Breal

Thanks for the info. Probably will not buy/use any clip on aero-bars until I have a done a few TT's. If and when I do, I assume you have to change your fit on the road bike for the aero bars, correct?

waterrockets 

Yep. What I did was buy a Vision TT saddle and a Profile FastForward seatpost. I got those two set up to raise the saddle slightly and send me way forward. My first round of fit was just to match my hip angle in the two positions, so forward a lot and up a little worked out (think about rotating your position, in a photograph, with your BB spindle as the pivot point, until your forearms are ~1 inch above the bar tops).

So, then I could quickly swap seatpost/saddle combos, bolt on the bars, and I was ready to go.

My current rigs have posts that allow a lot of forward motion, so it's just a matter of swapping saddles, although I haven't done a TT in a long time.

jmikami

Back when I did TTs the biggest speed gain by far was clip on aero-bars. That with no other changes to my bike really improved my speed by changing my body position - not any bike changes at first. Second thing that improved my time was getting one of those wheel builder style clip on disk wheels. Both items are under $100 and will really improve your times once you get going. The clip on bars will take a lot of practice for most people, especially with any wind, rough roads or corners and tweaking your position on the bike to take full advantage of them takes even more time. However just the position change of dropping your self to the bars and making your shoulders narrow and the support it provides all team up to add cheap and easy speed.

I found over 2 mph were added with that $200 (back then it was only $100) and I did that in just one day before the internet could help by just winging it. Based on my limited testing back then the bars were most of the speed, but the wheel cover helped a lot. This was before power meters, but the difference was very obvious as were my times. I also felt that I could both rest my upper body at times and use my back as a lever with the bars at other times to help fight off fatigue better.

All the other things like fancy wheels, helmets, full bikes and the rest will also help, but IMO, no where near as much as those first two things did and the rest cost much more.

aaronmcd

Also, clip on bar armrests can raise the cockpit. I got a minus 40 degree stem as well to keep the front end low. It still feels a bit high but it's all I can do.

I haven't done any TTs yet, but my speeds were also about 2 mph faster.

This is with the -40 stem:

Ygduf

whenever I get on my tt bike a day or two before a race I think "next time, I'm not going to wait until a day or two before my race to ride this bike"...

it's so different.

misterwaterfall

I think the same, but it seems like the power is still decent when I do race it. I'm kind of on the fence and either need to get a decent TT bike and spend some time on it, or just say screw it and not care. I like TT's though I'm not great at them so I might so how it goes spending some more time on one.

Ygduf

Yeah. I just want my power to be better than decent, and to not lose time on downhills because I'm chicken-****.

misterwaterfall

My power falls within about 5% of where it is on a roadbike so I call that good. Just stay in the aero bars everywhere and commit!

Ygduf

I'm an idiot. TriSpoke I picked up a while ago and just mounted a tire to, is wobbly.

Would you ride this? Video really doesn't do the badness justice. Damnit.

shovelhd

Typical runout is in the 0.10" range max. That's a bit more than that.

Racer Ex 

My concern would be brake rub. The tubular (?) looks to be mounted poorly as well.

PM me if you want to discuss further.

echappist

Where do people put their keys when your skin suit has no pocket?

Ygduf

like I'm going to tell you so you can steal my car.

in the vent tray underneath the windshield wiper

echappist

yikes, so i'm not the only person with this problem

what were they thinking when they made the kits? that the soigneurs would be holding onto the keys?

Ygduf

I carpool to races too, in event of injury someone can still drive. So I leave the key at the car regardless of kit, so whoever gets back first can gain access. Just find a place to hide it and go.

waterrockets 

Under the lycra, just above the leg band.