What TT kit makes the most difference?

Gilgamesh

Just thinking back to last week's TT, I had bought both a skin suit and mini TT bars on eBay after researching some info on this web site amongst others, and wondered what other people's experiences were.
What makes / has made the biggest difference to your TT times, aside from more training?!
Both items are now back re-listed on the site.

tduckett

Rider position makes the most difference by far. Think of the frontal area of bike and rider. Look at a rider head on, its all rider moving air out of the way very little bike.
You can have the sleekest bike in the world with disc wheels and concealed brakes etc, etc but if your position is rubbish you are going to use a lot more watts pushing your brick of a body through the air.
It can take a lot of time and effort to get the right position but its free! (unless you hire a wind tunnel obviously)

wilburtrump

yup, get yourself down on the clip ons and stay there... if you watch wiggo's final TdF TT from last year you'll see he barely comes off the extensions for the whole thing, keeping an aero position for as much time as possible and just powering away. Hard work on the core. I've only done a couple of 10s, but have taken 2 mins off my pb with a bike that allows me to get in that position. And a pointy hat. They make a bit of difference too, you barely feel the headwind...

Gilgamesh

In the non-scientific method I was using, a speedo, I produce less speed in the drops, in fact, my legs feel like they're working against me a little, that was borne out in the speeds I managed.
So I tried the mini TT bars, and found the few rides I used them for, I was a tad uncertain about my stability.
liked the skin suit though!
My elbows seem a little splayed, any other thoughts?
HERE

wilburtrump

When you get on the extensions you do lose a lot of control, so you'd come off them for tight corners and get on the drops. Other than that, practise makes perfect. I had a bike for which made a big difference too. My saddle was about 2cm too low, so now not only am I more aero, I don't get sore quads either and I seem to be going faster. And as with everything else in life, practice makes perfect.

tduckett

Agree with all that Will. Tim, compare your picture with this, which is ultimately what you are aiming at. lower and longer.Think about the difference in frontal area and how much air you have to move out of the way. and she could stay in that position for hours!

Gilgamesh

I was doing just that, on the picture sharing site, I was comparing the club TT bike riders, their body positions, forward on TT bars, the geometry the bike puts you in and then with my image and other like me on road bikes.
Having had a bike fitting in January, moving the saddle 8mm higher and back a tad has made a huge difference, moving the power away from the lower down on the quad muscles (where I have the "tear") to the middle of the quads.
Anyhow, a vast difference all 'round in position on the bike.
Cheers.

wilburtrump

If you want to see good form, get behind Mr. Duckett when he's on his Fuji track bike. Most natural looking rider I've been on a club run with... Just make sure he's not wearing his old shorts (sorry Tim, forgot to mention that they're wearing a bit thin last time I was out with you).

Gilgamesh

I confess to spending too much time looking at saddle heights and the form of other riders!

A point highlighted in the bike fitting was my pedal stroke being more of a semi-stomp down in the pedal stroke. This was illustrated with a pc generated graph, which should have been an oval / egg shape of my pedalling, instead it was more like a monkey nut with a small waist line, illustrating my poor pedal stroke; something I try to work on when out riding.

Now, of course I see these things in others but keep stumm, 'cept once when I thought one rider was too high in the saddle which turned out to be the case. Carmello sorted it out.

geoffg

spent some time with development bod from Australia at a cycle show...he demonstrated the latest in computerised mechanical adjustment of bike position. His machine recorded watts generated according to adjusted position. Aero position aside, and I completely agree with Tim...lower is better aero.....the actual figures varied according to age. He found that, shall we say, "the more mature rider" had less flexibility...no surprise there mostly....they therefore couldn't deliver the power as well when fully aero. A slightly more open position...not necessarily more upright...but one where the leg power could be fully developed was better. It more than made up for the lower drag of full aero.
Worth thinking about guys. You especially Tim, woulld probably fit the profile and it would seem from your post that you are losing power when fully aero. it's not a one position fits all solution. Being able to deliver full power with the least strain and most comfort may be the right solution.

Lee H

interesting little thead. I've been monitoring my own "perfromances" this year and see what hardware related tweaks do to times. I dont have enough data points to really draw any firm conclusions yet, but in the 4 TT's I've done so far

1st CCA 10 : 25m 45s: TT bike (No disc wheel), seat at no 5, normal helmet
2nd CCA 10: 26m 09s: TT bike (No disc wheel), seat at no 4 (higher), normal helmet
Hitchin nomads 25: 1hr 10mins : TT bike (No disc wheel), seat at no 4 pointy helmet & lighter, slightly aero wheels
3rd CCA 10: 25m 17s: TT bike (No disc wheel), seat at no 3 (higher), flipped stem over (lower down) pointy helmet & lighter, slightly aero wheels

you could argue that i should change only one aspect per week, but that would be boring and I dont have the patience for that!

the fabled "aero" position is critical. the photo of me on the "25" shows how un-aero I was. Thats why i pushed the saddle height up and the stem down, to try and get a flatter back and it seemed to work on the last club 10.

I guess what you cant control though is the weather (wind) and ones fitness. No matter how aero the bike, you still gotta pedal the thing.

My PB for the club 10 by the way is 24m 45s, done 2 years ago on a normal road bike! you cant halt the ever advancing years, but that doesn't mean you should stop trying!!!

Lee

geoffg

Lee..think our Richard at 72/3 yrs did a 23 something some weeks ago....age doesn't seem to be a totally limiting factor :-)

tduckett

Funnily enough, Mark W mentioned my shorts yesterday....i had no idea, sorry about that everyone very poor form. Sadly they are my favourite shorts, now confined to turbo only (so should last another 50 yrs)

Gilgamesh

Nice ar....!

jackie Field

Tim

sorry to hear about the shorts

RIP