Aero/Gains Thread

SoliD · 20 Feb 2017 at 10:38

touch said:
You dont need to change anything on the bike to get your head lower, just dont bend your neck as much.

Sharpie over the top of the ones you've got tbh.

True! Just need to practise, pictures may be a bit of a misguide as there was a roundabout right there (can see the sign in the side on picture)

xdcx · 20 Feb 2017 at 10:40

Have you seen my shoulders? You are like He-Man compared

Yeah as Touch says you don't need adjust anything for the head height, just stare at the ground, you don't need look where you are going and get the hands raised = free watts. In truth though I thought a little saddle raise would result in you bending slightly more to your extensions and would naturally bring your head and shoulders down a little.

SoliD · 20 Feb 2017 at 14:44

xdcx said:
Have you seen my shoulders? You are like He-Man compared
Yeah as Touch says you don't need adjust anything for the head height, just stare at the ground, you don't need look where you are going and get the hands raised = free watts. In truth though I thought a little saddle raise would result in you bending slightly more to your extensions and would naturally bring your head and shoulders down a little.

HAHA, need to drop head and back, don't want my pointy tail up in the air. Will see what I can do re position. I worry with raising my saddle as I don't want to cut off my hip circulation by rotating too far forward/down.

My club mate had the new aerocoach armrest and saddle, which make him really narrow, he reckoned he was putting on 20w less than last year and still won yesterday with the changes as they were the first time he'd ridden with them.

xdcx · 20 Feb 2017 at 15:08

SoliD said:
HAHA, need to drop head and back, don't want my pointy tail up in the air. Will see what I can do re position. I worry with raising my saddle as I don't want to cut off my hip circulation by rotating too far forward/down.

My club mate had the new aerocoach armrest and saddle, which make him really narrow, he reckoned he was putting on 20w less than last year and still won yesterday with the changes as they were the first time he'd ridden with them.

It is my birthday tomorrow and rumour has it that Aerocoach arm rests shall be unwrapped

I'll let you know what I make of them of course because opinion seems very mixed. Local bloke here bought some and sold them before even using them as he thought the workmanship versus cost was shocking and he didn't like them..... been a few for sale un-raced on TTF too.
AXIS saddle does look good, I was going to get one but come across that brand new Arione K5 for £35 on eBay and I am very happy with it!

I made some tweaks to position after the previous pics the other day. Raised saddle slightly & moved extensions out an inch.... Comfiest I have ever been on the TT bike..... I done 30mins tempo pace and ended up producing 2watts more for 30mins than I did for my 10mile PB last year. HR was 15 BPM lower than race pace.

Thomas. PLease. · 20 Feb 2017 at 15:58

I've got the arm rests, I like them, although I've already removed the decals and they'll be getting some black paint at some point. Functionally they're comfortable to base your elbow on, but I do have mild bruising as the notches on the sides are fairly vicious. Happy to put up with it though. Did a SPOCO 18 on Sunday and they were largely comfy. Far more aero and secure than the previous 3T ones I had.

Waiting on a trispoke to be delivered this week, then I'm toying with trading my bar tape for skateboard trip tape. Need to work out a better way of mounting my di2 junction box too. Anyone know if junction A and B can be switched around?

SoliD · 20 Feb 2017 at 17:15

Thomas. PLease. said:
I've got the arm rests, I like them, although I've already removed the decals and they'll be getting some black paint at some point. Functionally they're comfortable to base your elbow on, but I do have mild bruising as the notches on the sides are fairly vicious. Happy to put up with it though. Did a SPOCO 18 on Sunday and they were largely comfy. Far more aero and secure than the previous 3T ones I had.

Waiting on a trispoke to be delivered this week, then I'm toying with trading my bar tape for skateboard trip tape. Need to work out a better way of mounting my di2 junction box too. Anyone know if junction A and B can be switched around?

I think it's pretty much agnostic tbh. As long as it's all connected. I am gonna be drilling my extensions so I can run the cable straight out behind the base bar riser/connectors and then straight into the stem box.

Minor aero gains.

BennyC · 22 Feb 2017 at 15:46

Are there any resources available to compare wheelsets with regards to efficiency?

I've a Speedmax CF 9.0 SL on order (inb4 it will never arrive

) and want to see how the Reynolds Strike stack up against other sets. Presumably they must perform reasonably well for Canyon to spec them.

Just that a 808 & 404 Firecrest have come up locally with little use for just shy of £1k although in reality it is probably about 4-5 months too early as they'll just be sat around until the Speedmax never arrives

Shamrock · 22 Feb 2017 at 15:58

There's some stuff here but I don't think there is a comprehensive aero wheel shoot-out anywhere.

http://www.aeroweenie.com/data.html

I don't think you can go wrong with a 404/808 combo and potentially a rear disc cover.

Shamrock · 22 Feb 2017 at 16:02

stupid new forum

SoliD · 22 Feb 2017 at 16:15

Difference between 80mm+ fronts is minimal talking 2-3w at most, as long as the Tyre matches up to the wheel (ie no bulging etc).

BennyC · 22 Feb 2017 at 16:16

Shamrock said:
There's some stuff here but I don't think there is a comprehensive aero wheel shoot-out anywhere.

http://www.aeroweenie.com/data.html

I don't think you can go wrong with a 404/808 combo and potentially a rear disc cover.

Thanks will take a look. I travelled 4-5 hour round trip last time to pick up wheels so 30 minutes down the road is far more appealing even if it is a little early...

Edit: Was just after figures or opinions if the Firecrest is a worthy enough jump from the Reynold Strike to bother changing. Apart from aesthetics of course.

touch · 22 Feb 2017 at 16:22

I think the problem is that different wheels are going to perform differently in different frames and with different tyres on them so you're unlikely to find and hard science to tell you how much better they are. You'll find somebody saying on a forum somewhere that buying firecrests made them 15mph faster.

...but also somebody saying that buying firecrests ruined their life and made their dog die.

Shamrock · 22 Feb 2017 at 16:24

BennyC said:
Edit: Was just after figures or opinions if the Firecrest is a worthy enough jump from the Reynold Strike to bother changing. Apart from aesthetics of course.

I have 808s on my road bike and in the past have had Reynolds Strikes on the TT bike (now have Reynolds Aero 90 front and a Reynolds Disc). The main considerations besides aero performance which I can't quantify (as touch says) would be handling in the wind and braking performance. Anecdotally, I'd say the Reynolds perform worse when it comes to braking in my opinion but for cross-wind handling there isn't much in it. You'd expect the deeper Zipps to be worse but I can't say I've had problems and I'm fairly light. I wouldn't take any deep rims out in hurricane winds though!

Zipps obviously win for bling though. Pics to help you decide.

BennyC · 22 Feb 2017 at 19:50

touch said:
I think the problem is that different wheels are going to perform differently in different frames and with different tyres on them so you're unlikely to find and hard science to tell you how much better they are. You'll find somebody saying on a forum somewhere that buying firecrests made them 15mph faster.

...but also somebody saying that buying firecrests ruined their life and made their dog die.

Ha, I know what you mean. A colleague was telling me how a different local petrol station got her an extra 50 miles to a tank

Shamrock said:
I have 808s on my road bike and in the past have had Reynolds Strikes on the TT bike (now have Reynolds Aero 90 front and a Reynolds Disc). The main considerations besides aero performance which I can't quantify (as touch says) would be handling in the wind and braking performance. Anecdotally, I'd say the Reynolds perform worse when it comes to braking in my opinion but for cross-wind handling there isn't much in it. You'd expect the deeper Zipps to be worse but I can't say I've had problems and I'm fairly light. I wouldn't take any deep rims out in hurricane winds though!

Zipps obviously win for bling though. Pics to help you decide.

Thanks, I guess if I can get them for a reasonable price I can ride both and then make up my mind without losing much if anything. Agreed on the bling #want.

SoliD · 23 Feb 2017 at 06:57

Hed3 up on tt forums if anyone still looking.

Thomas. PLease. · 23 Feb 2017 at 08:15

Typical I miss out on a well priced one. Ended up ordering the PDQ type one last week. Should get it tomorrow. No events for a while as I'm off to Spain for a week on Sunday. Next TT isn't until 18th March

xdcx · 23 Feb 2017 at 08:28

Benny, I'd run your Speedmax on Reynolds until you get used to the bike and putting out power in aero position etc then worry about upgrading and changing parts.
I am still TT'ing on 40mm FFWD's front and back and biding time for research and a good deal. 404/808 I wouldn't bother.... 808 for the front worth a buy if cheap but I'd bide time and wait on a decent disc coming up for the rear. If it's coming with fairly deep Reynolds a side step wheel wise is a not worth the hassle/money.

I missed out on a FFWD disc the other week from a local bloke which I am still gutted about.... then thought I had a good shout on a Zipp 900 but it's 3 years old and 10 speed

BennyC · 24 Feb 2017 at 21:44

xdcx said:
Benny, I'd run your Speedmax on Reynolds until you get used to the bike and putting out power in aero position etc then worry about upgrading and changing parts.
I am still TT'ing on 40mm FFWD's front and back and biding time for research and a good deal. 404/808 I wouldn't bother.... 808 for the front worth a buy if cheap but I'd bide time and wait on a decent disc coming up for the rear. If it's coming with fairly deep Reynolds a side step wheel wise is a not worth the hassle/money.

I missed out on a FFWD disc the other week from a local bloke which I am still gutted about.... then thought I had a good shout on a Zipp 900 but it's 3 years old and 10 speed

Ta, I planned to upgrade the groupset to DA in due course so downgraded the speedmax order to the CF 8.0 and will use the 105 bits for a commuter & go and see the 404/808 shortly.

Am I opening a can of worms asking about crank length?

I've a 31/32" inseam and ride 172.5 currently comfortably on my Emonda but did start out on 170 with my first bike and don't really recall being able to tell much difference between the two :confused:

... is the consensus that crank length is similar to frame size, in that to some degree if unsure or between the two smaller is better?

SoliD · 25 Feb 2017 at 08:05

BennyC said:
Ta, I planned to upgrade the groupset to DA in due course so downgraded the speedmax order to the CF 8.0 and will use the 105 bits for a commuter & go and see the 404/808 shortly.

Am I opening a can of worms asking about crank length? I've a 31/32" inseam and ride 172.5 currently comfortably on my Emonda but did start out on 170 with my first bike and don't really recall being able to tell much difference between the two ... is the consensus that crank length is similar to frame size, in that to some degree if unsure or between the two smaller is better?

Get di2 the benefits on a tt bike are definitely worth it. Also there is a lot of theory shorter cranks are better for efficiency.

One More Solo · 25 Feb 2017 at 12:45

I've got 165mm cranks which have helped my hip pain in aero position as the angle is less closed at the top for the same given saddle height. The flip side of that is 175mm cranks would mean I could drop my saddle by a cm and be lower overall. I reckon longer cranks would be marginally more aero but a lot less comfortable (YMMV).