Aero Priorities

“What is most important?” - From what I have read and the aero data that I have seen I can make the following list of priorities for a time trial bicycle and the rider. These numbers are fully debatable and represent only my opinion. They were gained from various sources and in most cases represent a rider at 30MPH over a 40K course.

Time savings for these upgrades over 40K:

1. Drop Bars >> Riding integrated Aerobars - 4 Minutes
2. Shorts/Jersey >> Skin Suit - 2 Minutes
3. “Box Style” 32 spoke wheels >> Aero Wheels (deep front, disc rear) - 2 Minutes
5. Round Tube Frame >> Aero Frame/Fork - 1 Minute
4. Standard Road Helmet >> Aero Helmet (Giro) - 30 seconds
6. Adding Shoe Covers - 10 Seconds

Time saved over 40K with all the upgrades listed above: 9 minutes 40 seconds!
Now you see why being aero is important.

Aero Wheels - Using aero wheels (vs. 32 spoke box rim wheels) can save you two minutes over a 40K time trial. The fastest wheels are a deep dish front (Zipp 404, HED 3, HED Deep, Mavic Carbone) paired with a disc rear (Zipp, Corima, Renn, HED). Aero wheels definitely make a substantial difference in reducing aerodynamic drag. They increase your sail area helping to push you along.

Aerobars - Aerobars are the #1 most important feature of any time trial bicycle. Integrated one-piece aerobars are more aerodynamic than clip on bars. Wind tunnel tests show that using aerobars can save 4 minutes over a 40K time trial course. Currently there is an abundance of aerobars on the market, and the best aerobars made today are U.S., namely Profile Design, Syntace, HED and Vision Tech. The latter, HED and Vision Tech, are some of the best designed and likely the most aerodynamic aerobars made today. For clip on aerobars, Syntace makes the C2 which is a triathlon favorite and is very light and adjustable.

Aero Frames - Many frames on the market claim to be aero. The most important feature that a frame can offer you is the fit, followed by performance and comfort. Frame aerodynamics is likely one of the least important features on a time trial bicycle. When selecting a frame, fit and comfort are priorities. How do you know if a frame is aero? Start with the tube shapes of the bicycle. Are the tubes foil shaped? Is the downtube narrow and deep? Is there a rear wheel cut-out? Seat post? These are some items to consider. Some companies that produce aero time trial frames are (in no particular order) Trek, Litespeed, Cervelo, Santa Cruz, Yaqui, Javelin, Kestrel, Felt, Softride, Corima, Lotus, Elite, Quintana Roo, Aegis, Pinarello and Colnago.

I personally have experienced the aero advantage and time improvement from using the proper equipment.
My latest time trial time at Lowes Motor Speedway was a 24:29. That’s a minute and half less than the previous time while riding my Scott S20 road bike. This was only a ten mile time trial event.

My new equipment consisted of the following:

Cervelo PS2L - 54cm
Vision Tech Aero Base bar with Profile clip on style aero bars.
American Classic 420 Wheelset.
Skin Suit provided by Cool Breeze Cyclery
Time Trial Helmet borrowed from Michael Byrd - TheBikeRacer.com

I was a bit shakey in the aero bars. It was a little weird steering around people. Hopefully by the next time trial event I can get a few practice rounds in. The other thing is that I still have room for improvement on my wheelset. As the season progresses I should be able to experiment with new equipment. More Money .

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This entry was posted on Monday, May 5th, 2008 at 2:17 pm and is filed under cycling news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.