Time Trial / Time Trialling / TT

Got latex inner tubes?

I'll happily trade some performance, for protection.

Classic!!

inCycle: Tony Martin's Specialized Shiv TT - YouTube

But yes get latex tubes. Big difference.

Ha! I doubt I'd benefit much from the extra speed of the Supersonics, but flats on the way to/during/on the way from a race would definitely take the shine off.

However, I was going to get Supersonic tubes: thin enough to be near as supple as latex, no?

No, get latex. Same price.

However, I was going to get Supersonic tubes: thin enough to be near as supple as latex, no?

No, and they are very delicate, whereas latex tubes are actually quite resistant to foreign object damage, even though they seem very susceptible to manufacturing defects.

Anybody tried the Challenge tubes?

Not yet, why don't you be a guinea pig? Quite a large range in sizes for each tube compared to Michelin.

A clubmate has switched to Vittoria latex tubes after 5 successive blowouts with Michelins, anyone used them?

I've got some Vittorias in stock, but I haven't used up all the Michelins so I haven't tried them yet.

Are there any numbers or tester approved musings between a normal road helmet, the aero road options (air attack, casco offerings) and full pointies?

It's specifically for IM but I'm going to be using various distance tts as training over the next few months, But I'm concerned that the full pointies will be overly hot.

In terms of numbers, full pointy is best, but exactly which one is something you need to determine by testing. The same goes for the heat problem - only you can tell whether it's a problem for you, and it will depend on the conditions. The whole point of riding TTs as training for triathlon is that you can ride loads of them for the price of one tri, so you can experiment without feeling that one little error is going to piss away your £100 entry fee for nothing :-)

A fair point but the helmets at prohibitively expensive to try out as the loss for a used helmet is pretty significant...

In that case, just buy a Bell Javelin, loads of people like them and quite a few go fast with them, can usually be had for under £100, often much less. Once you've worked out how hot it can get before it becomes annoying, just switch to your usual vented road helmet if the bike leg is going to be run in those conditions.

I've never found my pointy hat to be excessively hot in any race ever.

IMAT a few years ago was sizzling hot and I was regularly dousing myself with water (and coke when the volunteers passed me the wrong bottle) but I never felt the helmet was a problem.

I'd go for whichever pointy hat is most comfortable/cheapest.

Giro Advantage.

Given the fairly small differences between them, the one you can get on fastest in T1 might be the best :-)

For shorter distances I'd agree but he wants it for an ironman and so marginal gains in transition are going to be very marginal. Comfort comfort comfort especially for his first one (i think).

Comfort comfort comfort

But asking the internet to recommend a comfortable helmet is about as much use as asking for a comfortable saddle.

True.

Slvlss... the most expensive one will be best :-)

Slvlss... the most protective one will be best :-)

I did some work for the Beijing Olympics on aero helmets for the triathletes and how it would affect temperature - even in Beijing heat the convective cooling was enough to mitigate static temperature increases, so you should always wear an aero helmet unless you're going to be climbing for >8min at a time at low speed during your event. They all wore the road helmets anyway ....

Helmets are very individual, here is some data to show the potential differences for one rider:

Xav

How would they compare to your standard Giro Ionos/Atmos?

The aero helmets would be more aero

Just the kind of invaluable, professional insider knowledge this forum needs more of.

It wasn't tested for that rider so I can't give a definitive answer.

Actually I think I have some data on a Bell Solar which puts it about 15-17sec slower than the Casco