Fixed Time Trial Bikes

First outing with the bike today. Very enjoyable ride around the local track. Apart from replacing the shallow training wheels and tyres what should be the first upgrade? (The too-large, heavy and un-aero frame will be replaced in the near future)

Inline and longer stem (hips don't lie)

I imagine you could get the front end a fair bit lower?

Nah

Aye, I could invert the stem, but ideally I need a smaller frame IMO as it's slammed. This was just a very cheap find from a few years ago.

I've used a 17° stem flipped for mine, which does help get down (though this photo doesn't show too well - I'll get a better one next time I put the tt bars back on it). I'm also gonna slam the stem next time I use it as per advice from the TT magician that is @borek

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An inline post would also be handy but £££ I don't have right now

an adjustable stem will help you get properly low (even with a Seta HT)

Yep those System EX adjustable ones are well handy for getting low on a bike with a bigger than ideal head tube. I expected it to flex a load when I used one but found it to be surprisingly stiff.

Also, seeing that pic reminds me that I need to up my aero rear light game.

I used to use an adjustable stem when I TT'd on my Vig.

I need to up my aero rear light game

I just bought a 3T copy off of eBay for £12 posted. Will let you know how it fares.

trying to find an aero inline seatpost

The jury is out on whether "aero" seatposts are any more aero than round ones anyway. The proprietary ones on serious TT bikes are obviously a no-choice item, but stuff like USE, Alpina Wing and Giant have been known to test worse than round posts. Not sure if it's the generally horrible leading edge profile of those posts or some interaction with the thighs.

Would they be ok for sprinting? Or you would end up with the bars in your hands and the stem in you teeth?

I'm heavier than @Borek and it never moved on me

Good. I'll give something similar a try

Has anyone posted that question to the 'win tunnel' on youtube? maybe Specialized are running out of ideas and could test for us?

There's no way they're going to test it, their aero bikes come with matching seat posts. It's probably rider-dependent too, if it's about a thigh interaction.

they are fine for standing starts on 100"+ gears, admittedly I probably put much less force than most through a stem but never had any issues.

Ok finally got a better pic of my present setup. I'm pretty happy with it so far. May well slam the stem further but this position is pretty comfortable and still gets me down quite far. An in-line SP is right up on the list though!

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Try it with the layback first, you don't necessarily need to change to an inline.

@altyris

I just bought a 3T copy off of eBay for £12 posted. Will let you know how it fares.

http://pages.ebay.com/link/?nav=item.view&alt=web&id=271795555830

224g. I'll be hacking off a good 8-10cm of it as well.

I read this thread every few weeks to get ideas for a fixed TT build and keep coming away with more questions than answers every time!

Job 1 is sorting out the geo of where the bars should be on a road bike. Then I can buy a track frame based on the geo I've established. If conventional wisdom is to have a TT frame a size smaller than a road bike, is the below logic correct?:

1. My road bike has a 58cm top tube
   
2. A potential TT frame would have a top tube of about 55/56cm
   
3. In terms of fore/aft position, the aero bar pads on a TT bike generally sit just above the crossbar of the base bar
   
4. Therefore, on a road bike with a longer top tube, I should start with those pads about an inch behind the cross bar of the (drop) handlebar and play with them from there
   

Not sure about the whole size smaller thing. Pad position doesn't really matter too much, you can adjust reach with your extensions.

About TT length it all depends on the saddle-bar drop, with a lower handlebar-pads position, you'll need a longer TT than what you usually get on your road bike.