Aerodynamics / Aerodynamic Cost / Aero parts

I hurt my upper body a lot riding the 50s and that 30. I think I was more aero for them than all the early season short shit I did. Can't do that for 24hrs though. 12hrs is a half-way house.

IM Wales?

Yes, and I don't fit the stereotypical traithalump who's going to spunk £200 on a pointy hat especially when I'll be looking at a 6-7 hour bike leg.

Wasn't there a Win Tunnel episode about helmets? Ah yes:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTiyl79dTsg

60 seconds over 40km (for TT compared to standard road helmet) means under 5 minutes over 180km, thought it was going to be more than that so no point for me worrying about it.

Yeah, if you're not at the 'pointy' end of the field then most upgrades are pointless. But if everyone thought that, 80% of this forum wouldn't exist. :)

Indeed. Getting my position more aero will be most important, and making sure I can spend 6+ hours in it.

Based on what I've done already using tri-bars should take me from a 27kph average (riding on the hoods) to 32kph for the same power (roughly 65% FTP by then hopefully). That takes an hour off the cycle leg (6.5 hours down to 5.5 hours) and shouldn't screw me up.

"making sure I can spend 6+ hours in it."

This.

I think 70% is a much nicer number :)

If the tuck becomes uncomfortable, use the drops not the hoods.

Eh?

Assume we're talking road bike. I'm pretty sure it's been tested that horizontal arms on the hoods are more aero than arms out to the drops. Each rider will differ of course so go and do a set of roll down tests to see if you detect a difference.

Horizontal forarms on Hoods is best.
Worth raising the handlebars to make this comfy. Then use the drops for cruising.

@Greenbank

I find a visor a real plus for tri use. Gives me a better veiw dispite a tired upper body. I've used my Giro air attack which I really like. Thats mainly for road racing now though. For TT/flat tris I have a Bambino copy. It has panels that you can screw off. So on a hot day you could remove the top panel, for ventilation, and still have Your ears covered. My ears are basically air brakes. I should just keep my swim hat on under a road helmet.

http://www.gubchina.com/_d277034801.htm

Horizontal forarms on Hoods is best

Except when it's not.

Hmm I thought there was a Win Tunnel video that dispelled that, showing a marginal increase from hoods to drops. It's a female rider in the video maybe? One of the older ones. But I'll stand corrected.

It's a female rider in the video maybe? One of the older ones

beryl..?!

I changed my road position years ago based on tunnel data for hoods vs. drops.

The thing with this change is, it's much more tiring on the arms riding with horizontal forearms and if you actually get your back flatter/lower on the drops - reducing your frontal area, you could be more aero on the drops. That's why individuals need to test the two positions and decide.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rvJ-6Cgnz8

"
Tops to Hoods is worth 90sec over 40km
Hoods to Drops is worth 65sec over 40km
Drops to Tuck is worth 180sec over 40km
"

So Hoods to Tuck is worth 245sec over 40km.

In a wind tunnel. I don't fink so.

Mmm... okay

Edit: yea that's possibly the video @Greenbank. I thought there was a tri video too with a female rider, with similar stuff.

His 'hoods' position isn't as aggressive as mine - ie. with flat forearms. He may as well be riding on the tops still. This is why is better to test.

His 'aero tuck' position with his arms resting on the tops is more like my hoods position which was faster than tops, hoods and drops.

So, basically what I said above :P

Completely individual. People have different shaped backs, different width shoulders, hips. Then you have variations in bar width, height, hood position etc. There's no rule, and you certainly can't take time savings from one rider and apply them to yourself.

I'd say fastest position on a road bike is anything that looks reasonable that you can hold well and sustain decent power for the duration of whatever you're trying to race.

I should just keep my swim hat on under a road helmet.

#sotri

I wear glasses and can't wear contact lenses so I'll be using some close fitting sunglasses like the Optilabs Rapide (reminds me, need a new pair with updated prescription and photochromatic lenses in case I'm still wearing them when it gets dark). I usually use these for skiing as they're close enough to avoid snowblindness.

Sure, I was just transcribing what the video said for that person to avoid people having to watch it all to get the numbers out.

http://road.cc/content/news/133598-want-ride-faster-hunker-down-hoods
Is some other research.
Hoods + horizontal forearms win.
We had this discussion when this came out in 2014 as well.

In a wind tunnel. I don't fink so.

whoosh parrot

Oh, one of those jokes you have to explain to people. Yeah, I've heard of those.

I used to ride With a super low front end, mainly in the drops. Basically because I'm relavtively flexible, have decent core strength, and good upper body strength. So putting more weight through my arms was fine. A 20hr sportive taught me that the nerves in my hands disagree. But thats an Extreme example.

I've set the Felt up for flat forearm riding. My back is in much the same Place. I just have less of my fat arms in the Wind. So I'm calling faster.

To be honest I mainly changed this to allow for a combination of road and tri (With aero Extensions) set-ups With minimal faff inbetween. But it seems to work well.

I'm mostly using the flat forearm position to bridge back to th Group of skinny feckers that dropped me on the last Climb (every fucking race). So I dont really need to hold it. Tis Nice to use my lack of height to its maxium effect in pacelines though.

FWIW the test rider was me here:

https://twitter.com/xavierdisley/status/538663678925873153