Help winning the national TT title

Back by popular demand, the general all-things Road forum!

Moderator: robbosmans

dereksmalls
Posts: 2305
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: New Zealand

by dereksmalls

Didn't Chris Boardman fit himself in front of a mirror and side on? Worked for him with no wind tunnel?

cyclenutnz
Posts: 854
Joined: Tue Jul 18, 2006 5:18 am
Location: Cambridge, New Zealand
Contact:

by cyclenutnz

Would be looking to change saddle to encourage pelvis to rotate forward - effectively lengthening torso to allow a little more room to manoeuvre between elbows-knees. Need more support from bars to facilitate shrugging. Sort those out and going lower will be fairly easy (in terms of body tolerating it).

Best thing you could fabricate would be a stem system to get replace the stupid tri-angle they have. Failing that - there is room to go lower with lower stack bars - Brezzas are quite tall (over 50mm min pad stack).
Pin number lower.
Selector is often not the fastest option.
Lose shoe covers? Alphamantis testing is showing they're highly individual so can't be counted on as a benefit.

I'm going to agree with Ron about 'fitters' that ignore aero. And then disagree - because that is *my* primary focus when I am doing a TT/Tri fit.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



HillRPete
Posts: 2284
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:08 am
Location: Pedal Square

by HillRPete

dereksmalls wrote:Here's a pic of Dan setting a new course record in a local race around here on the bike in question

Those calves got to have some drag :mrgreen:

109er
Posts: 746
Joined: Sat Jan 05, 2008 5:08 pm
Location: Oklahoma City

by 109er

Raise the seat a few millimeters and scoot the seat forward as much as possible. It will flatten his back a bit and open his hip angle, making it easier to create the watts. Lower the front end if he can. If not, tilt the aero bars up slightly. I wouldn't honestly change a whole lot if he has been racing a lot in this position. Small increments if anything changes. If he likes the change, go a little more. if not, return it back to normal. It helps to go out on the road with the bike with a multi tool and make changes as you ride.
green jacket, gold jacket...who gives a sh*t

tdudzik
Posts: 47
Joined: Sun Sep 02, 2012 2:17 am

by tdudzik

Use track skewers, maybe? I've done that myself, but is that any more aero than say using zipp's ti aero skewer?

dereksmalls
Posts: 2305
Joined: Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:20 pm
Location: New Zealand

by dereksmalls

Remember this is the National TT title, So it must comply with UCI rules. Also do track skewers release quickly or are they locked in? It would suck losing time if he got a puncture and couldn't get the wheel off

Grill
Posts: 662
Joined: Mon Aug 20, 2012 12:12 pm
Location: Oop North

by Grill

dereksmalls wrote:Didn't Chris Boardman fit himself in front of a mirror and side on? Worked for him with no wind tunnel?


Dr. Hutch told me that the way racers used to get aero would be to take a photo head-on and then cutout everything but the rider and bike. They would then weight the photo. Less frontal area = lighter photo :mrgreen:

doomith
Posts: 50
Joined: Fri Nov 09, 2012 4:57 am

by doomith

THIS is why I read this forum!
Awesome thread

weeracerweenie
Posts: 500
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:48 am

by weeracerweenie

Grill wrote:
dereksmalls wrote:Didn't Chris Boardman fit himself in front of a mirror and side on? Worked for him with no wind tunnel?


Dr. Hutch told me that the way racers used to get aero would be to take a photo head-on and then cutout everything but the rider and bike. They would then weight the photo. Less frontal area = lighter photo :mrgreen:


Scientifically accurate hahahaha
I guess there's worse hobbies than making a bike light? Right?

HillRPete
Posts: 2284
Joined: Tue Apr 12, 2011 8:08 am
Location: Pedal Square

by HillRPete

weeracerweenie wrote:Scientifically accurate hahahaha

You're laughing, but plotting, cutting out, and weighing graphs was not unheard of in engineering, before numerical integration worked well enough.
Just because a wind tunnel is a huge and impressive machine doesn't mean there's not a whole bunch of things that can go wrong and give you wildly inaccurate measurements.

User avatar
Tinea Pedis
Posts: 8615
Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2009 6:08 am
Contact:

by Tinea Pedis

Could it be applied digitally? With pixel height and width?

CarlosFerreiro
Posts: 421
Joined: Thu Jan 08, 2009 1:41 pm
Location: Shetland, Scotland

by CarlosFerreiro

dereksmalls wrote:Remember this is the National TT title, So it must comply with UCI rules.

Cover the valve hole on the disc with a sticker from the wheel company.
Insist that all riders with valve holes covered by tape/stickers NOT from their wheel manufacturer are DQ'd, as per UCI equipment regulations.
Half the competition gone already! :wink:

weeracerweenie
Posts: 500
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:48 am

by weeracerweenie

Not sure how that would go down with the commissaries. If it's the commisaires I know, he wouldn't stand for that, he made me add 2 kg of lead to my bike to be able to race the local schools series here last year. I won 11 of the 13 races in our region with 1892grams of lead in a bottle. And he weighed it to check. But removal of valve extenders and taping over is an awesome idea! Thanks!
I guess there's worse hobbies than making a bike light? Right?

5 8 5
Posts: 1315
Joined: Sat Jul 29, 2006 2:36 am
Location: UK

by 5 8 5

Tinea Pedis wrote:Could it be applied digitally? With pixel height and width?

Yes, using image software (Paint Shop Pro etc) outline the rider & bike & remove everything else. The picture now contains a certain number of pixels (automatically totaled). Modify position, take another photo, edit & count the pixels.

The hard part is to take the photograph from the same position every time.

by Weenie


Visit starbike.com Online Retailer for HighEnd cycling components
Great Prices ✓    Broad Selection ✓    Worldwide Delivery ✓

www.starbike.com



weeracerweenie
Posts: 500
Joined: Mon Aug 15, 2011 4:48 am

by weeracerweenie

Would have to be done in the same room with the same camera in the same position on The same wind trainer at the one time. Would that work?
I guess there's worse hobbies than making a bike light? Right?

Post Reply