Mavic on sources of equipment advantage

[djconnel]

Nice plot:

[btompkins0112]

Well......that's no fun now is it.

[prendrefeu]

Source?

[wingguy]

But what's the baseline reference for each one? The usual one is comparing every aero wheel to a Ksyrium, but what about the others?

Body position gives you 80% of your potential gains, if your start point was how high and how wide?

A good skinsuit gives you the most equipment advantage, but compared to what? An average skinsuit? An average road jersey? MTB Baggies and a t-shirt?

[teddysaur]

So the lesson is getting our position checked for aerodynamic after getting fitted onto a bike. I wonder how much that will cost us.

[Dalai]

It will you cost you nothing but time if you already own a power meter and willing to do some field testing...

Edit - Removed quote. Thanks 53x12

[thisisatest]

i think a session in the A2 wind tunnel in NC is about $400. best to have everything prepared to switch quickly so youre not spending all the time messing around.

[53x12]

^ Chung method.

http://www.cyclingpowermodels.com/CdAEstimation.aspx

Btw Dalai, don't quote post directly above yours. The mods hate it and it makes them crazy.

[teddysaur]

Power meter probably gonna cost 1-2k easily. And field testing may have other uncontrollable variables (wind, and gradient). $400 seems like a good deal to get things check out accurately and cheaply. I think I'm taking the sport too seriously.

Another cheap way is to study the frontal area for the cda model. What you need is a camera and some studio setup, I'm sure that can be calculated fairly fast and cheap.

[Dalai]

Did say if you already own a power meter... The VE model (Chung model mention about actually prefers to have some elevation differences). With wind, you just needs to pick days with calm conditions and find a no traffic circuit to test.

$400 Does seem like a good deal! I spent time in a tunnel locally a while back and it was invaluable. But it's always a quest to refine and using field testing has been shown as an accurate way method to do this without having to go back into the wind tunnel.

[53x12]

I know these are assumptions but someone worried about aero most likely races. If they are serious about racing they most likely have a PM or have ability to borrow one from a team member. If they don't have time or funds to go to a tunnel, the chung method or VE method like Dalai mentioned are worth while. Especially if you just want to goof around and try different setups.