Aero gains from new bar/brake setup?

Oct 21, 14 6:29

Post #1 of 31 (4750 views)

So Christmas is rolling in soon and I'm thinking that I will help my girlfriend upgrade her bike a bit as her gifts this year. She's on a Cannondale Slice with the stock Cannondale bar/Vision clip-ons and stock SRAM Rival brakes. Was thinking about going to a bar like the Brezza II Nano and a TriRig Omega brake. She races primarily Olympic distance, has an aero helmet and a HED 60/90 setup as well as a Zipp disc. She is pretty small and rides a 47cm Slice so the narrower setup of the Nano seems ideal and with the addition of a TriRig and the cleaner cable routing it seems to me that there would be a much cleaner front end.

Thoughts on whether you guys think this will be a solid upgrade or if the money is better spent elsewhere? She is usually on the podium for her AG at larger events (7th at USATNC & 1st at Hyvee this year) or overall at smaller, local events so were looking for things outside of training that can help make her that much more competitive as she heads into Worlds and other races in 2015.

Heres how the bike currently sits:

Last edited by: kyle h: Oct 21, 14 6:36

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 21, 14 6:37

Post #2 of 31 (4731 views)

The nano is really narrow, are you sure she is going to like that? Even pretty accomplished pros find that nano a little bit of a chore at times.

Any decent aero basebar would be a very nice upgrade.

Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 21, 14 6:56

Post #3 of 31 (4697 views)

Very solid upgrade. You might also consider swapping stems to something like the TriRig Sigma and going with one of the Felt Bayonet basebar/aerobar combos.

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 21, 14 6:59

Post #4 of 31 (4690 views)

I think there are several aerobars that would be better than your current one. Also match that up with th TriRig Omega and Sigma (on sale right now) and you could really clean up that front end. I think that would be amazing.

How much money do you want to spend on the front end I guess. Excluding the stem and brake, do yo have a budget. There are several ways to deal with this request.

EDIT: I will be selling my FELT DEVOX aerobars once I have them freshly repainted black which I believe they are done now.

Last edited by: BMANX: Oct 21, 14 7:01

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 21, 14 7:02

Post #5 of 31 (4677 views)

Whatever bar you choose, when you remount the brake levers, you can tidy up the cable housing a bit too, seems a bit long for both the front and rear brake

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 21, 14 7:02

Post #6 of 31 (4676 views)

A cleaner front end would be an aero gain. As would some additional drop on the bars if she can hold the more aggressive position.

-------------------
Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 21, 14 7:08

Post #7 of 31 (4661 views)

I would skip the Nano and go with the Brezza II (which you can get super cheap now) or similar. The Brezza II you can get pretty tight on anyway and it's one of the bars most people use pad extenders for so that gives you an idea of it's starting point. The Nano could well just be uncomfortable.That and Tri Rig Omega would be a nice upgrade.

https://www.pbandjcoaching.com
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Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 21, 14 7:18

Post #8 of 31 (4645 views)

New aerobar: Yes
Brake: Maybe
- The aero benefit is quite small. The negative side with Tririg brakes is the modulation - difficult to get the exact breaking power wanted. Leads into starting to break earlier and more than needed - slower total speed if racing with many turns.
I have Tririg brakes, but reverted to the Campy caliper in front to improve safety and total speed.

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 21, 14 7:22

Post #9 of 31 (4637 views)

Obviously she seesm to be doing very well from a performance perspective.

Others have made some good suggestions for gear

She seems to be riding high in the front end, but this is a common issue with shorter riders, women in particular, with no easy solution.

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [Fleck] [ In reply to ]

Oct 21, 14 7:30

Post #10 of 31 (4618 views)

Thanks for the input! The front end is going to come down once we get a new bar picked out and can get her into the fitter. She came from a road bike with clip-ons to the current setup this past season so we didn't go too aggressive with the fit, getting her comfortable on the new bike was priority #1.

Sadly there aren't many shops around us where we can handle the bars and on paper the Nano seems like a great idea but the potential issues pointed out above make sense as to why we should look to the standard Brezza. Have the opportunity to pick up a brand new Ventus II LTD for under $400 but that seems like a fitters nightmare. Probably looking to stay ~$500 for a bar setup. The brake isn't a critical upgrade more just thinking along the lines of "Well, while we're in there we might as well do this".

Last edited by: kyle h: Oct 21, 14 7:33

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 21, 14 9:52

Post #11 of 31 (4548 views)

If you look at the vision/hed/ventus cervelo data, going from a round base at and clip ons to an integrated nice aerobar is worth about 100 grams of drag at 30mph. An aero base bar will get you about 2/3 of that.

Someone posted a link to the ventus 2 for 475. That's a phenomenal deal. The SI vision tech setups are very fast on a lower budget and although its not super adjustable it looks like a good match to her current setup.

The brake could save up to 12 grams of drag.

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 21, 14 9:58

Post #12 of 31 (4538 views)

You'll get the most aero gains if you take all that bar tape off the base bar. I can't even think why you'd want to wrap there...

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 4:24

Post #13 of 31 (4384 views)

If I recall correctly, the Vision basebar is a pretty good bang for the buck.

You would then have some money left over so that you could buy her something that might actually help get you laid.

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [Rambler] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 7:09

Post #14 of 31 (4301 views)

People have to bribe their significant others to get laid? Poor souls.

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [Runless] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 7:32

Post #15 of 31 (4269 views)

Runless wrote:

Someone posted a link to the ventus 2 for 475. That's a phenomenal deal.

Thanks for noticing that link, zero replies to the post so I thought nobody had spotted it ;-) !! Thought those badboys would be snapped up like hot buns over here on ST.

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 7:35

Post #16 of 31 (4262 views)

You have never been married?

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [Rambler] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 7:41

Post #17 of 31 (4251 views)

I don't even know what that word means.

But yeah the Ventus looks sweet, I'm sure that our fitter will cry and wonder why we hate him so much but might be something to look into.

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 8:06

Post #18 of 31 (4226 views)

Several things from my aero eyeball, but remember most people tend to have poor aero eyeballs.

1. more aero basebar /clip ons or integrated bars. I'd also think about changing to ski tips from tose extensions. Lots to be gained here, my guess isn somewhere between 50-125gm of drag reduction.

2. Clean up the cabling, even if you've got to customize it a bit. but remember measure 3-4x before drilling/cutting etc. Or you can get stems, cable hangers etc that would help as well.

3. different front brake for those final seconds. the tririg isn't worth that much of a savings, 4 or 5 sec over 40k iirc, but it never hurts to be 4 or 5 seconds closer to the finish line then your competitors.

4. depending upon aero helmet change that out. There are some real dog aero helmets out there.

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [kyle h] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 8:42

Post #19 of 31 (4192 views)

Well, if she likes the fit, I think a vision so trimax bar would be a super easy swap. Just get the length she currently has.

and because visions naming sucks, here is an example: http://www.all3sports.com/...aero-bar-j-bend.html

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [desert dude] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 12:24

Post #20 of 31 (4113 views)

desert dude wrote:

3. different front brake for those final seconds. the tririg isn't worth that much of a savings, 4 or 5 sec over 40k iirc, but it never hurts to be 4 or 5 seconds closer to the finish line then your competitors.
.

3-4 sharp turns, and the "saved" 4-5 sec are gone....

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [ajo] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 12:40

Post #21 of 31 (4090 views)

ajo wrote:

desert dude wrote:

3. different front brake for those final seconds. the tririg isn't worth that much of a savings, 4 or 5 sec over 40k iirc, but it never hurts to be 4 or 5 seconds closer to the finish line then your competitors.

3-4 sharp turns, and the "saved" 4-5 sec are gone....

Because the 3-4 sharp turns don't exist until the Aero Brake is installed.

Last edited by: Jamaican: Oct 22, 14 12:51

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [Jamaican] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 12:58

Post #22 of 31 (4065 views)

Jamaican wrote:

ajo wrote:

desert dude wrote:

3. different front brake for those final seconds. the tririg isn't worth that much of a savings, 4 or 5 sec over 40k iirc, but it never hurts to be 4 or 5 seconds closer to the finish line then your competitors.

3-4 sharp turns, and the "saved" 4-5 sec are gone....

Because the 3-4 sharp turns don't exist until the Aero Brake is installed.

Once upon-a-time, I did a 40 km TT in Howard County, Maryland called the Extreme TT. Along w/ the usual sharpish ups-and-downs characteristic of the terrain there, the route included a bumpy, twisting descent that ended w/ some zig-zags across two bridges crossing a stream. I was uncertain whether I wanted to use my Hooker TT bike w/ "aero-or-die" handlebars, so pre-rode the course on it along w/ a friend. When we got to the descent, I told him to go full gas, and I sat up and safely coasted all the way down. By the time we reached the bottom of the descent and started climbing again, he had put all of 8 s on me...with such a small difference and knowing that I could safely go even faster on that section on race day, I opted for the Hooker, and finished a respectable 3rd (beaten only by a couple of young Cat 1/2s).

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [desert dude] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 13:34

Post #23 of 31 (4023 views)

desert dude wrote:

Several things from my aero eyeball, but remember most people tend to have poor aero eyeballs.

1. more aero basebar /clip ons or integrated bars. I'd also think about changing to ski tips from tose extensions. Lots to be gained here, my guess isn somewhere between 50-125gm of drag reduction.

Ski tips are faster than S bends?

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [ajo] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 13:43

Post #24 of 31 (4009 views)

ajo wrote:

3-4 sharp turns, and the "saved" 4-5 sec are gone....

That isn't the case, I have direct comparison of sharp corners between road bike and TT bike with aero brakes and the differences through the corners are far less than a full second. Don't think they were because of braking power either.

Kat Hunter reports on the San Dimas Stage Race from inside the GC winning team
Aeroweenie.com -Compendium of Aero Data and Knowledge
Freelance sports & outdoors writer Kathryn Hunter

Re: Aero gains from new bar/brake setup? [Timtek] [ In reply to ]

Oct 22, 14 14:04

Post #25 of 31 (3962 views)

Timtek wrote:

A cleaner front end would be an aero gain. As would some additional drop on the bars if she can hold the more aggressive position.

you said agressive. you get a time out.

Herbert, Jordan: please give me time out doling out abilities.

Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
Aerodynamic Retul Bike Fitting

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