Same with fixie crits, the hottest form of pure bike racing (excepting maybe gravel). You can win on a $500 bike. While we're rolling out $16,000 bikes with built in mini-fridges and wondering where all the young people went.

+1. Thanks for noting that.

I get 9-12 months per battery and they are sold at the local grocery store. One of my P2M's has literally been submerged and they have all been used in terrible conditions. They just work for me. The new NG is rechargeable (as noted by somebody above) but I haven't used/owned one.

More 11 speed cassettes choices that don't start with an 11 tooth cog. Other than the 12-25T close ratio and the very expensive DA 12-28T, everything Shimano offers starts with an 11T cog. And everything SRAM offers starts with an 11T cog. Why? Makes gearing to the conditions by cassette change alone a compromise.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

I was going to agree with the OP that we need more XD Driver options that start with a 10T. :)

I think you made some great points there. The handful of times somebody has brought up Peloton, that is a fairly close representation...including my wife. My boss bought one a couple years ago and has eaten like $500 per year in subscription fees. That seems like a lot. One thing I noticed from those that have the Peloton bike and service, they seem to have their favorite instructors. Just like a couple specific RPM instructors at the nearby gym have a cultish group of followers, it would appear that an important part of Peloton's 'content' is the instructors. The videos seem really engaging.

What do you (or others) think your price point would be for a Peloton Bring-Your-Own-Bike system? I was pretty stoked to see my wife hop in the car at 4:45a in -10 F weather to go to a spin class today, but the reality is that it's rare. Being able to do that on her own bike and a trainer we already own would definitely be worth their $39 a month IMO.

A really high quality wicking/smart fabric running hat. The few I have seen are not good. For hot races this would be swell.

Responding to both of you. I think the idea of curation is sound but the execution is poor, but so was Facebooks at first. People had a conniption fit. I think Strava's product guys will figure it out. That said, I just downloaded Stravini and it is a relief to get all the Zwift rides and Challenges out of my feed. I also chose to sort chronologically. For those of us with 200 friends, there has to be some kind of curation going on, whether it's "favorites" for quality follows or "do not show" for those you don't quite want to unfollow but can't have mucking up your feed. Remember when Facebook came out with the mini feed that had things like Scrobble.fm and you would see every song a friend was listening to? Even the best tech companies on earth struggle with this stuff, and Strava is no different.

Lots of good thoughts here aside from all that.

But, pray tell, how would you regulate this mythical non-tri bike? Can I have a CAAD12 with full basebar and aerobars? Can I have a P4 with drop handlebars (and clip-ons if you allow them)? Will the officials come armed with goniometers to check seat angles? And to turn your argument on its head: what am I, a dedicated short course racer, going to do with my P4 in which I have a fair investment?

In my opinion the only way you're going to achieve this is delineate it as draft-legal with no aerobars allowed (you can ride a bare basebar or a mountain bar if you want :-), and non-draft where you can ride whatever you want.


Huh? Whaddaya mean by that? Are you referring to people riding in pacelines in overpopulated Ironman races?

As for allowing drafting: Do you really want to mix total novices, who swerve all over the road when they take a drink, and who jump when I unexpectedly show up on their left shoulder, with pacelines? Have you noticed the carnage in current races when there's a stiff crosswind? You really want to mix those people with echelons?

People racing draft-legal now make the explicit choice of racing draft-legal. Even if they're not super confident in pacelines, they know what they're getting into, and will adjust their riding style. A raw rookie, who bought their first bike 3 months ago to get fit, and is now doing their first sprint, has no idea.


As a TBI survivor I find this comment insensitive and irresponsible.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

Above are my thoughts on a few of your items.I think people get all bent out of shape on how people focus on the bike, but really it is the greatest barrier to entry. If you really want to get into tris it isn't hard to find a pool and get your laps in, but very few casual runners own a bike that resembles a race worthy machine.

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Pactimo brand ambassador, ask me about promo codes

The service-only shop model - YES. This. So much this.

My old mechanic in Maine was exactly this - fit station plus turnaround. And if you frequented him enough for service, he'd help you out with pricing when you needed, say, a new crank or a set of wheels because you cracked a set in a pothole. He's taken a year out of the game, but the shop style still lives on up there. Pretty damn cool set-up, IMO.

Overhead is low, you don't need the fanciest set-up in the world, and offer quicker turnarounds than your normal shop.

If I ever decide to try my hand at the multisport retail/service game again, I'm doing this and fits. Period.

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Editor-in-Chief, Slowtwitch.com | Twitter

Small correction, for Draft legal you CANNOT ride a bare basebar or MTB handlebar... It has to be a drop bar with plugged ends... The shorty aerobars are legal for the elites, but not for AG racing.

As much as people carry-on about the risks of DL-racing for age groupers, in general i have found them to be as safe if not safer than non-drafting races. Yes there are varying handling skills, but we're not talking about a crit with a peloton of 100 people, we're talking small groups for the most part and the odd larger pack... From what I have seen both racing in the events and officiating a number of them, is that the people who are really nervous about drafting tend not to, and tend to sit just off the back of packs if they are near them (look at how Summer Cook rides in ITU races, and that gives you a pretty classic example of this type of riding...). In that setting the people with questionable skills are generally aware of their questionable skills and self-regulate, in how they ride... In non-drafting races, I have had way more close calls with individuals of questionable handling skills when passing/being passed and seen way more crashes... That being said, if AG DL racing is here to stay (and I seriously hope it is, because I love racing the format), more multisport groups need to work specifically on skill development for that type of racing... Clinics, group rides, leading up to those types of races will go a long ways towards increasing the popularity of the format and in increasing people's confidence/competence...

This past season, even in non-DL races, I've raced my road bike without aerobars... since my main goal races were DL, I wanted the specificity in terms of the effort in the position. It was definitely cost me placings in a couple of really windy races, but the others I don't feel it changed my placings at all...

In terms of products, I'd love to see a pedal based power meter for Speedplay... I finally got tired of waiting and bit the bullet and went with the Vector 3s (after over a decade in speedplays)...

Personally I'd like to see ways to cut the absurd cost of the sport. I would LOVE to see the service only shop or a mobile mechanic, ESPECIALLY if it can cut cost to us and increase revenue to the mechanic. I would imagine most mechanics can probably fully tune or build a bike in less than an hour.

Just my humble opinion, but we keep adding and adding more high end tech that most of us can't afford. There's money to be made by dropping the cost of some services since I'm sure many of us are just priced out of them.

Maybe a cost effective power meter? As long as I have reasonable accuracy and consistency I'd be happy, I'm no weight weenie and I can work quite well with consistency.

Affordable options for the wind tunnel as well. I always hear again and again "go to the wind tunnel". Problem is the CHEAPEST I've seen is $1,000, and that's just not worth it to me. I can't afford that.

A way to make any trainer a computrainer with a laptop and not one that will brake the bank.

More local races.

Races to start recycling drives. I have way too much old rubber and chains hanging around. Sure I'd like to try and do some art with them, but that's not going to take that much. Also lets face it, triathletes don't have all that much free time to be crafting with old parts. I would like to get rid or that extra crap. But I also don't want to fill the landfills with years of tubes, tires, wires, and chains.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

Also would like to see the remaining brick and mortar bike shops start selling used bikes. We do see it but seems to be increasingly rare, and nothing used is a true tri-bike or even comes close to fitting. It could be similar to a car dealer. Eve have them "certified" pre-owned just like a car. Get an old bike, throw new guts on their or mostly new guts. It takes the fear out of buying from strangers on e-bay and gives the LBS another way to sell.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

that's brilliant - the app will attract billions in VC funding, then the actual work can be subsidized indefinitely by those billions.. exactly the Uber model, but preferably without the sociopathic behavior towards labor, and better compensation..

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"It is a good feeling for old men who have begun to fear failure, any sort of failure, to set a schedule for exercise and stick to it. If an aging man can run a distance of three miles, for instance, he knows that whatever his other failures may be, he is not completely wasted away." Romain Gary, SI interview

How much cheaper does it need to get? Watteam PowerBeat single-side units were available for just over $200 during the Holiday season, and dual sides for a little over $300. Even at regular retail, they're $259 and $399. C1 chainrings were on sale for $350, as were the close-out Garmin Vector 2S's. The dual-sided, spider-based NG Eco is available every day (no waiting for a sale) from Power2Max for < $500. All this has pushed down used power meter pricing. I picked up a functional Powertap wireless wheelset for $160. IMHO, 2017 was a huge year in the "democratization" of power meter pricing.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

I'd like to see the $150 range. Was that Powertap new or something you got a killer deal on from another slowtwitcher? But thanks for the tip. I honestly haven't checked the price of powermeters since about March or so. They must have come down a lot since then.

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I still lapped everyone on the couch!

this is a misapprehension, caused by the belief that Strava is built to serve its customers. It is built to serve ads and maximize exposure to those ads. Every social media app from Facebook on down has implemented algorithmic feeds which their users hate. This is dictated by the iron laws of surveillance capitalism..

Powertap wheelset was used; ~2010 spec Elite+ with decent, if not awe-inspiring, DT Swiss rims. Picked it up on a car racing forum I'm a member of (believe it or not, there are large ongoing biking, running, and triathlon threads in the "off topic" section there). Part of the reason it was cheap was that the free-hub is not 11 speed compatible. Works fine for my old Sora equipped road bike.

Things really started to percolate in the aftermath of Eurobike and Interbike. Lots if new product creating downward pricing pressure, especially on older technology.

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"They're made of latex, not nitroglycerin"

There isn't enough volume in the cycling market to make this viable. You realize companies have to actually make money, right?

All fair points. Let me reiterate my position:

- By all means lets develop draft-legal racing. It's fun for both competitors and spectators. But, and that gets to my second point, it needs to be a conscious choice of the competitor.
- I think it's a bad idea if all short course is converted to draft-legal (setting practical concerns like it being impossible for all races to be on closed courses to one side); it will not contribute to the enjoyment of the sport of raw neophytes and will endanger the safety of all people racing.
- I think it's impossible and unnecessary to outlaw tribikes for short course racing. Much better would be if we, as a community, tell people there is no need to buy a tribike in order to enjoy the sport.

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Citizen of the world, former drunkard. Resident Traumatic Brain Injury advocate.

Wait, are you saying a trucker hat is not a good option?


People look so good in oversized trucker hats.

Have seen some on TV. Thrilling to watch. A competitive entry level sport that does not cost an arm and a leg.

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.

Hello kileyay and All,

Zipp 808 Firecrest clincher Front + Rear = 1885 grams

Zipp 808 Firecrest tubular Front + Rear = 1700 grams

We 'need' a tubular tire (without a tube) but that comes with sealant ... either a liquid or a gel like material that coats the inside of the tire so it functions like the sealant for self sealing gas tanks on combat aircraft.

A tubular tire that is has an excellent Crr, is light and aero, and can be quickly and easily repaired without removing the tire ..... similar to tubeless clinchers.

A tire with molded sidewalls ..... like Bontrager R4 ..... to match the rim for a clean aero profile without additional plastic strips like Mavic.





This dream tire might suffice with old fashioned glue for attachment until the attachment WITHOUT GLUE is developed .... since with self sealing for small punctures and external repair for larger ones ..... would greatly reduce the frequency of the removal and reattachment hassle.

A tubular tire that fastens to the lighter tubular rim WITHOUT GLUE but with a mechanical or hybrid attachment like industrial strength velcro ...... clean and easy on .... and clean and easy off.

Perhaps this will fill the bill: http://www.effettomariposa.eu/en/products/carogna/

http://www.effettomariposa.eu/...gna-tape-install.jpg



NOT a tubular tire like the Tufo that requires a rim.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCaDv-cRY5c

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Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

You are way more serious than I intend to be about race formats.

Don't see how mentioning crashes - they happen all the time in cycling - is insensitive and irresponsible. Sorry for whatever happened to you as it seems to have impacted you more than the knock out concussions than many of us have experienced. Most crashes do not involve TBI, especially during the race. The few that I know of in cycling happened while the rider was training.

It sounds like you want things they way they are and you are set up for that. I on the other hand was tossing out some changes because the OP was asking for changes.

The way it is will probably be the way it stays. Good luck with your TBI as those are devastating injuries that I would not wish on anyone.

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.

Home bike fits are the future and they will have the same data available as an in person fit.



A bit of development with Notch sensors would allow for all the 3D data in a Retul bike fit to be obtained from the person's home. The fitter could mail the sensors with prepaid return postage before the fit then have a short calibration session. You could do the same mobility/flexibility testing as at the fitter's place before the fit, then hop on the bike.


It can also be done for run analysis, strength, swimming (they are waterproof), etc.