I believe that Cobb tested the Softride as the fastest in the WT. No seat tube. The lotus is also very fast.

The fastest bike is the one that fits you best.

Hey, jeremyb. Wassup!?! There are two questions we dread answering: How much does this weigh and how aerodynamic is this? I cringe when I hear those because I know what people are looking for: The easy answer.
Everybody wants one easy answer, one thing to compare to make their bike buying simple- i.e., find the most aero bike, buy that one. Find the lightest bike, buy that one. It just isn't that simple. First off, wind tunnel tests tell only a very small part of the aerodynamics story. The forces acting on a bike in a real world riding environment are complex and cannot be identically reproduced in a wind tunnel, although, in fairness, the testing has gotten much better (largely due to John Cobb's fine work). Also, bear in mind, like anything- the test results we see may or may not be 100% objective. They may be tested using protocols that produce certain desired results for a given marketing purpose, or certain competeing products may be excluded for similar reasons. So, bottom line, not only do I not know the answer to that question, but (although it would be interesting to know) I don't feel I need to know and even if I did I would have a hard time trusting the results.

---

Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Bike and rider is the aerodynamic drag equation. One guy could be positioned wonderfully on a round tube bike and a poorly positioned athlete could be on the "slickest production bike" (which the Lotus is still made) and have horrendous numbers.

Aerodynamic Improvement Priority List:

1) proper position created by aerobars and professional fitting (with all associated fitting parts; e.g stems, seat posts, et.al.)

2) aero front wheel

3) aero rear wheel

4) aero clothing (i.e. nothing flapping in wind)

5) aero helmet

6) aero frame

Most people would agree with this, deviating the order of numbers 4-6. But in essence, the rider position is most important.

I emailed bicyclesports a while back about the same thing. Which was fastest in the wind tunnel, P3, Trek TT, or a Softride TT7? The response I got back from fastest to slowest(if you want to call it slow),was Trek TT, Softride TT7, and then P3. Although they didn't say by how much each frame was faster.

I have a feeling that the difference is about as much as sticking your pinky finger out while riding.

I also wanted the most aero frame. But now, I'm with bunnyman and his list of aerodynamic priorities.

I think I'll buy a Guru Chronos... cuz its fairly aero and has the hottest factory paint job. :) Ya gotta look good out there people!

"Its' not the bike, its the engine".