Go to Yaquiusa.com, Ves Mandaric will be able to help you, if he isn't too busy in his shop. His bikes are becoming very popular lately!

He has a Yaqui Mariola DL (Draft Legal) "compact" frame on his site. I don't know if he uses the "compact" frame term, but, it has a sloping top tube.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)

Since I am not entirely sure what you mean, I'll answer to what I think you ment;

For a big to be draft legal (from my understanding) it needs to have regular handlebar (ie not bullhorn), and either no or draft legal aerobars (aerobars that don't go past the brake levers, that need to be closed at the tip). All this is because you need easy access to the breaks incase something happens, and if you are sitting in the aeroposition, by the time you reach the breaks you'll have one big pileup.

I have one of these but haven't had time to build it up. I am looking forward to using predominatly as my group ride bike. One thing for sure, the workmanship is very nice from appearances. More later...

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Fitting for draft legal bikes can be a real challenge. Do you already have a frame? Do you know if you have a long or short torso?

In general I would recommend a frame with an "in between" seat tube angle (75 degrees) and a top tube length (short for road but longer than tri). The Cervelo Soloist or Kestrel Talon would be good options in their "forward" saddle positions. Combine that with the required short aerobar extended as much as possible. Keep in mind that if you rotate your drop bar and STI levers upwards you can gain a couple of centimeters by making the bottom tip of the STI lever the "farthest forward point" of the lever.

You are likely to have a rounded back position based on the rearward saddle position and short reach to your aerobars in order to have your STI levers at a useable reach. This may cause some knee/elbow interference. If this is the case try and find a riding position that allows you to extend your hands past the ends of your aerobars to allow you to pass bike check, but still have the extension you need.

It can be hard to find someone with draft legal fitting experience and it was not discussed at the FIST camp, but any shop experienced in tri bike fit should be able to help you make it work.

Dan Rishworth
dan@endurosport.com

Mr. Rishworth wrote: It can be hard to find someone with draft legal fitting experience and it was not discussed at the FIST camp, but any shop experienced in tri bike fit should be able to help you make it work.


I had to chuckle when I read this. People like Mr. Rishworth are EXCELLENT at what they do, and bike fit for them is probably not much harder than "making a bowl of cereal for breakfast". There are certain steps that you have to do in order, and you don't want cereal and milk all over the counter, but it's really very simple to make a bowl of cereal when you know how.

I'm afraid there are too many shops trying to fit Triathletes that don't know you have to open the box of Cheerios first. And they don't even know how much volume the bowl will hold. Oh, they can eventually get it right, and you will have some edible product when they're done, but my my...look at the time it took and the mess they made getting it done.

It would be great to have people like you ubiquitously situated, instead of scattered all over the nation like needles in a haystack! Thanks for helping out like you do, as well as explaining things such as the standard crankarm length constant in the formulae that can cause problems.

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Quid quid latine dictum sit altum videtur
(That which is said in Latin sounds profound)