A couple of photo’s here showing my early 2007 position to one that it morphed into once I’d bought my Cervelo. Slowman and others gave me some solid advice (a little lower and longer to put it simply). It still is a work in progress but these two shots should give you an idea of how it’s moved on. I’m still having issues with the gap between my helmet and back. Take a look and see what you think.
Feb 2007
Dec 2007
Bryce.
Looks good.
Couple of options regarding the helmet gap issue -
Thats pretty much the conclusions i’d come to as well. The looking down thing is a bad habit I acquired the second I put a power meter on the bike !!!
My arms are still carrying a little more downward tilt than ideal as well. If i lowered the pads progressively this may sort out both problems.
Yep, I was not able to align the ground between the two shots (if anyone is fancy with photoshop, have a go) but you can see the rather sizeable change. The Cervelo geometry has helped massively with my issues.
The forearm issue was an overspill of my old Kalibur fitting issues so the pads were chocked up quite high and the extensions were unusual high rise S bend HED ones from Tom D. They are very comfortable but I wonder if I should drop the pads by 5-10mm to try and level the arms slightly and maybe close some of that head gap up a bit. My only concern is that (for me) I’m already quite low and I’m worried about any potential neck ache by doing so.
I’m putting out reasonable wattage values during my TT’s these days but at my size (6 ft 3 and 90kg) I need to minimise any drag issues.
Which is fastest?
Depends on what you mean. The first one is so much higher in the air than the evolved one (you can see it visually) and when i made the transition between the two i lost 8 watts initially which i then trained back within 2 weeks of use. The flatter torso one would be bound to be quicker through the air and since there is no wattage cost, it seemed to be worth sticking with.
It does look as if simply lowering the elbow/arm pads 1 cm or so would level out your forearms and slightly lower front end .
I appreciate seeing your set up as we are the same size.
David K
Are you from the planet of giants? What are you like 6-5?
6ft 3, 90kg, sub 10% body fat. I’m as small as I’m going to get…
Are you from the planet of giants? What are you like 6-5?
Fortunately for our food supplies Bryce is not normal size around here or I have mentioned at the check in desks when looking for a good seat “my friend is abnormally tall”.
Ah, airline travel, the ultimate revenge for the vertically challenged!
Since you are in UK, did you try the Bell Meteor?
No. Although since I’m currently using a Giro aero shell in this shot, this is a smaller helmet than the safety based aero ones we all have to use in triathlon. I’m not sure if it’s worth going for what is in reality a larger shape to present to the wind.
If you are, the best decision I ever made was switching to a 78 degree seat angle or greater. It has solved a lot of my positional problems I had.
I must say, both positions look very impressive. I’m particularly struck by the bottom P3 photo and how well your upper torso looks on the bike, supported well skeletally and apparently presenting a pretty minimal frontal area compared to a higher position.
I’m not super surprised by the 8 watt differnce between the two positions initially. I wager that if the reach of the two bikes is effectively the same that the hip angle is more “closed” on the P3 than on the Kuota position. Honestly, I wonder if yu’d see a difference in results. Have you? I might suggest the two factors (aero vs 8 watts power) might cancel out. There may be an adavantage for thr P3 on a flattish course over the Kutoa on a more rolling course (guessing).
man I’ve seen those giros! They do not look like a helmet. it is like a swim cap.
Thanks Tom. If you can remember the issues we had with the Kuota (and it’s fitting specifics you talk about when you reviewed the Kalibur on your website) getting on the P3 and moving from a 75 to a 78 seat angle was like night and day - more comfort and suits my riding style. I wish i’d done it years before.
I lengthened the stem by about 25mm and brought the saddle further forward by 15mm. This actually opened the hip angle up further which i feel may have led to some solid power output gains plus allowed me to drop the front end by 10mm.
The 8 watt initial loss only last a couple of weeks before turbo training in this position brought it back to where it was. Since then i have progressed massively anyway and now put out 420w over 10 mile TT’s. This year I’m hoping for 450-460w.
As always it’s a work in progress as I may lower the arm rests a touch to level the arms a little (although not fully at this time) but it must be working ok as I won a national title on it last year !!!
bryce.
By the time I’ve tweaked my arm set up i think all left to do would be to get tunnel time. I don’t think I can do much else and arm width on the aerobars with shoulders of my width does not seem to be able to help much. I take your point on the helmet thing - I think i need to try a few…
Interesting - I seem to be evolving towards that now. I am on a 76 degree Quintana Roo and by the end of the season the seat has migrated much more forward.
Thanks.
David K
Is the foot position correct? It looks a little funny but i am no expert. Just asking.