We’ve all seen plenty of aero testing data, and from this one could conclude that an aero frame saves approx 1 to 2 min over a round tubed frame (40 km distance).
These tests however seem to always be of “naked” bikes, ie they hae no bottles etc.
Is there any good data comparing aero frames with non aero frames with two drink bottles on board?
I was looking at my bike today (round tubed) and it seemed that with bottles on board, smoothing the headtube would help, perhaps a gusset around the bottom bracket but the down tube and seattube seem like the bottles might dominate any aero effect.
Yip, I’ve seen data which suggests that bottles can have a positive effect (or make very little difference either way).
And I quite agree the next time I do an Ironman I will have bottles…
What I am wondering is if we accept that an aero frame (e.g p3 etc) is faster without bottles than a round tube frame (perhaps 1-2 min over 40km) is it still that much faster with bottles?
I suspect bottles might help a round tube frame more than an aero frame greatly reducing the advantage of the aero frame.