Aero wheelset effect

Triathlon Forum
1

I know there are about a jillion posts asking how much time savings one can gain from aero wheels so thought I’d throw a data point out.

I have a Cervelo soloist set up as a tribike with velomax circuit wheels.

This is my first year doing tris, and my first nice bike. I did a
weekly time trial (9.75 miles) two weeks in a row, once with the
velomax wheels, and then the next week with a HED 3 front
and a CH Aero wheelcover. The conditions were pretty similar
week to week. The course is mostly flat with some short (30 second hills that marginally warrant getting out of the bars)

Week 1: Velomax wheels 23.89 mph
Week 2: Hed 3/CH Aero 25.47 mph

A 1 min 30 sec improvement from 24:28 to 22:58.

Had I done the faster time on week 1, it would have moved me from 30th/47 to 14th/47.

I feel like the effort was fairly similar on both nights, although I’m sure there was a “I don’t want to be a poser with nice wheels” component pushing me along on the second night.

Some observations:

I didn’t feel a difference between the wheels until I was going fast, ie at 20 mph I wasn’t thinking “wow I’m hardly pedalling”. However, on the flats and downs, I definitely felt like someone was pushing me along.

It is not good when you pull into the parking lot are are the only one with hairy legs.

It is nearly impossible to tell how fast someone is going to be just by looking at them, but if they have an aero helmet they are probably pretty fast. At least, they better be. Looking around the parking lot before the start, I was pretty sure I was going to get last. Right before the start, the guy in front of me turned around and said “I wonder how many of you are going to pass me.” I guess a lot of us are probably thinking that, but it is poor form to actually say it…

Summary: If a minute or so faster in a sprint is going to move you into the $$, I would say the wheelcovers are right up there with aerobars for bang/buck. I got mine from wheelbuilder.com and they trimmed them and the fit is perfect.

If you are at all serious about riding, I would also encourage you to find a TT near you and start doing it. I think a lot of people are afraid that they are too slow to do TTs and will look silly but A) you will definitely push harder in a TT than you will on your own and
B) waiting around to be fast enough to train with the fast guys makes no sense…

2

It’s not how fast you are, it’s how fast you look.

3

It would be helpful to look at others’ change in time for those two weeks. If everyone was faster the second time, it would dilute the time savings due to your wheels. Post a link to the results?

4

you could have been better conditioned during the second t/t(with the aero-wheels), also. That may have contributed to a faster average(?).

but, the aero wheelset had to have helped to some degree… FWIW

5

That is a good point. It looks like the second day was faster for everyone who did both seeks (except the people who did a tandem week 1 and solo week 2…)

ihttp://www.northeastbicycleclub.org/home/results/178/cbtt-results-07132005
http://www.northeastbicycleclub.org/home/results/182/cbtt-results-07202005

Rider: Kyle Welch

From a quick look,

C. Mason: week 1: 22:36.3/25.88, Week 2: 22:14.0/26.31 mph (22 secs faster)
S. Cruikshak week1: 23:12.0/25.22 week 2: 23:07/2 25.30 mph (5 secs faster)
D. Donato week1:24:16.6/24.10 week 2: 23:43.1/24.66 mph (32 secs faster)
J. Bard week 1: 26:37.3/21.97 Week 2: 26:13.9 22.30 (24 secs faster)

And there were a couple more who all looked to be 20-30 secs faster on the second week. That would be more in line with the going estimate of 1:30-2 minutes gain/hour.