Performance Bike made this bag that fits between the aerobars 15+ years ago.
Do any of you know if there is an approximate replacement?
It’s awesome because:
It holds CO2 cartridge with adapter
Plus plenty of food for a 1/2 IM
And a tube and tire iron
Additionally Cervelo published an article stating that a water bottle mounted between the bars was the fastest configuration (bottles behind the seat 2nd and on the down tubes, 3rd). It stands to reason that this bag has the aero advantages of the water bottle between the bars tho you’ll have to relocate water bottles accordingly. Personally, I like the convenience of this bag and will sacrifice the aero by putting the bottles on the down tube and behind the seat.
In any case, I’d love to purchase another. Too bad they stopped making it.
A small seat bag has also been shown to be aero neutral I believe.
If you have a bag there, where do you put the water bottle that “should” go there? I think it has to sit a little higher and be mostly between your arms to work the way Cervelo tested. As shown, it’s sitting fairly low. Also, its not a savings if drag is increased elsewhere for hydration.
Bento boxes are usually almost aero neutral too. So is the rear pocket on a long course trisuit.
No way that bag has the same effect as a bottle. The bottle fills in the gap between your arms and is smooth. That bag is drooping down the below the extensions. Put a bottle between your arms, a small flat kit behind the seat, and an aero bento box on the dining-room-table that is the bmc top tube.
I use the Aero FuelBox made by FuelBelt. It straps to the top tube/stem and sits right behind the stem, very clean. I use Infinit Nutrition, so I don’t carry any gels, bars, pills, tabs, etc. The only thing that I have in that bag, and it fits perfect is a tube, CO2 and chuck, tire levers and my emergency $$$. Works like a dream. I have 3 bottle cages on the bike (1 between the aero bars zip tied on, one on the down tube, and 1 gorilla cage behind the seat.)
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It stands to reason that this bag has the aero advantages of the water bottle between the bars
Possible, but it’s highly dependent on set up. Just because you put two things between the extensions doesn’t make it aero. More often than not it hurts, or it’s possibly benign, but more aero isn’t actually seen all that often with a BTA.
It was just last week, when testing with Speedfil, that we finally saw the type of aero improvements Cervelo measured (we found 6 watts; Cervelo 5.5), and we’ve tested BTA’s many, many times more as almost every test we conduct involves trying one. Whether it was the Speedfil, or the setup of the Speedfil, is still a question; however, it’s quite possible we’ve found the “secret” to setup of a BTA and, if true, it would almost certainly make that bag no better than a mini-parachute (sorry).
We’ll test our theory more in the near future. If it’s what we suspect, and judging from Cervelo’s test set up and another, I believe it pretty likely, the gains might be enough to dictate future aero bar design as well as frame design. How’s that for a tease!?
So is this better? Way better?
It bugs me how the “bag” is so far away from the stem.
Maybe a velcro-only version would be better. That is, velcro strips on the top tube attaching to the bag w/no straps.
No, but this one is better. Or, so I would suspect.
We make ‘no-strap’ Speedpacks too (the 483D & 480D), but only a few high-end TT bikes (so far) have the necessary top tube storage mount bosses. The bikes that have them are the trek speed concept series, all the new cervelo P-series, the BH aerolight, and, based on manufacturer posts here on ST, the new QR PR6, and other bikes are coming.
Yeah, what Greg said. Plus, if you don’t either mount it to frame bosses or a strap forward and around the stem, it will wiggle back and forth, bumping your knees/thighs, and could fall down and around the top tube.
