tt frames-
let’s not forget that time trialling is not a human powered vehicle contest and triathlon while having different rules as to what constitutes a bicycle still has rules…that being said within uci rules the fastest time-trial frames are coming from andy walser in switzerland, pinarello in treviso via germany with the montello and trek is wisconsin…the cervelo p3 also deserves mention although the jerk doesn’t think it’s quite at the level of the other bikes particularly when ridden in a uci legal set-up…the p3’s chainstays are so short it really doesn’t take too kindly to be ridden slack…take a look at the csc boys…they all ride their p3’s in an effective 78-80 degree seat angle…all of’em are on the nose of the saddle. now tri-geeks like dan empfield will preach the benefits of this but the fact of the matter is none of these guys sat on the noses of their saddles on their old tt bikes…fact is the p3 was designed around a riders weight being positioned further forward than the uci currently allows…believe the jerk it handles like a dog if your sitting on the meat of the saddle…
the jerk thinks the walser is the best of the time trial bikes currently available…lots of guys buy them out of their own pockets and lots of teams do the same…the jerk actually got one from andy which later went to trek for “r&d” (rip off and duplicate) in wisconsin. the walser uses its own crank and bb assembly which results in a q factor drastically smaller than any other bicycle anywhere…beyond this the rear disc andy uses also utlizes a far narrower 100mm drop-out spacing for improved aerodynamics…it gets techier…andy was the first to produce those straight aero bars we saw ullrich, michael rich, and the gerolsteiner and bianchi teams on last year. this is by far the biggest advance made in time trial technology since aero bars…basically time trialists have been using technology designed orginally for triathlon where the point of the bike is to put out a steady wattage and keep fresh for the run…triathletes do not as a rule like to recruit fast twitch muscle fiber…they don’t need the biggest advantage to aero bars as seen by greg lemond, “additional points of leverage”. using a normal visiontech or syntace set up there is really no good way to muscle the bike around in the aerobars…the position is certainly low, aero and efficient for a 110 mile bike ride which precedes a marathon length run, but it doesn’t allow that little bit extra of high aerobic/low anerobic effort the proffessional cyclist needs in proloques and individual and team time trials…anyway try the walser position on your current tt bike…sprint wit your arms where they normally are and then choke up a bit towards the flat part of the clip-on watch the wattage instantly go up with the extra leverage you can exert…but the jerk digresses…beyond the aerobars…walsers are actually the only tt bikes designed in low speed wind tunnels…hence the fact that their down tubes are actually shaped like a flipped around cervelo down tube…in this way air flow is dircted around the riders moving body and around the moving rear wheel rather than getting directed into the rider’s legs…as a result of this design the frontal area of the bicycle is also reduced…
did the jerk mention that andy walser only builds his bikes in two frame sizes but varies the front center measurement depending on saddle height, projected stem length and rider weight? or that andy requires his clients to give him their peak wattage numbers so he can make the bottom bracket as stiff as needed? or howabout that he will recomment 38 cm pursuit bars for just about everyone? (michael rich is the exception)
anyway, that’s all the jerk has to say about tt bikes right now…(oh by the way did the jerk ever mention how much he hates time trialling? it’s got to be the most boring sporting activity in the world…take this with a grain of salt most (but not all) cyclists who hate time trialling hate it because they aren’t very good at it.)