I think the top 5 are already pretty well known. The configuration that will be submitted will favor each brand’s own knowledge of what makes their bikes fastest. It doesn’t seem fair to think you’d allow me to submit a 48cm DA with double disc wheels, Sante derailleurs, Scott extreme bars, Modolo front brake, etc…and again, what use woud THAT data be to me? Surely you’d see impressive numbers but how would that translate to the bikes you see in transition?
So you’d stick to UCI or Tri rules. Additionally, you’d only allow people to use commercially available products. And yes, within those rules the brands would use the optimal kit for that particular bike. I don’t get why that’s a bad thing. Surely it’s more financially viable for the manufacturers to work out the optimal kit than the customers? Also, you wouldn’t submit the 48cm bike because it’s being set-up for a person of an average size.
One might have a bike that did not make good use of hiding the cable housing or used an inferior brake location, in those cases just testing ALL the bikes without those items installed would allow a claim that the set up was “the same for everyone” but in reality some benefits would be overlooked by their omission.
If your bike hasn’t hidden the cables properly then it won’t perform as well as one that has in the test. that’s sort of the point of the proposed test!
Again, the aero data is much more useful in development than it is in marketing. It’s like Brand “S” claiming they have the lightest frameset in the world
I wonder who brand S could be!?! 
My view of what sells bikes is skewed by this forum so is there any chance you could let on why people buy a certain tri bike? Is it weight, what their LBS sells, what their favourite rider uses, aerodynamics or possibly the reviews they see? Why is it that so many people pay huge sms of money for Zipp/HED wheels and Cervelo frames? The common factor to me is that they publish data and have sponsored riders (and some riders who go against sponsorship obligations to switch).
In the UK, a LOT of TTers use Planet X bikes. I’d guess that if you could state that your bike went X mph faster in tests than theirs that people would be more willing to switch. As it stands currently your average person just sees two bikes that both have aerodynamic tubes and they assume that they’re basically the same.
Thanks very much for replying btw, I know that some of us can be a right pain on this forum sometimes!
Brand “S” could be Scott, Specialized, Stevens, Soma, Surley, Sigma, Seven, Schwinn, Shogun, Saracen, Spot, Saab, Somec, Serotta, or it could just be a common letter used to represent a generic company and the industries’ tendency to claim outlandish details that are nearly impossible to verify or disprove.
People buy triathlon bikes to race triathlons. That is unlike nearly every other type of bike in terms of target audience. The first time buyer is much MUCH different than the second time buyer. The forum does tend to skew reality at times, I’d bet that there are more people that buy triathlon bikes without ever reading exactly how they should do it here.
The only way all those UK PX riders would switch is if PX raised the price considerably and/or suggested themselves that their bike was not as fast as one of the aforementioned “top 5”. Why would they listen to another company trying to sell them a new bike?
I’m using this old Dell computer because I asked Dell if I should switch to one of them new fancy Apple SuperduperBOOK things, Dell said I needn’t switch brands, but advised that I upgrade to the latest Dell. I was shocked to hear the opposite from the Apple salesman.
-SD
