Has anyone seen of or made a front derailleur cover for a standard Ultegra/Dura-Ace frame-attachment? It’s certainly down the list of things to pay attention to after; frames and hydration and wheels and position and clothing etc, but it seems silly to leave what might be a watt just hanging out in the air.
If nobody has manufactured one, I might tinker around and build one myself. Suggestions?
I’m aware that RALtech built a RD cog housing which solves part of that problem, but the more dynamic nature of that piece of equipment seems to preclude a neat solution for it.
I wasn’t - I was thinking merely about something round with a tail to cover the ugly frame attachment on my 2x FD - since hills are a feature of most NZ triathlons there’s little point running 1x.
But your suggestion is a very good one for any flat courses.
I don’t think it would be legal. At that point, you are adding a fairing to a part of the bike. So it probably has not been done because of: very small potential gain, possibility of getting a DQ if/when noticed.
Fair enough. It seems silly to throw speed away, however. I’m guessing that a functional device would be more than legal, in the way that TriRig’s brakes are.
Perhaps construct it in a way that it would fall under the guise of a chain catcher? If it was for Di2, I sort of envision it as encompassing most of the upper section of the FD and basically being a small fairing since the top doesn’t, unlike mechanical.
I can remember reading somewhere here that the Front Der. accounts for minimal to zero drag in the wind tunnel. Meaning, a removed FD on a bike running 1X10/11 showed no difference in Aero compared to one that was there as usual.
“This bolt-on mount adds a few grams of weight compared to a riveted mount, but as you’ve shown, lets you neatly run a single ring and leave off the derailleur and mount. FYI: that FD mount alone has more drag than the whole down tube.
Damon Rinard, Cervelo Senior Technologist”