That’s interesting, thanks. Already got 25w to add to power, to if I can also shave 15-25w in cda… That’s beginning to make a big difference.
Well roughly €500 versus €10000 for a new top bike. The question is does it save enough watts that it is a good value proposition, or not enough watts saved that it is just throwing good money after bad.
I’m on a similar bike to OP. I am definitely weighing up my options. But a new bike does so much more than just aero improvements. Comfort, tubeless, adjustability etc.
This is interesting. Just to be clear. Your time savings are assuming no (significant) rider position changes. It is purely saying that if a new frame, handlebars and accessories like integrated storage save you 20w over your current frame, you’d be 4:50 faster?
And you reckon that the moving the OP from his planet x to a top bike could reduce his required wattage somewhere in the 40-50w range? Wild! I’ve always clung to the thought that position and clothing will really drive the CdA and the frame will be marginal (taking position as unchanged)
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EIE has what you want :
80mm / 28mm outside
There is a 88 / 25 too, not all brakes are able to take 28mm outside
All I assumed is that his CdA decreased with the new bike and calculated the time differences based on that. I made no assumptions about position changes.
It’s possible he could reduce his savings in the 40-50w range. I never got that much faster from all the aero work I did. I still rode the same times for 70.3 (2:15-2:20) but went from doing it on 255-265w to doing it on 215-225w. For IM I did get faster as my watts dropped and went from 5:07 at 205w to 4:56 at 188w - all avg power
10yr ago the bike was somewhere between 15-20% and maybe up to 23-24% on the highest end of the total drag package, now that we’re 8 generations removed from the OP’s bike, the current crop of bikes are closer to being 10-12% and 15% on the high end of the total drag package.
Or to put it another way today’s bottom rung aero TT/Tri bikes are ~ = to the fastest tri/TT bike from 8-10 yr ago. Today’s best TT/TRi bikes are miles, roughly 1.5-2.25 miles ahead of the average TT/tri bike from 10yr ago at the same power.
Or to put it another way, if you’re riding the 8-10yr old TT/TRI bike and it’s a mid pack to bottom pack bike aerodynamically, you ride the exact same power as someone on a modern TT/TRI bike the new bike will do 90km in the same amount of time as it takes you to ride 86-87km all other things being =
That’s a lot of extra kJ you had to burn on the bike that the new bike didn’t and 4 minutes is A LOT of time to make up on the run on FOP athletes. If they run a 1:27 you have to run a 1:23 to pull even.
Hope that helps to put things in perspective
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That is pretty awesome and depressing at the same time! Amazing engineering improvements but it has become a technological arms race and for those athletes that don’t want to play that game - tough cookies you’re not competing on anything that resemble an even playing field.
That Planet X stealth is over 15 years old, so our OP has brought a knife to a gun fight.
Many thanks for taking the time to respond so clearly. Appreciate your expertise.
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Hi everyone
I worked a little on the bike (rear bottle cage, cleaner front end, position).
I did my first TT this weekend. I finished the 22k (200m of elevation) in 32:27, 41.4km/h. 316W normalized power (308 average). There is elevation and the back of the loop was very windy, but the watts seems high for the speed (4iii unilateral powermeter).
I could certainly find better suit, socket and shoes…
But mainly, I think my arms are not far enough from my chest so my head stay high.
Any advice ? Better to change the stem, will it be better with a saddle more forward ?
Thanks a lot, your advices already allowed me to improve my 30min power record, and best rank in TT (first of my category, 6th overall).
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Much longer stem, flip it over to more horizontal and remove some spacers while your at it. Try to rotate your hips forward (might need a saddle change).
How is your comfort level? If that is how you typically sit on your saddle, I would consider sliding your saddle back by about 2 cm and then maybe reposting a photo of your new position.
You probably don’t want to hear this, but, based on your body size, your riding position, and the stack/reach of that bike, you probably need a bigger frame.
ps. you might get more input from others if you can flip your photo around …
My comfort is great like that. If I go backward on the saddle, I got hip pain.
I’ll certainly change the bike for a more recent one…but not this Season !
Have you tried to remove maybe one or two spacers under your armrests?
If yes, how did that feel? Can you post a photo of that?
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I took off one spacer and lower the angle of the bars on this one… I start feeling less comfort but don’t know if it’s better
It looks a little better.
But, for safety reasons, l would not sit that far forward on your saddle. That frame is not designed for you to ride that far forward.
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Hello!
After a season with this bike, I have the opportunity To buy a giant trinity. Its not the latest one, it comes with brake pad and ultegra groupset.
Ive got 2 doubt: it s a side M. My stealth is also a size M but I need more reach… Will the trinity be ok ?
I like the ability of the stealth To climb (live in the alps). Is the trinity also versatile ?
Thanks !!
Find the sizing charts for both bikes. Compare reach.
Do you know how much more reach you want? If so, some simple math will help you out. If not, the question is harder to answer.
Off the top of my head I think you have at least 50mm more reach that you could try and still be comfy. Increasing reach also typically has an outsized benefit on reducing drag.
Hope that helps
The Trinity is only a little longer reach (12mm) and a lot taller (38mm). The rim brake Trinity bars are not adjustable, so it ends up costing more to buy aftermarket parts to change the position.
You’re better to look for something that has a longer frame and easier adjustment
Thanks a lot
I effectively need around 5cm more length, but I need the handlebar to stay high because not much flexible…
Do you have frame advice ? A p2 maybe will suit better ?
You can see the Cervelo and BMC would give more length
Part of your problem is the clip on aerobars - when you tilt a clip on that has tall risers it moves the pads back a lot. So a taller frame will help, because then the risers will be lower which means the pads don’t move back so far.
The ideal would be an integrated bracket that has tilt, like the Profile Design A2 (FYI I work for Profile Design), because then you don’t move the pads back so much with tilting.
You would find that your position would be quite easy to achieve on a larger frame with the right bars, plus the frames mentioned above have more forward adjustment for the saddle.
As an example, you can see the increased fit range of the A2 bracket (orange) vs a clip-on (blue)
