Hi All,
Question regarding road bike vs. tri bike RPE. I recently switched from a road bike to tri bike. I was profesionally fit at the LBS on both and both bikes feel comfortable when riding. I have noticed that RPE is much greater on the tri bike than the road bike for the same power output. Question for you all, will my RPE and power output on the tri bike eventually catch up to that on the road bike as my muscles adjust to producing power in a different range of motion or should I tweak my tri bike fit at the cost of a less aero position. The tri bike is currently set up in a fairly aggressive riding position. Thanks in advance for your advice!
First question would be what sort of fit knowledge does your LBS have? Unfortunately there are a ton of bike shops out there that are offering “professional fits” which just means you’re paying for a guy to make stuff up based on what he saw in the magazines that he browses when the shop is slow…
I trust very few people to do a good fit. So far I think the list is me and Todd Carver at retül. So, there is a possibility that you fit is bad, but there is also a possibility that your body just needs to adjust. If you are a triathlete who uses a road bike for training you should have your two bikes set up to compliment each other. If you’re a roadie who does the odd triathlon then you fit needs are different still. Off hand I would say that there is too much that isn’t known to answer this question well.
Also, how do you know you will be less aerodynamic if you move your position into one where you have lower RPE? Not always, but often there are things that you can do to optimize a position for what works for a rider and get them close to as aero as a position that is marginally less workable for them. And unless your shop has a wind-tunnel, then you can only trust so much of what they say unless they have the tunnel experience to back it up (aerodynamically speaking).