i think this is the first i’ve set-up as a TT bike…
I saw this earlier. Far be it from me to correct Dirk Friel…but I think this is a waste of a good road bike frame…only because it is set up as strictly a TT bike…I can understand slapping some clip-ons on a R2.5 (And have contemplated doing so for my next road bike iteration)…but not setting it up as a TT bike. The Soloist would even make more sense…or a dedicated aero TT frame…and Dirk can probably afford whatever kind of bike he wants…just seems a strange choice to set up in this way…
Still…it looks pretty damn nice…and I see he’s using some old-school s-bends…the Scott RCOs
Wouldn’t be my first choice for a TT bike. As a road bike however, that’s an entirely different story.
A Soloist woud make more sense is he wants a dual purpose bike.
His position looks really good on the bike, to my untrained eye. If the bike very stiff at the BB and a good position can be achieved, what’s the downside (despite the bike’s road geometry)?
Sure is a damn pretty ride!
b-
why? the jerk doesn’t get it. well, maybe the plastic bag on his head makes up for the slack seat angle-resulting high hbar position and the non-aerodynamic frame and fork…plus the jerk bets that thing handles great with all that weight over the front wheel.
jerk
But why would someone do that? The strength of the R2.5 is it’s weight and strength for a climbing road bike. Why set it up as a TT bike? Hmm, guess this could be taken from a hill climb TT? MAdison do you now if that is so?
“If the bike very stiff at the BB and a good position can be achieved, what’s the downside (despite the bike’s road geometry)?”
On the face of the issue, you are somewhat correct…and even the road geometry is no issue with turning this frame into a TT bike…plenty of us prefer more slack positions which require starting with road geometry…
Our “issue” (if you want to call it an issue, but that sounds too negative for what we mean…) is that there are more suitable frames, even from Cervelo, for a TT bike…To the best of my knowledge, the starting geometry of the R2.5 and the Soloist frames is exactly the same on paper…the Soloist makes more sense for a pure TT machine, as this bike is setup with full aero front end.
I’m just really curious what the variables were that caused Dirk to build his TT bike based on this particular frame…
Is that Dirk Friel? I was on the same cycling team with that guy once. Ultra-strong rider.
Yeah, I agree. That isn’t what the R2.5 was intended for and probably not at all optimal. A Soloist would have been a good choice though.
“I saw this earlier. Far be it from me to correct Dirk Friel…but I think this is a waste of a good road bike frame…only because it is set up as strictly a TT bike…”
I’m pretty sure this is his normal road bike adapted for this time trial (there’s no evidence to say it isn’t). VOS is an early season race, and it’s a fairly long drive from Boulder to Phoenix. I’m guessing he or the team thought that to save space they wouldn’t bring an extra TT bike. You see a lot of hybrid set-ups at VOS for that reason. You can look at the Subway team which did the TT on their road bikes with no changes.
Also, one poster said he’d just put a set of aerobars on his normal road bike, I think Dirk just took this one step further and swapped out the front end and adjusted his position.
I don’t think you can draw too many conclusions just from a picture. He may be at a race where you have to use one bike ( a least one stage race requires it), it may be a primarily uphill TT, he may not have his TT frame in yet, he may be setting up his position for a custom TT frame, etc.
Styrrell
Good point.
Nice set of Zipp 606’s, though.
I still have mine in the bedroom, still can’t stop looking at it - much to the GF’s amusement.
Agreed.
I think that many of the participants of this forum are way to obsessed with everything aerodynamic - bike frames included. What’s important is the body position and the power output for a short time-trial. The contribution of the frame to all of this in terms of a drag factor would be minimal if not insignificant. Perhaps there was a really steep climb somewhere in the TT and the extraordinary light weight of the R2.5 would really help.
Fleck
There was no restriction on using more than one bike and the course was dead flat.
Correct, its from the Valley of the Sun Stage Race. It was only a 12 mile dead flat TT. A lot of people around here went down there, but only brought one bike. With airline prices its really not worth bringing two bikes.
If it were a race that allowed only one bike…why go to the trouble of setting up the bike one way (full aero front end) and then have to change everything back over for the road race…the time involved in that is not insignificant…even for an experienced mech…seems to me slapping a set of clips on standard drops would be the appropriate way to go…and if it were primarily an uphill TT…I’d think the lessons of last year’s Alpe d’Huez TdF TT would inform on appropriate setups for such a race…
Your last point seems the most plausible of the three…
“Also, one poster said he’d just put a set of aerobars on his normal road bike, I think Dirk just took this one step further and swapped out the front end and adjusted his position.”
This is the only thing that made sense to me as I thought about it…it just seemed like a heck of a lot of work to swap front ends…for one early season race…
To counter Fleck’s charge that some are over concerned with aero this and thats…assuming you are referring to my posts…my point was…(and I was assuming that the above was, in fact the case, why go to all the trouble of swapping front ends on site…why not just go with clips…in effect…a SLIGHTLY less aero setup that probably wouldn’t make a hoot in hell’s difference in overall time??? In a similar situation I am saying I’d probably give up the potential of a minor aero advantage of the photo setup in exchange for the ease of simply adding and removing a set of clips…
On your last point I do agree - why NOT just put a set of clip-ons on the road bars. Takes 5 minutes and the gains from changing the entire front end around would be minimal. That I don’t really understand.
Fleck
No picture, no bike!