I purchased:
TT Bike - when I realized I was going to do multiple IM races
Aero Helmet - when I realized it is one of the cheapest ways to increase your speed
Race Wheels - when I started to miss Sprint/Oly podium spots by seconds
and IMO a good bike fit and a power meter trumps the helmet and wheels.
What looks silly to me is when I see someone on the latest and greatest $10,000 tri bike with 6 inches of spacers under the stem
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I bought my TT bike (Speed Concept with Enve 8.9s) when I had a top 75 bike split at Lake Stevens on a Kestel Talon with a TT cockpit (21.75mph average, 2:34)… Sadly that bike was totaled 4 weeks after Whistler (9 weeks after if was built) by a drunk driver/hit and run and I never got to ride it to its full potential.
I remember reading (in reference to general road cycling), that aero gains start really showing at 12 mph. Not that they weren’t present before. I also believe that aero drag reduction really starts exponentially growing at 22 mph wind velocity. So there are some “numbers”, but it’s not like they are entry points to make it worth getting aero equipment. Just some generic points on a curve where things start to stand out. (Note, riding 18 mph into a 7 mph headwind is the same drag as a 25 mph speed in stagnant air)
Now that being said, the actual speed benefit starts to shrink as you go faster. Takes more work to get back just a little less. Plus at slower speeds, you’re on the course longer, so technically there is a big savings for that MOP rider or even the BOP rider.
The bike is worth it. If you do tri, get the bike. Im probably ~1mph faster on my trip bike.
Aero helmet is cheap (paid 50 bucks for a old stock Giro advantage 2 at an LBS). Can maybe save you .25-.5 mph
Wheels aren’t cheap, but I bought a set for my road bike and tri bike. I use the hell out of them so worth it to me. Going to get you some free speed to.
So as an 18 mph rider, you buy all those things, you are going to be flirting with 20 mph. Is 20 mph a place where it’s okay to look aero?
First time I wore an aero lid and rented wheels, I was shooting for 20 mph in a sprint. When I went back and looked at the results, 22 mph. I was sold from that point forward.
*not really dealing with aero, but in regards to value of equipment. Powermeter before wheels. Engine is still the most important and speed is too variable of a metric. I’ve had my power meter for a month and it gets way more attention than my wheels or even helmet.
Every time I wear my aero helmet a little peice of my younger cooler self dies on the inside lol.
There’s no magic speed above which you should start looking at aero. If you have any forward movement of the bike, think about optimizing your aerodynamics. Body position will have the biggest impact, and it should address all of the other aero variables. There also is a hierarchy of return on aero investment, if you need to parse out your spending over time. Focus on your position ** and decide to upgrade when you have the funds and if you want further optimization. Even the slowest back of the pack rider will benefit from aero considerations–and the slower you are, the more time gains you’ll realize.** Have a lot of watts helps mitigate a whole bucketful of aero sins; if you don’t have the watts, by all means work to increase them, but don’t discount positional and equipment changes that will help you use what you have more effectively.
Nope, no special speed threshold for aero.
And most aero stuff looks really, really silly. But then, I started racing in the early eighties, when standards for aero were very different than today. Embrace the silliness–at least you’ll be off the course sooner 
thread should have ended here.
I remember reading (in reference to general road cycling), **that aero gains start really showing at 12 mph. **Not that they weren’t present before. I also believe that aero drag reduction really starts exponentially growing at 22 mph wind velocity. So there are some “numbers”, but it’s not like they are entry points to make it worth getting aero equipment. Just some generic points on a curve where things start to stand out. (Note, riding 18 mph into a 7 mph headwind is the same drag as a 25 mph speed in stagnant air)
it’s not exponential as it’s actually a cubic relationship btwn speed and watts to overcome aero drag at that speed.
22mph just happens to be a speed at which many could maintain for long durations (at least an hour), but the tipping point occurs long before 22mph. Even at 17mph, the difference btwn quite damn aero (CdA of 0.20) and relatively aero (CdA of 0.25) is about 15 watts. The reason why people often quote speed in the 20s is because that’s where the additional mph because increasingly difficult to obtain as you’d need about 15% increase in power for that additional mph, which is quite hard if you need to ride at threshold just to maintain speed in the low or mid 20s.
the 12mph is often quoted as that’s the speed at which watts to move the additional mass of the aero equipment against gravity is offset by the aero gain.
In terms of what one should do to get aero, i’d throw in good clothing in the list long before race wheels. Race wheels are really more form than they are function when one analyze benefit and cost.
All my non-triathlete friends who see any picture of a guy/girl with aero bike/helmet/wheels (me included) are impressed - they say “wow - they look FAST!” Even if it’s a run of the mill MOPer!
Who looks sillier in this picture? The BADASS mo fo at the front, or the guy behind on a road bike who probably swam 2 minutes faster than me?! Keep swimming chump!! I’ll stay dry instead and buy a badass aero helmet, 80mm front and disc.
How can you look like Clint Eastwood in Firefox and not be TOTALLY BADASS? BAD… ASS…
(some of the above may be considered pink. some.)
I don’t think aero looks goofy in a race environment. Now wearing it on a training ride or some other place just completely out of place, yes it looks goofy.
Mr Obvious here, but gotta say it again -
If you’re not at least top 10% in transitions, you’re likely throwing away all your aero gains from $10k of aero gear in races short of an Ironman by giving up that free speed.
I can’t tell you how many AG triathletes I see with the latest and greatest aerobike and all the aero toys, yet they’re put puttering around in transition in an Oly or sprint where every second counts.
Yes, I know aero works even if you’ve got slow transitions, blah blah blah, but it’s just idiocy for me to justify a $10k bike if you’re losing all the time back because you were too lazy to practice transitions to get them to a decently fast degree.
I recently bought an entry level TT bike as a reward to myself for being able to hit a certain average speed in the bike segment of Olympic distance races. This got me thinking, what speed were people at before they started upgrading their bike equipment? The main 3 I’m wondering about are the TT bike, disc/race wheels, and aero helmets (lets be honest, you look silly going 18mph in an aero helmet).One other note - a TT bike, for some athletes, is the difference between an Ironman finish and a DNF. Go to any Ironman and hang out at the bike cutoff and at the finish line at midnight - there are always at least a few athletes who will get pulled off the course who otherwise would have finished had they simply been riding a triathlon bike in the aero position.
I’ve seen numerous examples where coaches encouraged their healthy, capable athletes to train on and ride road bikes in an Ironman and that decision cost the athlete a finishing time or put them in serious danger.
Comfort rules. Find the most aero position you can maintain for the vast majority of your projected most-common race distance, and then buy equipment sequentially that you can afford, silly looks be damned. I tested my first tribike recently, after detailed fitting by the trishop owner. At 55 yoa, I quickly concluded that months of work would be required to POSSIBLY be able to maintain the bike’s required position. Oh, I drooled over that lovely bike, but pain has a way of clearing one’s senses. You will see me on the course on a new domane; custom-fitted, admiring your bike as you pass me, and I will be able to work without pain come Monday- at 65 yoa, or more, God willing. But I’m gonna rock a rear disc, and sit up to drink, just for the looks i’ll get. How would Ferdinand the Bull ride tri? With a smile, and he would not pee in his pants. Peace, my friends.
One other note - a TT bike, for some athletes, is the difference between an Ironman finish and a DNF. Go to any Ironman and hang out at the bike cutoff and at the finish line at midnight - there are always at least a few athletes who will get pulled off the course who otherwise would have finished had they simply been riding a triathlon bike in the aero position.
I’ve seen numerous examples where coaches encouraged their healthy, capable athletes to train on and ride road bikes in an Ironman and that decision cost the athlete a finishing time or put them in serious danger.
I think if you go so slow that you’re coming up on the bike limit, you’re going what, 22kmh average? Say you have a rolling course, then you might spend alot of that time going under 20kmh, at which point, if I’m not mistaken, you are getting to the point where while aero still matters somewhat, rolling resistance and weight start becoming more of a factor, relatively speaking. I’m trying to find a chart which graphs all these different forms of resistance as speed increases/decreases but I can’t find it. Perhaps the speed is much lower than 20kmh.
That’s not to say you can’t focus on those factors and focus on aero at the same time, but we all like to say that aero matters always (I say it myself as well), but for the BBBOP athletes, it really might matter alot less.
On a rolling course aero is even more effective.
Because what goes up (slowly in my case) must come down (this is where I excel).
Holding the speed in between certainly is helped by being a little more aero.
At least that’s my theory.