Where are the technical regulations regarding bike/equipment for Ironman?
Found a picture which I presume would be an illegal setup, but I cannot find the rules.
Section 5 of the competition rules…
Out of curiosity what is it you think makes this illegal?
My assumption is the aero thing of the back but considering people often keep water bottles and such back there I cant see any reason this is a problem.
The other possibility is the fox tail thing he’s wearing, but thats not the bike proper so Im guessing thats not what you’re asking about.
All that and the straw is sticking straight up……
.
All that and the straw is sticking straight up……
And he’s wearing a watch also!
(b) Fairings are prohibited. Any device added or blended into the structure that may decrease, or that has the effect of decreasing, resistance to air penetration, or that may artificially accelerate propulsion, such as a protective screen, fuselage form fairing or the like, is prohibited; (DSQ)
So the fox tail thing you could argue is a fairing but its not attached to the bike at all and I didn’t find anything in the rules about the tri-suit itself as the section above is bike specific.
Having not dealt with IM personally I don’t know how much they leave to interpretation but these seems like a possible grey area.
Out of curiosity what is it you think makes this illegal?
I am thinking about the thing he has on his back. The reason why I intuitively thought it was illegal is that there is a rule that prevents us from riding around like this. 
I know UCI (aka the fun police) have a huge document with very specific rules, but I cannot find what applies to Ironman/long distance non-draft events.
Out of curiosity what is it you think makes this illegal?
I am thinking about the thing he has on his back. The reason why I intuitively thought it was illegal is that there is a rule that prevents us from riding around like this.
I know UCI (aka the fun police) have a huge document with very specific rules, but I cannot find what applies to Ironman/long distance non-draft events.
Right; I get the UCI thing. Tri seems to be much more relaxed in its application of standards which allows for more experimentation.
Thats an awesome photo, I’ve never seen a skier like that before. Looks terrifying.
I know UCI (aka the fun police) have a huge document with very specific rules, but I cannot find what applies to Ironman/long distance non-draft events.
Because there isn’t a single set of rules worldwide for Ironman or iron-distance (different things). They *tend * to be run to the national federation rules of the location of the event. And many of those defer to the ITU / World triathlon rules. Which in part then defer to the UCI in parts…
But headline is pretty much anything goes with bikes for long distance so long as it’s not recumbent. The geometry rules are fairly lax and even then there’s a carve out for tall / short that means for anything you can buy off the shelf or that looks vaguely like that, however you set it up you’ll be fine.
The no-no are when you gaffer tape aero fairings onto that, or really take the piss with fitting a curved dustbin on the front and claiming it’s not a fairing but an oversized hydration bottle.
The rear bottle above is 100% fine. The fox tail he’s wearing isn’t unless he has it filled with gels and spare tubes in which case I reckon he’d be fine.
Back in the '90s some inventor made foam arm sleeves that were airfoil-shaped. They were pretty much instantly banned. Beyond aero helmets, strapping some fairing onto various parts of the body/kit is unlikely to be approved. The section below pretty much covers the “tail” on that suit.
“(m) Except as set forth below in Section 5.02(b), additional equipment that has the effect of reducing wind resistance is prohibited during the bike segment of the Race (whether such equipment is worn under the athlete’s clothing, over the athlete’s clothing, or is otherwise attached to the athlete’s body or the athlete’s bike); (DSQ)”
Aside: The one time I’ve seen an exception was my coach at the national TT championships (again in the '90s). He had a broken leg and got the doc to make the cast airfoil-shaped. The officials looked at it and basically said “but he has to ride with a broken leg” and let it go.
All that and the straw is sticking straight up……
And he’s wearing a watch also!
How many watts does a watch cost?
The reason why I intuitively thought it was illegal is that there is a rule that prevents us from riding around like this.
The 2nd law of thermodynamics?
All that and the straw is sticking straight up……
And he’s wearing a watch also!
How many watts does a watch cost?
Not too much I would say, but with the effort he went to with the rest of his kit, you would expect he is trying to save every single watt. From memory the wind tunnel testing Specialized did showed shaved arms make a difference. Would have thought a watch would disrupt the air more than hairy arms.
they should make a rule… you have to run with whatever you used on the bike except helmet or shoes 
Man, that looks so ugly. Fast is good, but let’s do that in style.
THAT ship has sailed…
https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/227460/?offset=75
About half way down is Xav Disley’s home grown helmet (and calf fairings). IIRC Xav was also trying tricep fairings and at some point (although not specifically aero related) looked at whether wrapping hands in something like boxing wraps and soaking them in alcohol to increase evaporative cooling would lead to a performance gain.
Hopefully the attachment also works…
I’m honestly impressed by what he’s looked at (and I also wouldn’t have the nuts to try that stuff in public!)
(b) Fairings are prohibited. Any device added or blended into the structure that may decrease, or that has the effect of decreasing, resistance to air penetration, or that may artificially accelerate propulsion, such as a protective screen, fuselage form fairing or the like, is prohibited; (DSQ)
The rule prohibiting fairings are difficult to understand what applies or not (in my view). If we look Vincent Luis aerobar its obviously made to decrease resistance to air penetration, as with many of the design features on an aero bike. But I also guess it is legal as no one has prohibited him from using it.
I know UCI (aka the fun police) have a huge document with very specific rules, but I cannot find what applies to Ironman/long distance non-draft events.
Because there isn’t a single set of rules worldwide for Ironman or iron-distance (different things). They *tend * to be run to the national federation rules of the location of the event. And many of those defer to the ITU / World triathlon rules. Which in part then defer to the UCI in parts…
My reason for asking is that I want to make a rear bottle holder which is more functional than my bottleholder under the seat. I want to make it as aerodynamically as possible, but of course within the rules. Hence my quest to find out what rules I can play within.
How is it decided what is illegal?
An example is this one:
