Hi All - Just wrapped up my first tri yesterday (Olympic) with my entry level road bike (2020 Giant Contend 3). I thought I did okay with 22 miles and 1147 ft in 68 mins.
Searching the forum most seem pretty split on clipping on aerobars to a road bike. I am doing IMLP next July … considering adding aerobars. Anyone want to share their thoughts? The way I see it I have 3 options:
Run my road bike as-is (professionally fit)
Add clip on aerobars and keep fit as-is … essentially bars will just provide me another position
Add clip on aerobars and get another pro fit to update geo to be more aero
Unfortunately, I do not have the $ for a tri bike. Thanks in advance for any input and advice.
I would absolutely suggest adding clip-on aero bars. The biggest aerodynamic gain is lowering your body into aero position compared to sitting upright. It’s a no brainer to me. Also a bike fitting was the single best purchase I have made in the sport of triathlon. That’s my opinion.
Definitely get the aerobars. The question you have to answer is whether you want to set up the position for being in the aerobars or a traditional road bike position. Which in turn depends on your long terms goal and how you use your bike.
Or you could figure out a fit that works for each position, take careful measurements, and switch back and forth depending on how you plan to ride the bike.
I would absolutely suggest adding clip-on aero bars. The biggest aerodynamic gain is lowering your body into aero position compared to sitting upright. It’s a no brainer to me. Also a bike fitting was the single best purchase I have made in the sport of triathlon. That’s my opinion.
^^^^^This.
No single change will make you faster than adding aerobars.
While it is ideal to setup your bike for riding in the aero position, it’s still much better to setup aerobars tuned to your current road position than not using them at all. Using clipons with your existing position (sitting on your sit bones vs. rotated forward onto your pubic rami) will result in a pad position that is higher up and further rearward than a dedicated TT position.
Here’s Taylor Knibb using just such a position at last week’s IM 70.3 Boulder:
Here’s what I did for my 1st IM… I went with clip-on aero bars. But also I got a lay-back seatpost and rotated it 180 degrees so the setback was forward - to push my saddle forward more (to fool the bike into having an effective steeper seat tube angle, like a tri bike does, to keep the hip angle open).
I used a Thompson Elite layback seat post. And a 2nd saddle. Then once set up I could simply swap in and out the 2 seat posts/saddle combos without all the faff of swapping saddles etc.
(Obvs only works if your seat post/ seat tube is round).
I’ve done two 70.3 on my Crockett 5 Gravel bike with clip on bars. Didn’t change the bike fit at all. It’s maybe not ideal for the Tri, but It was too much of a hassle to get a special fit just for the Tri. It’s the cheap and easy, better-than-nothing solution to just ride your road/gravel setup with clip-ons. Still allowed my to hit about 20mph on the 56 miles.
And I actually left the aero bars on the bike for all my road and gravel rides. I find that even on 60 mile gravel grinder in the Berkshires in the mud, there are always a few miles of hard pack or connecting roads where I can go into an aero position and get a few free watts.
Personally, I use the Redshift Switch seatpost on my roadbike, which allows you to flick the saddle forward and up on the fly into a more TT position.
The Redshift clip-on aerobars are also just slide on and off the handlebar clamps, making switching between road and TT use very easy.
IUIC, once the road position is fixed, there is no way to adjust only the TT position. Did you have to make any compromise in either road or TT position?
Personally, I use the Redshift Switch seatpost on my roadbike, which allows you to flick the saddle forward and up on the fly into a more TT position.
The Redshift clip-on aerobars are also just slide on and off the handlebar clamps, making switching between road and TT use very easy.
IUIC, once the road position is fixed, there is no way to adjust only the TT position. Did you have to make any compromise in either road or TT position?
The seatpost moves forward 50mm, and up 12 mm. You can change positions back and forth while riding - so you can access both positions. If you wish to finetune beyond this 50/12, you would have to compromise.
I haven’t changed my setup from the base road position, because that is probably when handling and setup is at a premium. I have a 70.3 coming up next year - I may optimize for the TT position in the lead up to that.
+1 for the redshift dual position seatpost with the aerobars to bring you up and forward. it’s easy to switch between positions on the bike and i see about a 2kph speedup
for bonus points adding homemade blips to the bar ends for shifting if you have etap or di2 makes things even better
+1 for the redshift dual position seatpost with the aerobars to bring you up and forward. it’s easy to switch between positions on the bike and i see about a 2kph speedup
for bonus points adding homemade blips to the bar ends for shifting if you have etap or di2 makes things even better
Yep, had always been happy with mech shifting, but deliberately went di2 on my latest roadie specifically for the ability to shift from the aerobars as well as the brifters. 5 port junction A makes it easy.
Hi All - Just wrapped up my first tri yesterday (Olympic) with my entry level road bike (2020 Giant Contend 3). I thought I did okay with 22 miles and 1147 ft in 68 mins.
Searching the forum most seem pretty split on clipping on aerobars to a road bike. I am doing IMLP next July … considering adding aerobars. Anyone want to share their thoughts? The way I see it I have 3 options:
Run my road bike as-is (professionally fit)
Add clip on aerobars and keep fit as-is … essentially bars will just provide me another position
Add clip on aerobars and get another pro fit to update geo to be more aero
Unfortunately, I do not have the $ for a tri bike. Thanks in advance for any input and advice.
Adding aero bars, as others have mentioned, will give you an additional option where you’re lower and more aero… but it won’t be ideal from a fit perspective.
I borrowed a bike box to fly to IM Wales in 2016 and made the mistake of not trial-packing my bike until a couple of days before my flight. Integrated seatpost meant the bike wouldn’t fit, so I had to scramble to get my road bike ready (wheels, saddle, pedals, cages etc) and managed to find a pair of Profile ZBS clip-ons at my local Performance store. Fitted them when I got to Wales, did one trial ride with them a couple of days before the race.
It was definitely nice to be able to get down and out of the wind on some of the exposed stretches of the course (and given some of the tight corners on the course, it was nice to have the shifters/brakes in the same place), but it was a compromise position-wise.
From your options above I would go with (3) or (2) in that order, or maybe (2.1) where you do your own fit tweaks until you can find a happy medium.
