Not one of the dudes, but I always thought Caroline Steffen has one of the best bike positions around (male or female).
Andi Bocherer looks the best, he’s low enough for small frontal area but comfortable enough to ride 4:25
Faris look the worst, hands too low, scrunched up.
I am impressed that you guys can make decisons based on one pic and without feetback form the athletes why this position.
It’s not that hard really. The results speak for themselves.
- Raelert
- Dirk
- Crowie
I completely disagree about Raelert. In my opinion he has one of the better positions.
He looks upright because of the picture being off kilter. A better signal of his “lowness” is the fact that most of his head/helmet is not above his back.
His seat height looks good if he is a naturally toes down rider. If his foot position is a result of the saddle height, then obviously it could come down some.
Jacobs also has his shoes unfastened. Looks like he’s prepping for T2. Maybe he’s spinning it up to get his legs ready for his run.
Well spotted on the shoes. However looking at the shadows, the full bottle on the down tube and on the back, I’d suggest that he’s probably just out of T1.
I am impressed that you guys can make decisons based on one pic and without feetback form the athletes why this position.
I put the disclaimer in the opener. Agree that there are a lot of variables at work here, but nothing wrong with looking and discussing. that’s what the forum is for.
I’m gonna hold off judging their positions until my engine is as big as theirs. Just sayin’
Be sure to let us know when…
what is that cover on Andreas Raelert shoe from the top of his foot around the front then joining to the pedal.
.
I’ll be all over it.
The other reason I kinda just don’t want to say anything is that IM bike positions are kinda comfort driven as well. I don’t know the statistics but I see Chris Lieto get killed every year after wasting people on the bike and it tells me that bike position and output is only sweet if you can improve it without hurting your run.
I think that the comfort versus speed argument applies more to MOP age groupers and below. If your an Age group FOP or Pro then you should basically find the fastest position and train until it becomes comfortable. I think Lieto’s issue is much more related to the effort management throughout the race as opposed to bike position. Put it this way, if Lieto sat back in the ‘pack’ in a more ‘comfortable’ position, is he going to be able to run a 2.45 marathon? Nope.
Haha, point taken.
They would still sit on the nose even if you moved the saddle further forward (*you’d need to preserve the cockpit length as well).
Why is that? I’ve found in just tinkering with my own bike over the years that my body will always end up in the same spot in relation to the BB as long as the saddle is near the right spot. Moving it back or forth may make me move when I first sit down but in the long hall just determins how much seat is under my ass.
Agree. And I prefer more seat rather than less.
One thing people forget is that Andreas Raelert has been in the wind tunnel. His position is more tt the tri, narrow at the front with rounded shoulders with his head sitting pretty low in relationship to his shoulders which generally works out pretty fast. Look at Tony Martin his back is rounded and head is very low, shoulders norrow. I also know from personal experience is that the gains by having extension up are bigger than flat position, yes it would be faster with flat base bar but it’s small. Cyclist are now tending to go more upright and norrow. Same or better drag numbers and bigger power output. Tri guys generally go low due to big shoulders.