How much of a difference?
My road bike is 56 cm top tube, 11 cm stem
My TT bike 56 cm top tube, 6 cm stem.
Should I have a shorter top tube and longer stem (TT bike), or is it fine?
Hmmm, well, I hate generalizations but you’ve drawn me into one here:
On your TT and your triathlon position (which may be different from each other since you don’t run off your TT bike) I wager you will need a significantly shorter top tube than on your road bike.
Take me for example: New Orbea XLR8R compact frame with Record 10 bike- effective top tube length, 53cm.
New Guru Trilite Dura-Ace 10 bike with Easton aerobars, effective top tube 51 cm. But that only tells part of the story. The reach on the tri bike is WAY shorter than the reach on the road bike.
Sorry for not having any specifics, but that is the general gist I think.
TT bike 54 and an 80stem
road bike 55.5 and a 120 stem
.
…I don’t have to run afterwards…
I don’t claim to be an expert but I’ll give it a shot. Hard to tell from a picture but your torso/arm are a near perfect Slowman 90 degrees according to my protractor. A photo with your feet at 12/6 o’clock would be better to determine to determine your seat height. Dan recommends the 155ish knee bend angle. Personally I prefer 150 based at least upon what my body tells me, but it’s different for everybody. Your head isn’t giving us an honest lateral view so we can’t accurately drop a plumbline from your ear to see where it falls in relation to your elbow joint, but from what we see it’s a probably a safe guestimate to say you’re ballpark. I’m guessing that your at about an effective 76/77 degree seat angle. At least that’s what my protractor is telling me, but it’s hard to tell if there is projectional error based upon where the camera was placed.
If it feels right to you, then it probably is. If I was a betting man, I’d put odds that you’re pretty darn close.
That’s my $.02. Anybody else wanna take a shot.
“I’m guessing that your at about an effective 76/77 degree seat angle.”
I take that back. Just remeasured and think you’re a bit more shallow than that. Hard to be accurate with the grass around the wheels. But like you said you don’t have to run.
I’m around the 74 degree mark. I leveled the pic with the reference lines using photoshop (using a guide and the two axles as references)
I think what I’d like to be able to do is to put my elbows a bit more under me (closer to my chest and lower) to support my weight more with my bones. This would require an ergostem or a new frame, as the stem is as low as it goes. The head tube is about 14 cm.
Thanks man!
i’m trying to win the provincial TT next year, so I have to pay attention to details and try to get everything out of my position I can.
C’mon, I can take it…
“i’m trying to win the provincial TT next year”
Another Canuk? What province are you in?
Montréal, Québec, mon ami!
Are you in Ontario?
make yourself smaller in the front. if you are looking for every edge, try making as small of a hole in the wind with your body as possible( Head, shoulders, arms, etc.).
"Are you in Ontario? "
Oui. Love your city!