Lets say there is a 22 mile flat course and you bike it in 60 minutes using a regular road helmet.
How much faster time wise would you have gone using a aero helmet?
Same course above and you bike it in 60 minutes with zipp 606 wheelset (tubular).
How much faster time wise would you have gone using a zipp disc wheel in the rear instead of the 808?
Lets say there is a 22 mile flat course and you bike it in 60 minutes using a regular road helmet.
How much faster time wise would you have gone using a aero helmet?
Same course above and you bike it in 60 minutes with zipp 606 wheelset (tubular).
How much faster time wise would you have gone using a zipp disc wheel in the rear instead of the 808?
1 minute using the 606, 1.10ish using the 909 combo.
Helmet 30secs to 1.30
Using a Power meter and a lot of repetitions I found a helmet is good for about 15-20 seconds per 10K. I found a front 60mm was worth about 10-12 seconds and a rear 60mm with a wheel cover was about 12-15 seconds per 10K. Combined effect of wheels about 20 seconds. Adding the aero helmet nets you another few seconds but not as much as it measures when you just add the helmet.
Training wheels were just 32/36 spoke box rims with butyl tubes and conti training tires. Race wheels were Mich ProRace 2 with latex tubes, so some of the speed benefit of the race wheels was in the tires and tubes.
If you are using tubulars on the wheels then they better be fast tubulars and well-glued or you might actually be losing some speed compared to your clincher training wheels.
Chad
There’s a really good article in the September '05 or '06 Bicycling! magazine. They interviewed the MIT team that won the NCAA team time trial. The MIT team had acces to a low speed wind tunnel. I’m getting old, so I may be remembering incorrectly, but here what they said.
Aero helmet was the first place to save time. More than a front wheel and about 25% of the cost.
Aero front wheel next
Then disc rear.
No gloves!
Ride where the car’s tires go. The rubber from the tires makes that the smoothest part of the road.
The article is worth reading.
Check out: http://www.tri-talk.com/Top20.asp
Breaks down time saving on a number of different items.
My real world experience - same courses, same amount and type of training, same bike, only difference was added a Spiuk Aero helmet, 2007 to 2008:
Oly Tri: 2 min 30 s (1 hr 5 min, flat course)
HIM: 6:00 (2:35, rolling course)
IMCDA: 13:00 (5:59)
I don’t have a power meter in my hub, so I can’t give watts comparisoss, but I’m in my late 50s, so I doubt I’m getting faster/stronger.
Can I add another factor in there (if I may be so bold). I also see (and have also done) several racers in HIM and IM’s wearing cycling jersey’s that fit much looser than say a tri-suit. What is the time savings for wearing a tri-suit versus cycling jersey…any research on that?