TT bars and positioning

[David Martin]

I have put some clip on TT bars on the road bike in an attempt to get a better profile.

Up until a few days ago I was finding them difficult to use for various reasons (spare tyre being the prime issue). This leads to using core muscles to hold the body and arms in position, and a subsequent loss of power. Poor posture, pore positioning = slower.

So I shoved them forwards a bit. A good bit. Great. And then experimented with getting my body forwards.  Suddenly bingo, a comfortable position where all my body weight is taken through the arms on the arm rests, and I can concentrate on getting the bike going faster rather than trying to hold a poor position from being even worse.

One minor drawback. The saddle is still in the normal position so is, shall we say, somewhat uncomfortable when you are sat right on the tip of the nose (perineum, he say OUCH!).

So, a Fast Forward seatpost is on order to shift the saddle forwards somewhat.

Have I suddenly discovered magic? Are most people who just clip on some aero bars not really doing themselves any favours wrt body position or am I just weird?

..d

[Ian H]

You'll probably have an illegal bike under UCI rules, though I don't think the CTT bother about such things.

[David Martin]

You'll probably have an illegal bike under UCI rules, though I don't think the CTT bother about such things.

Maybe not. There is a '5cm in front of the BB rule, is there not? That still gives me some margin to play with.
And we don't ride under CTT rules but under UCI as it is SC not CTT who run the TT up here (Except for the TLI ones).

And seeing as my times are challenging only to the capacity of the timekeepers stopwatch, I don't think anyone really gives a damn. There would be hell to pay if the commisaire decided to weight the bikes at the local stage race..

..d

[Craig]

Maybe not. There is a '5cm in front of the BB rule, is there not? That still gives me some margin to play with.

Nose of the saddle 5cm behind the bottom bracket isn't it? (which my distinctly non TT bike might actually break, because the saddle has a rather long nose).
And the handlebar must not extend more than 75cm in front of the BB.

Plus a variety of other rules introduced just to ban Obree's positions...

[David Martin]

Maybe not. There is a '5cm in front of the BB rule, is there not? That still gives me some margin to play with.

Nose of the saddle 5cm behind the bottom bracket isn't it? (which my distinctly non TT bike might actually break, because the saddle has a rather long nose).
And the handlebar must not extend more than 75cm in front of the BB.

Plus a variety of other rules introduced just to ban Obree's positions...

Yebbut there are exceptions. If you want you can apply for a morphological exception but have to show that the front of the knee is behind the pedal spindle when the cranks are horizontal.  Easy to get through though if you are anywhere when the comms might check it you should declare your intent to get such an exception at sign on. Of course where you sit on the saddle during this test may not be an entirely accurate reflection of where you sit to race.

And handlebars can extend to 80cm if you can show that they are not at the limit of your arms reach with an elbow angle of 120 degrees or less.

..d

[gonzo]

If you ride an airone, consider turning it through 180° so the tail points forwards.

Lots of discussion about it all here:
BikeTechReview.com • Information

[Jedrik]

You might have a look into "Coach's Corner": Training

It has gotten generally useful advice and in this case pay special attention to

Tech Center and the following article especially deal with bars apt for "ordinary road bikes". I bought my second set of bars following that advice and am much happier with those.

[David Martin]

So I now have a new seat pin. And with some careful adjustment it seems as if I have just managed to get the saddle position to within UCI regs (when looked at through a glass darkly.) Front of knee is fractionally behind teh pedal spindle, and the bum is properly supported.

The 5cm behind rule is ignored as I am claiming a morphological exception.

..d

[gonzo]

Detailed rules as to what you can do here;
http://www.usacycling.org/forms/officials/BikeMeasureForCommissaires101.pdf

David; is your saddle tip in front of the BB centre?

[David Martin]

Detailed rules as to what you can do here;
http://www.usacycling.org/forms/officials/BikeMeasureForCommissaires101.pdf

David; is your saddle tip in front of the BB centre?

bang on, or marginally over (2-3mm) ... I have yet to get the final seat height sorted out and it will only move backwards. If I have to adjust it further back then I will have to get a new seat post. I have just swapped a fairly standard one for a fast forward one with the saddle pushed right back.

However, it would be a really arsey official who would call me on it as I only ride the local series and challenge for the position of just in front of the lanterne rouge. I am about 40% off the pace of the winners.

I've not come last in a TT yet, but it isn't far off.

..d