There’s a local multi-sport stage race that includes a road bike leg that is a 22 mile mostly-downhill time trial. Some coworkers and I will be forming a Clydesdale team in the Business division.
This is my excuse to build up a fun/funny/cheapskate aero bike.
Option 1 is to time-trial-ify my mini velo. Remove fenders, add narrow tires, get some BMX 20" aero wheel covers, etc. Challenges include that because of the small wheels I’ll need to find a massive chainring -I have a 54 now and that is very easy to spin out. Upside is it will look hilarious which I am definitely not trying to be too serious about this.
Option 2 is to find a road frame and build up something specific. Ideally I can find some wheels with at least a bit of a deep rim -all the better to add large gaudy graphics or paint scheme. It would be awesome to find a frame with some huge aero tubes too.
Either way I plan on some silly paint.
DQ: sizing- I typically ride a 56. I assume if I stick with drop bars that is good. But what if I want to use some aero bars -what size frame should I look out for?
DQ2: Should I homebrew some plastic aero fairings if my frame has normal round tubes?
DQ3: Should I homebrew a helmet extension too?
I assume you don’t want to bother with new saddle position for this so road bike fit would probably be easier. Definitely clip on aero extensions. Even it it’s for fun, can’t hurt to be fast and that’s free speed. Can you sort of ride your current road bike with your forearms on the bar tops? If so then maybe those Cinelli Spinaccis for cool factor.
You should definitely make an aero helmet by adding a bll case fairing to it. I’d also consider trying to vinyl wrap to a deepish rim over the spokes for maximum lightweight gaudiness. Probably wouldn’t hold up too long but would be an interesting experiment. I’ve got some deda deep drops from the sweet fixie days I’ll donate to your efforts.
There’s a local multi-sport stage race that includes a road bike leg that is a 22 mile mostly-downhill time trial. Some coworkers and I will be forming a Clydesdale team in the Business division.
This is my excuse to build up a fun/funny/cheapskate aero bike.
Option 1 is to time-trial-ify my mini velo. Remove fenders, add narrow tires, get some BMX 20" aero wheel covers, etc. Challenges include that because of the small wheels I’ll need to find a massive chainring -I have a 54 now and that is very easy to spin out. Upside is it will look hilarious which I am definitely not trying to be too serious about this.
Option 2 is to find a road frame and build up something specific. Ideally I can find some wheels with at least a bit of a deep rim -all the better to add large gaudy graphics or paint scheme. It would be awesome to find a frame with some huge aero tubes too.
Either way I plan on some silly paint.
DQ: sizing- I typically ride a 56. I assume if I stick with drop bars that is good. But what if I want to use some aero bars -what size frame should I look out for?
DQ2: Should I homebrew some plastic aero fairings if my frame has normal round tubes?
DQ3: Should I homebrew a helmet extension too?[/quote]
Inappropriate TTing is my thing.
DQ: Typically TT bikes are a couple of CMS shorter than road bikes, in my experience anyway.
Minivelo. That would rock. You might be surprised at how fast it was. I cant find this guy from my IG, but he races them with disc covers front and rear.
They seem to be these pink ones: https://www.instagram.com/p/BTq0L7xAniZ/?taken-by=miniveloatelier
Strapping on some aero bars would be a no-brainer. You could possibly mess with stems to get your position right but if its mostly down-hill, clipping your knees on the pads when climbing shouldn’t be an issue.
I am not sure what you could do about the big ring. Its not like you find stuff larger than a 54/56 lying around in parts bins eh? More likely you could try a some kind of hack involving one of the stupid small 1x sprockets like a 10 or a 9 tooth, but I guess that would mean XD driver ?
Serious discussion: most of your aero penally comes from your frontal area and drag from your head, body, and shoes. Tape up a helmet, wear a skinsuit or actually tight stretchy clothes, and get some shoe covers.
Next step is to reduce your frontal area, which is what those aero bars are for. There’s some pretty lulzy deer antlers out there you can find pretty cheap.
Wheel covers and shit are great once you’re looking for that last 1% or looking for something with pictures of naked dudes or cheese wheels or pizza.
Tc: I don’t TT but got tired of crotchety triathletes whining about non aero Garmin placement and I did some research.
definitely aero bars. you want a shorter stem than you would want with road bars, by several cm. it’s worth having your elbows at a 90 deg angle on the aero bars to distribute some weight through your elbows so you aren’t reaching so much. and you probably want your saddle higher and slightly forward to avoid hitting your knees on your chest. these are easy adjustments since this is a purpose built bike and youre not fucking around with an existing bike.
basically if you have 1) aero front wheel, 2) aero bars, 3) aero helmet - you’ve gotten 90% of the way there. ideallly on the most hilarious looking bike possible…
You basically want to rotate your entire body forward around the bike. Don’t fuck with a road fit. You want the saddle as far forward as possible. Having something smaller will definitely help with this. Shortening the stem as Amy mentioned will help handling.
Even tho you get more aero effect from the front, if you mess with disc covers, probably best just to put them on the back. The gyoscopic effect of shit on the front and flakiness in cross winds can be scary, although generally speaking, big guys cope with that stuff better. If there is a lot of DH you dont want to make the transition from drops to aeros to large if its going to hinder your confidence on the descent.