Ideas for road bike to TT conversion.

ecandl

This summer I am trying a couple of TTs and the bike portion of a triathlon in addition to road racing. I only have one bike and was wondering if anyone has found a quick and easy way to alter a road bike to make a passable TT rig? I have a pair of clip-on aero bars that I have used in the past but would like to try and make my setup more comfortable and aero. I've thought of purchasing a separate seatpost and saddle to make the switch quick and easy. Any pointers appreciated.

daveryanwyoming

Those two usually don't go together

Seriously, I did that all last season, clip on bars on my road bike for time trials. I tried the Profile Fast Forward seat post but didn't like the position and eventually returned to my normal road saddle positioning. I use a pair of Profile T2+ clip on bars, they're a good choice because you can adjust the pads to be pretty far behind your road bars. That's good for reducing cockpit reach and getting your upper arms square to your back. You don't want to be reaching too far forward with your arms, ideally you just lie down and support your upper body weight with your upper arms making roughly a ninety degree angle with your back.

The two big problems with a standard road bike are the longer top tube relative to a dedicated TT bike and the taller head tube which basically translates to a higher and less aero position. One trick to help you get lower is that some bars (like the Profiles I'm using) can be mounted above or below the road bar. I flip the clip on mounts upside down, reinstall the extensions and drop the elbow pads nearly 2 inches relative to the standard position. You've got to angle the bars just right if you try this approach or else your foreams will rub on the tops of your road bars and that would get annoying real fast. I've found this hang 'em low approach works if the bar extensions angle up a bit, IOW the elbow rests are a bit lower than the tips. Anyway it's something you can play with.

I spent a lot of time swapping clip on bars on and off last season during weekend stage races but it worked pretty well. I picked up a dedicated TT frame at the end of the season and even then I find I don't like the far forward saddle position though the top tube and head tube lengths are a lot better with the specialty frame.

Good luck,
-Dave

ecandl

So you didn't move anything other than putting on the aerobars? No change in anulation of seat? And it worked okay for you? The easier the adustment, the better for me.

daveryanwyoming

Yep. For a while I tried the other seat post with a second saddle mounted on it for a quick swap. But I just didn't like the position, felt less powerful, and just wasn't happy with that setup. So I just clipped the bars on, made sure they were adjusted properly and were secure so they wouldn't slip and then rode that way. I really hate messing with seat angle once I get it dialed in so I left that alone but tended to TT up on the nose of the saddle.

Keeping the swap simple and fast was real important for weekend stage races where a TT was often sandwiched between a road race and a crit. It was also helpful so that I could throw the bars on during the week for a bit of aero bar training time without a lot of hassle. I mounted them for a couple of weeks before a big 40K TT last August to really dial in the position and get lots of time in them but most of the time I just threw them on and pulled them back off again. BTW, I won my category riding the road bike with clip on bars in that 40 K last summer. You don't need a dedicated TT bike to post a decent time, but I'm hoping it gives me a bit more edge this year

-Dave