A Time Trialing Thread

Great results and awesome pictures!
Pretty interesting to see how good the Aerohead performs on you. Might be a real consideration. The tempor is always a little bit of risky business. Performs amazing in the right position, but can be detrimental on a technical course, where you need to look ahead/around more.

The position in your pictures: can you see ahead?

Exactly… the tempor in position is fast but the AH might be a better choice for me in the real world.

And yes, I can see a couple of feet ahead :laughing:

:slight_smile:

Did you have anyone help you in the wind tunnel who specializes in bike fits and that type of stuff?

Yes, although I spent numerous hours on the trainer and some long days non stop in the saddle so my fit was somewhat decent.

I did fail to mention that we tried widening the arm pads with a theory of directing the air around my hips although each cm wider was costing me watts. I was fastest with my elbows touching.

:slight_smile:

Really happy to see the AH performs so well. Sort of confirms for me that it’s a safe go to for folks who can’t test.

Do you think those differences are because of fit or because of materials/fabric?

Definitely one of the best choices out there for those who cannot get testing done. Almost always tests fast, although perhaps not always the fastest.

Surprised how big of a difference the two skin suits were. I’ve always wanted to test some since it seems like people are often saving lots of watts there and it’s highly person specific

All of the suits fit me very similar. The NP and Velotec are size small and the Castelli is a very tight medium.y next suit might be another NP P1 but in size XS.

In the real word I’ve never set a time/speed PR with the castelli.

:slight_smile:

This is correct. It’s pretty much a go to helmet from what the wind tunnel operators said. Although from my testing it seemed critical to have the tail of the AH on or near the back.

:slight_smile:

I never realised there could be such a difference between high end suits. I’ve a NoPinz but its got some holes in it from a crash 3 or 4 years ago and as a club we are currently sourcing Endura Encapsulators which claims to one of the fastest I believe. With that and the damage to the NPz I expect a good few seconds. Lol, my best 10miles is only 26.7mph (26.3mph for 25miles) so perhaps I should expect too much :joy:

The pics and other data you have is :sunglasses:

Yes, it’s amazing the difference. One of the operators mentioned that a well known ex pro cyclist tested over 20 watts faster with a suit similar to the Encapsulator. I would love to find one for a reasonable price!

:slight_smile:

Interesting. I’ve a Velotec for bike and for triathlon a Castelli with elbow long sleeves. By feel am happy with both but not based on aero testing whatsoever.

Would have been interesting if you had done a test with lower aero socks or normal socks…

Sorry, 20w higher like he’s producing 20 more watts or higher as in 20 more watts of drag?

I worded it incorrectly… the rider saved 20 watts with the suit. Apparently it’s a very fast setup on the right person and position.

:slight_smile:

Yes, that would of been nice because I hate putting on the shoe covers but I never race without them and figured I should only test what I use in races.

One test I regret not doing was a test of the super high aero shoe covers vs the UCI legal covers. Most of the races I do never have UCI restrictions. I plan to get some high shoe covers and try them in the real world.

:slight_smile:

That last sentence is interesting. For me I saw no benefit (rather a slight increase in CdA, altho it was within the margin of error) when I moved my elbows completely together, but the position got quite unstable. Tested on an indoor velodrome in my case.
For reference: I am tall and lean with 186cm and 70kg.

I have the same issue with narrow elbows - as my elbows come together, I lose stability and back off, so become slower. I prefer not to crash :slight_smile:

Which tyres did you use? Did they meet the ~90-95% of max rim width “ideal”?
As you know, I have the same trispoke wheel, and I was going to run it with a 23mm Vittoria Corsa Speed, which comes up at ~25.5mm on the 27mm trispoke rim.

I assume the NoPinz P1 is the Pro-1. I wonder how well the Flo Suit would work for you?

I have to replace my Endura this year and the FloSuit with the pseudo custom fit is on my list. When GCN tested the custom fit over the off-the-rack version, they picked up 9w@30mph. Anything more than a couple watts makes the custom fit seem like a steal.