Plapp seems to have one of the best setups currently.
Very fast, well built frame without disc rotors, slowing it down
Fast bioracer skinsuit, probably custom. The best riders obviously have Vortec. Bigham claimed it as 14W faster than his previous skinsuit.
Good overshoes, probably wind tunnel proofed, Bioracer probably
Decent, generic, full forearm contact aerobar from Aerocoach. Could be faster potentially with Speedbar, but not by much
1x aero chainring (Pyramid?) with good chainline
Ceramic Speed OSPW to get 1W more
Waxed and powdered chain
View-speed skewers
Not sure about wheels and tires
Radio on his chest !!! Supposedly faster than on the back.
Was that testing with a rider or the bikes in isolation? What yaw angles or averaged? Sorry for dumb questions…5w doesn’t sound a lot for bike that’s known to be fast at v low yaw angles vs one that’s marketed as faster through corners and up hills.
Recently I’ve been messing with some different fits and setups. I run a Aerocoach setup on my Trek and even with the lowest stem and riser, I still feel I could be lower in the front. Recently, Aerocoach advised they will be making a 22mm shorter stack adapter. Anyone think 22mm lower stack could be ideal for my setup?
Your position looks crazy fast. You should definitely feel out if the lower front reduces your ability to produce power. It might be a zero sum or negative trade off.
Absolutely… “low is slow, narrow is aero”, was what I was told when at the tunnel. What’s deceiving in the picture is I did that race with no padding in the arm cups to help get lower. It’s ok for 20ish mins, after that it hurts if the road is bumpy.
With the lower adapter, I could add the padding and still be a tad lower.
Whilst you probably already know that only aero testing can answer your question, if you somehow feel you can produce good power with an even tighter hip angle, you should give Xav some more cash. No one else could possibly comment.
Good excuse to get a sweet pic of your setup posted
I guess you posted this tongue-in-cheek! Anyways, in answer to your question, I think lower stack would not work. I think a rider in this position would be better raising their head so the back of the helmet (and the rider’s back) slope down at maybe 5-10 degrees. To make this work, you’d increase the stack and increase the arm angle to keep the gap between hands and head to a minimum.
As a fringe-benefit, the rider might be able to see up the road too
Hoping to run some A:B tests with helmets - and then testing the taping method on the Tempor.
Apparently, it’s to do with channeling the air through the front vent to the sides more effectively. Am waiting on some more details, but will report back when I’ve had a go!
