TT bike rules question

I’ve been slowly working through the older podcasts. All of the 40K TT episodes have inspired me to try our state TT this year.

Where do you find the rules for TT bikes? I spent this morning searching the USAC rule book and under the “bikes” section couldn’t find anything other than the restriction of mass start bikes not having forward extensions. In the section on individual TT couldn’t find anything on equipment. I heard Nate talk about TT bikes having to fit in a certain “box” for measurements. In more casual conversation I’ve heard people reference that certain triathlon bikes don’t meet TT rules. I don’t want to buy a bike (searching used) and find out that it isn’t legal.

Look for the equipment rules section of the UCI web site. Indeed there are triathlon bikes that don’t meet UCI TT bike rules.

UCI:

Starts at Page 33

USAC:

Starts at Page 26
https://s3.amazonaws.com/imm-usac-uat-bucket-16e9mh4tuo6kc/documents/Rules-Policies/USACycling_RuleBook_Upload.pdf

Note that USAC follows UCI rules for Bike Setup.
With regard to the frame and fork itself, if it has the UCI legal sticker then it should be fine. The question of UCI legal setup is mainly in the saddle to bottom bracket distance, nose of saddle to end of extensions (including shifters at furthest point), saddle angle, and arm pad to highest point of extensions (including shifters at highest/lowest point).

1 Like

Thanks, that helps. Is there a list of approved frames since most ads I see don’t show the UCI stickers?

Usually if you just search actual bikes in google and see the product website it will say in the description that it is or not UCI legal

2 Likes