gmh39

so i looking at racing for my school next season and almost all the races include some sort of TT, whether its an ITT or a TTT. however, i dont and wont have the $$ to buy a separate bike for TTs. What can i do to my current road bike to make it better suit TTs?

Hoge

chasingcars191

hey gmh39, one big upgrade you can make is to buy clip on aero bars, that will make a huge enhancement to your aerodynamics without investing a lot into a full tt bike. You can find some great deals for them on ebay. You also can upgrade your wheels to a more aerodynamic rim. Those can get very expensive, but like the aero bars i'm sure you can find some great deals on ebay. Hope this helps.

FreddyV

If you want to go all the way, please note that frame geometry is slightly different from road bikes as well...

spartan_msu

Profile designs makes a seatpost called the "fast forward" that can be used to change regular road bike geometry into TT geometry. They come in both aluminum and carbon. Look them up on ebay.

Jaeger

Yep, in order - aero bars, a forward angled seatpost and if you can afford them, aero wheels, aero helmet and a skin suit.

With those in place you can get most of the benefits of a dedicated TT bike without forking out the $$$ for a stupidly expensive one. The main thing to concentrate on is getting into a good aero tuck - remember that the aero drag of the rider is a much bigger factor than the bike.

Creakyknees

Jaeger summed it up well.

The big missing piece for most riders is LOTS of time on the TT bike, doing TT intervals, on the TT bars.

Jaeger

Just to follow up on this topic, check out this post in the racing forum.

There's a good example of a steel road bike being used in Time Trial:


It's a regular steel road bike frame but set up for a good aero position. Good enough to win a state championship.

Keith S

Can you recommend a company that makes a good clip on set of aero bars?

Val23708

vision. you can get them on ebay for less than 1/2 msrp