Bike Madness Part II - The Bike Store

Visited Cville Bike & Tri yesterday to check start to learn more about TT bikes. Love the dudes at Cville Bike and Tri. They are very knowledgable and helpful. Yet somehow, I may have left the shop with more questions than answers. Actually not surprised at all by this. If I'm going drop several $Ks on a bike, I'm want to understand what the deal is pretty well.

So I got to try out two bikes. First up was the Giant TCR Trinity. The one I tried was the basic model with some Easton wheels and Shimano Ultegra components.

Nice bike. Felt cool to ride. Now, the qualifier is that this is the first time I have ever pedaled a TT bike before. So it felt pretty weird being in that type of a position. That's to be expected. I realized that trying to comapre these bikes based on feel is going to be challenging (OK, huge understatement), since the TT position is not supposed to be comfortable. It's supposed to be fast without causing actual pain. So, seemed like a pretty good bike. Very affordable price as well.

The second bike was the Specialized Transition Comp. Also very nice bike, but definitely not the entry model (carbon frame and Ultegra/105 components). Looked a lot like this one:

I liked how I felt on this bike a little better. But I can't say that I know why that is. The frame size might be a slightly better fit (I believe that is what Paul suggested). Maybe the seat was a little bit nicer. Maybe I was just getting used to riding bikes in that type of position.

Many more bikes to try and many questions to answer. Here's what seems to have come up so far:

Frames

What is more important in a frame aerodynamic design or material? What about weight? Many bikes offer bike models with most of the same aerodynamics in either aluminum or carbon options. Of course carbon is quite a bit more expensive, so the question becomes is carbon really worth it? The answer to that really includes what you mean by "worth it". Carbon is clearly better due to improved stiffness, a carbon frame generally will transfer more of the energy you use to pedal directly into forward propulsion instead of into flexing the frame. But how much is that worth to you?

Weight

Then there is weight. In general (though not always), when you make a bike more aerodynamic, you add a little bit more weight. This is because aerodynamic designs that mimic airpalne wings and fuselages tend to have elongated, smoother surfaces. Longer surface area means a little more bike material and thus a little more weight. But this is OK because the purpose of a TT bike is to get aerodynamic. It is all a quesiton of what you are going to use the bike for. TT bikes are designed to go mostly flat and mostly straight a fast as possible. Thus aerodynmics is most important. Weight seems to matter most in two areas - hill climbing and short sprints. In both of these cases the path to success seems maximizing to be power per weight (often measured in Watts/Kg). The higher this ratio is, the better you are at climbing and sprinting. Of course there are two ways to get better - more Watts or fewer Kgs. So for hills and sprints, obsessing over weight makes sense. But I'm not sure this is the case for a TT bike where you want to turn in a fast time over a flattish 50 mile course.

Components and Wheels

Oh yeah and by the way, it turns out that no matter what kind of bike you have, it might be pretty important to have aerodynamic wheels. And oh yeah, more relaible components may actually reduce the incidence of dropped chains and other shifting woes (which I have been dealing with all summer). So, you can buy a sweet ride, but if you go ghetto on the other parts of the bike, you are basically back at square one.

Fit

I've heard lots of folks ask - how does the bike fit? Well, it turns out this is not as easy a question to answer as you might think. Fit in a TT bike does not mean comfy. Comfy is how you describe this bike:

But you won't go fast on this bike. So fit in a TT bike really means - can you make the right adjustments to get into the most aero position possible. Which of course means you need to get the experts out with their tape measures, motion capture gadgets, computers and all the rest. For someone like me who is new to this game, I would not trust this decision on a feel. Not what this bike would be for.

But here's the trick, you need to know what bikes are going to be "in the ball park" so that the experts have the right things to work with in order to dioal everything in. And so, you need to know a little bit about the fit of the bike to know what will work for you. So now what?

Onwards and upwards...