“Retro” Triathlon bikes
I own a lot of bikes. Probably too many, but, hey, I’m not shooting heroin and I don’t play
the ponies. I used to own a dedicated triathlon bike that fit me perfectly. I could ride all
day in the aero position and my positioning shaped me like a rocket. When my focus
turned from ironman races to 24 hour mountain bike races and other ultras, my trusty tri-
steed remained on the wall of the garage for 6 months….then a year….until finally I
decided that it would be put to better use in someone else’s garage. A couple of Ebay
transactions later and it was gone.
This year I find myself signed up for a half-iron triathlon. At this point I have more
important things to spend my money on then another bike, especially when I probably
won’t do 5 or 6 long distance triathlons this year like I used to. So I find myself in the
same position as when I first entered the sport of triathlon. Namely, I have to alter my
road bike so that I can comfortably and efficiently lay down on the aerobars for 2-4
hours. This is usually termed "retro-fitting" your bike.
It is true that a time trial (TT) or triathlon bike is the most efficient choice for racing
because of it’s altered seat angle, top tube length, head tube height, etc. all put the
rider into a comfortable aero-position while evenly distributing his weight between the
two wheels. TT bikes cost money, sometimes a lot, so if you are not completely hooked
on triathlon yet, it may not be worth it to invest in a dedicated bike. The next best thing
is to alter your current road bike a little.
Many people would just slap a pair of aerobars on the road bike and have at it. This
won’t work for many reasons. Look at your road bike. Specificly, imagine your elbows
resting a few centimeters above your handlebars. This position would be very stretched
out…not too many people have the flexibility and strength to maintain this position for
any period of time, and if they could, I believe it would never be the most powerful
position.
So what changes need to be made to an existing, well-fitting road bike? Well, because,
the elbows are the first contact point of the upper extremity instead of the hands, the
distance from the tip of your saddle to the bars needs to be shorter. Either you need to
move the seat forward or the handlebars back, or both. I think the best idea is to move
both the seat up and the bars back a little rather than moving one of them a lot.
Why?
Because if you move the seat forward a lot (or the handlebars back a lot), the weight
distribution of the bike will be upset significantly. This will affect how the bike handles
especially on descending and could have an effect on the efficiency of the bike as it
transfers power to the rear wheel. Learning to ride on aerobars can be sketchy enough,
but this can be compounded by a poorly balanced bike.
I’ll never forget being on a training ride early in my triathlon days and heading full bore
into a short steep descent on the aerobars; I severely over-compensated and nearly put
the bike into the ditch, because I had much of my weight laying on the front wheel.
First, let’s talk about some products to move the seat forward:
Profile FastForward: This “bent” seatpost moves you forward about 2 inches, which is
often enough all on it’s own to make you comfortable on your aerobars. As explained
above, I think this is too much and negatively affects the handling of the bike. It also
weighs in at 325g (about .75 lbs), and is a reasonable $69.99.
Look Ergo-post: This seatpost has a sliding clamp with 25mm of adjustment, but it
doesn’t get you very far forward….the clamp only slides so that it is in line with the
seatpost, not in front of it. It is fairly light, simple, but not cheap…about $175.
M2Racer Power Module: The Power Module is a rail and seat clamp that fastens onto
your existing seat clamp. By opening the quick release on it, the Power Module clamp
loosens and allows you to slide the seat forward (by 45 mm), and then you simply close
the quick release. It has a built in seat height adjustment feature (because as you slide
a seat forward it effectively makes the seat lower), which tells me they put some thought
into it. It is pretty inexpensive at $43. The only drawback I found is that it feels a little
wobbly. It seems to rock back a forth slightly as you shift on the saddle or put in a hard
effort. It doesn’t move enough to make me think it would break, but it is a bit
disconcerting.
Thomson Elite SB: The old Thomson setbacks could be flipped which moves the clamp
15 mm forward rather than 15 mm back. I believe that this is still the case, but I don’t
have a new one I can test. This is a nice option because it doesn’t move you more than
an inch. Cost is about $80.
Now, how to move your bars back:
New stem: You could buy a second stem that fits your triathlon position. This works
well, if you want to keep your bike in aero-position for all of your rides. This brings me to
another point:
I live and train in Colorado and a triathlon set-up is not the best way to climb (which we
do a lot of) steep passes for hours at a time, and an even worse way to descend them.
Even when you are not on the aerobars, they don’t handle superbly so riding in a group
can be a taxing, as well.
So here is the crux of the matter….how do you set your bike up to race in a triathlon
but be able to switch it easily for a group road ride the next day?
1. Adjustable rise stem: these are often cheap (~$40) and they let you change the rise
of your bars by simply loosening a bolt at the base of the stem. This assumes that you
can accomplish your change in position by just changing the rise and not the length of
the stem and I have found this to not be true the great majority of the time. Actually I
have found that changing the length is more important than rise on a triathlon setup
because often aerobars have a “riser kit” built into their system, raising you aerobars off
the handlebar.
2. Look Ergo-Stem: this stem has a huge amount of adjustment. You can set your bars
120 mm above or below your stem clamp and the length adjustment goes from 0-150
mm. Infinitely adjustable. Track cyclists use these a fair bit because it allows them to
race in more than one kind of race and any changes they need to make entails
loosening two bolts, moving the stem where they want it and re-tightening. The
downsides are three-fold. It weighs 365 grams for you weight weenies; but I don’t think
triathletes should be too terribly concerned with that (that is another article, for another
time). Second, it costs about $220—ouch. Third, when you have two pivot points there
is bound to be some flexing or twisting during very hard efforts…..that is why I have
always been amazed that the trackies use them so frequently….these are the biggest
cyclists in the world, and I would guess they would want something stiffer.
3. Syntace VRO: This is a traditional stem with rotating “peanut clamps” at the end of it
that pivot fore and aft for 50 mm of length adjustment (with concurrent changes in rise).
There are three sizes S (65-115mm length adjustment), M (85-135mm), and L (105-
155mm). This is a relatively unknown product at least in the US road market.
Cannondale has stocked mountain VROs on their bikes before, but to my knowledge no
one has used them on their road bikes. This is a shame because it is probably the most
versatile, simple and intuitive product I have come across in a while.
I judge it this way: Would I choose to have a Look Ergo-stem on my bike if I had no
need to for the adjustment feature? The answer is, “No way.” It doesn’t make sense.
Why pay hundreds of dollars for a 365g stem that could flex more when I could pay $80
for a 120g stem that is rock solid? I cannot say the same thing about the VRO system.
After seeing it’s price tag (under $120), how precise it steers, how rigid it feels on
maximum efforts, and still remains fairly svelte (200g for the medium), the fact that it has
tons of adjustment would be a bonus.
Put plainly…even if I had no use for the adjustment feature on my bike there arre still
some very compelling reasons to use it.
The fact is, though, we are looking for some adjustment, which is why I feel this is our
best choice. It doesn’t cost too much, it doesn’t weigh too much, it adjusts as much as
we need it to, and it doesn’t negatively impact the look or performance of our bike
(actually it improves it!).
How would I set my bike up?
So here is will have my bike set up:
I would use the M2Racer Power Module on my seatpost (for ease of adjustability and
cost) and the Syntace VRO for my stem/bar set-up. I would spend under $200 total and
when I needed to change the position of my bike one direction or the other, it would take
all of 3 minutes to release the QR on the saddle, slide it, re-fasten the QR; then loosen
the two bolts of the VRO clamps change the bar reach and re-tighten those. If there
were more money in the budget (I can’t say, “If money were no option….”, because if it
weren’t I’d have a shiny new TT bike in my garage) I might go with the Look Ergo-post
I own a lot of bikes. Probably too many, but, hey, I’m not shooting heroin and I don’t play
the ponies. I used to own a dedicated triathlon bike that fit me perfectly. I could ride all
day in the aero position and my positioning shaped me like a rocket. When my focus
turned from ironman races to 24 hour mountain bike races and other ultras, my trusty tri-
steed remained on the wall of the garage for 6 months….then a year….until finally I
decided that it would be put to better use in someone else’s garage. A couple of Ebay
transactions later and it was gone.
This year I find myself signed up for a half-iron triathlon. At this point I have more
important things to spend my money on then another bike, especially when I probably
won’t do 5 or 6 long distance triathlons this year like I used to. So I find myself in the
same position as when I first entered the sport of triathlon. Namely, I have to alter my
road bike so that I can comfortably and efficiently lay down on the aerobars for 2-4
hours. This is usually termed "retro-fitting" your bike.
It is true that a time trial (TT) or triathlon bike is the most efficient choice for racing
because of it’s altered seat angle, top tube length, head tube height, etc. all put the
rider into a comfortable aero-position while evenly distributing his weight between the
two wheels. TT bikes cost money, sometimes a lot, so if you are not completely hooked
on triathlon yet, it may not be worth it to invest in a dedicated bike. The next best thing
is to alter your current road bike a little.
Many people would just slap a pair of aerobars on the road bike and have at it. This
won’t work for many reasons. Look at your road bike. Specificly, imagine your elbows
resting a few centimeters above your handlebars. This position would be very stretched
out…not too many people have the flexibility and strength to maintain this position for
any period of time, and if they could, I believe it would never be the most powerful
position.
So what changes need to be made to an existing, well-fitting road bike? Well, because,
the elbows are the first contact point of the upper extremity instead of the hands, the
distance from the tip of your saddle to the bars needs to be shorter. Either you need to
move the seat forward or the handlebars back, or both. I think the best idea is to move
both the seat up and the bars back a little rather than moving one of them a lot.
Why?
Because if you move the seat forward a lot (or the handlebars back a lot), the weight
distribution of the bike will be upset significantly. This will affect how the bike handles
especially on descending and could have an effect on the efficiency of the bike as it
transfers power to the rear wheel. Learning to ride on aerobars can be sketchy enough,
but this can be compounded by a poorly balanced bike.
I’ll never forget being on a training ride early in my triathlon days and heading full bore
into a short steep descent on the aerobars; I severely over-compensated and nearly put
the bike into the ditch, because I had much of my weight laying on the front wheel.
First, let’s talk about some products to move the seat forward:
Profile FastForward: This “bent” seatpost moves you forward about 2 inches, which is
often enough all on it’s own to make you comfortable on your aerobars. As explained
above, I think this is too much and negatively affects the handling of the bike. It also
weighs in at 325g (about .75 lbs), and is a reasonable $69.99.
Look Ergo-post: This seatpost has a sliding clamp with 25mm of adjustment, but it
doesn’t get you very far forward….the clamp only slides so that it is in line with the
seatpost, not in front of it. It is fairly light, simple, but not cheap…about $175.
M2Racer Power Module: The Power Module is a rail and seat clamp that fastens onto
your existing seat clamp. By opening the quick release on it, the Power Module clamp
loosens and allows you to slide the seat forward (by 45 mm), and then you simply close
the quick release. It has a built in seat height adjustment feature (because as you slide
a seat forward it effectively makes the seat lower), which tells me they put some thought
into it. It is pretty inexpensive at $43. The only drawback I found is that it feels a little
wobbly. It seems to rock back a forth slightly as you shift on the saddle or put in a hard
effort. It doesn’t move enough to make me think it would break, but it is a bit
disconcerting.
Thomson Elite SB: The old Thomson setbacks could be flipped which moves the clamp
15 mm forward rather than 15 mm back. I believe that this is still the case, but I don’t
have a new one I can test. This is a nice option because it doesn’t move you more than
an inch. Cost is about $80.
Now, how to move your bars back:
New stem: You could buy a second stem that fits your triathlon position. This works
well, if you want to keep your bike in aero-position for all of your rides. This brings me to
another point:
I live and train in Colorado and a triathlon set-up is not the best way to climb (which we
do a lot of) steep passes for hours at a time, and an even worse way to descend them.
Even when you are not on the aerobars, they don’t handle superbly so riding in a group
can be a taxing, as well.
So here is the crux of the matter….how do you set your bike up to race in a triathlon
but be able to switch it easily for a group road ride the next day?
1. Adjustable rise stem: these are often cheap (~$40) and they let you change the rise
of your bars by simply loosening a bolt at the base of the stem. This assumes that you
can accomplish your change in position by just changing the rise and not the length of
the stem and I have found this to not be true the great majority of the time. Actually I
have found that changing the length is more important than rise on a triathlon setup
because often aerobars have a “riser kit” built into their system, raising you aerobars off
the handlebar.
2. Look Ergo-Stem: this stem has a huge amount of adjustment. You can set your bars
120 mm above or below your stem clamp and the length adjustment goes from 0-150
mm. Infinitely adjustable. Track cyclists use these a fair bit because it allows them to
race in more than one kind of race and any changes they need to make entails
loosening two bolts, moving the stem where they want it and re-tightening. The
downsides are three-fold. It weighs 365 grams for you weight weenies; but I don’t think
triathletes should be too terribly concerned with that (that is another article, for another
time). Second, it costs about $220—ouch. Third, when you have two pivot points there
is bound to be some flexing or twisting during very hard efforts…..that is why I have
always been amazed that the trackies use them so frequently….these are the biggest
cyclists in the world, and I would guess they would want something stiffer.
3. Syntace VRO: This is a traditional stem with rotating “peanut clamps” at the end of it
that pivot fore and aft for 50 mm of length adjustment (with concurrent changes in rise).
There are three sizes S (65-115mm length adjustment), M (85-135mm), and L (105-
155mm). This is a relatively unknown product at least in the US road market.
Cannondale has stocked mountain VROs on their bikes before, but to my knowledge no
one has used them on their road bikes. This is a shame because it is probably the most
versatile, simple and intuitive product I have come across in a while.
I judge it this way: Would I choose to have a Look Ergo-stem on my bike if I had no
need to for the adjustment feature? The answer is, “No way.” It doesn’t make sense.
Why pay hundreds of dollars for a 365g stem that could flex more when I could pay $80
for a 120g stem that is rock solid? I cannot say the same thing about the VRO system.
After seeing it’s price tag (under $120), how precise it steers, how rigid it feels on
maximum efforts, and still remains fairly svelte (200g for the medium), the fact that it has
tons of adjustment would be a bonus.
Put plainly…even if I had no use for the adjustment feature on my bike there arre still
some very compelling reasons to use it.
The fact is, though, we are looking for some adjustment, which is why I feel this is our
best choice. It doesn’t cost too much, it doesn’t weigh too much, it adjusts as much as
we need it to, and it doesn’t negatively impact the look or performance of our bike
(actually it improves it!).
How would I set my bike up?
So here is will have my bike set up:
I would use the M2Racer Power Module on my seatpost (for ease of adjustability and
cost) and the Syntace VRO for my stem/bar set-up. I would spend under $200 total and
when I needed to change the position of my bike one direction or the other, it would take
all of 3 minutes to release the QR on the saddle, slide it, re-fasten the QR; then loosen
the two bolts of the VRO clamps change the bar reach and re-tighten those. If there
were more money in the budget (I can’t say, “If money were no option….”, because if it
weren’t I’d have a shiny new TT bike in my garage) I might go with the Look Ergo-post
