My Steed

Back in August 09, I decided to buy my first road/tri-bike but came across a dilemma most common with amateur athletes. If you’re like me, the criterion for purchasing your first bike was:

• Value – You didn’t want to spend 2k+ but wanted a competitive bike with good components that doesn’t break the bank.
• Flexibility – You want to use this bike as an all-in-one: commuting, recreational rides, and races – but you don’t know if you want to become a cyclist or triathlete, but definitely want to experience both.

The decision process was much more thorough than that but I’d say that was the core criterion. I decided to go with a road bike (cannondale caad9-5) and add clip-on aero bars at a later time.

Firstly, as an amateur the first thing we ought to focus on is the engine. The engine is you. To get faster you must continuously train your engine to truly gain power which ultimately results in speed. This is the most definitive personal investment you can make with guaranteed long-term return results.

Secondly, you can buy improvement but at what cost? This is where a cost-benefit analysis comes into play depending on your finances & what you expect to get out of it (i.e If I Pay X ($) and gain Y (MPH) — is it worth it?).

Fast forward 6 months, I’ve ridden ~1000 miles and wanted to install clip-on aero bars before spring. I decided on the Profile  T2+ s-bend bars. It’s affordable ($89.99), comfortable, and offers a wide range of adjust-ability.

Profile Design T2+ S-Bend Bars

Here’s a great article discussing the quintessential question when it comes to speed efficiency: HOW AERO IS AERO?
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/how-aero-is-aero-19273

I’ll use wind-tunnel data from the aforementioned article as the basis of this discussion.

Wind Tunnel Aero Results

Assuming the accuracy of the aero test, the gain going from a standard road bike (drop bars) to clip-on aero bars gain a savings of 29.4 watts. As the article states,

This difference is due to rider position (in the drops vs. in the aerobars).

To save ~30 watts just by changing your body position via aero bars ($89.99) is roughly $3.00 per watt (cheap!). Whereas if I were to buy an aero helmet without aero bars, assuming the cost of helmet is $160 and only 10 watt savings as the results suggest is $16 per watt. The additional cost isn’t worth it for me to save seconds off my time. If I lose an age-group podium by seconds is when I’ll re-consider. Obviously if cost isn’t an issue to you then go ahead, get as aero as you can. Keeping in mind that a poor engine with the latest toys isn’t going to win you any local races.

Will follow-up on my aero bar installation & fitting by Ed Cangialosi at Reparto Corse in White Plains as Part Deux of Let’s Get Aero.

P.S Pundits will tell you my analysis is flawed due to assumptions. Such as “You’re assuming the rider in the test is the same as you and not every rider is the same”, or “You’re assuming you can maintain an aero headangle during a 40 km TT”. And you know what? They’re right — but the margin of error is not high enough to deem this analysis unusable.