[Closed] A bike build... time trialling on a budget

21's on honest courses and in the 20's on the fast ones.

****'in aye. Way to go. End of thread.

Anyone else still carping on about whether the bike was budget or not needs to get a sense of perspective and put a time down themsevles or disclose their own time.

What about 25s? I'm guessing aiming for sub 55 every day of the week right?

Good work, blobby.
If you can, do.
This was my budget build-

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Budget obviously including the £240 skinsuit, £800 spent on wheels and tubs, but you know I saved some £ by buying a 2nd hand PX frameset and some Korean Q rings.

Had I continued I wanted to buy a boardman frameset or ICAN TT frameset. Unfortunately my dry L5/S1 meant I simply couldn't. So go for it while you can, far better to regret the things you did than didn't do.
Smash it.

thread title: A bike build; money no object, would have avoided all this.

🙂 If it was money no object I'd have just gone down my lbs and spunked ten grand on a shiv or trinity!

Out of interest can I ask how much the frame cost...assume its not a knock off copy?

Not a knock off. 450 quid off eBay. It is quite old but was ahead of its time when it came out and still tests very well.

And as for the dura ace, well that's just the shifters and they don't do the single button in ultegra. The mechs are all ultegra.

What about 25s? I'm guessing aiming for sub 55 every day of the week right?

Only ever done one and that was a 56 on a fairly tough course and very conservatively paced. So yes, I'd expect to be sub 55. Got a few planned for this year.

Shedbrewed, yours looks a lot like my Stealth that this bike is replacing. You have that same double bend in the shift cable out the end of the poles to the down tube stops. How's the shifting? Mine was always really stiff.

"Shedbrewed, yours looks a lot like my Stealth that this bike is replacing. You have that same double bend in the shift cable out the end of the poles to the down tube stops. How's the shifting? Mine was always really stiff."

Bringing the cables out the end of the poles is a hiding to nothing.

cables need to come out from the holes about mid way along the extensions designed for the purpose (said as i look up on the wall at my stealth with its perfect shifting)

Many extensions don't have holes there, mine don't. I could drill the poles or run the cables taped along the bars I guess.

Got di2 on one of the road bikes though and think it's superb. Think it'll work well on the TT bike and very little disruption to position for shifting too.

How about this for budget? An estimate of CDA for less than £80. I use a powercal heart rate monitor that estimates power. For TT efforts it isn't bad either. When run on short circuits I use Golden Cheetah's aerolab to estimate CDA.

I was as surprised as anyone to see the power curve match up with elevation power and give ANY estimate at all! But it does just fine. Run it with the trike too.

Now that is budget 😉

I've just remembered, when I was a kid I built some tri bars out of a sun lounger (alu tubing) and a cut up pair of shin pads. Now that's budget!

Blimey if you can get any reasonable data from that I'd be quite surprised! My PowerCal isn't anywhere near sensitive enough. Do need to find some time to play around with Aerolab though.

When I were a kid I made a disc wheel out of a dustbin lid. Had a great rumble to it. Now that's budget!

Not sure if budget has been mentioned yet but that John Lewis table cover thingy wasn't cheap either! 😉

Going full aero-weenie is actually really interesting and not necessarily related to budget or marketing hype.... or some times even logic. With my limited experience of far better riders than myself, most do a massive amount of testing so I'd budget for that for sure.

If you look at the massive Venge VIAS thread on WW then Spec have some quite interesting info from their tests. As an example, one of the most significant (even more than the VIAS frame vs bog standard road frame) aero gains was switching from BOA based shoes to laces. Sure you'll probably have overshoes which reduces the difference a touch but laces are still where its at and even many supposedly aero covers test worse than shoes alone. I can see myself getting very tied up with all this and being very poor if I ever got in to TT's "proper". When in doubt, what would Bradders do... yeah do that 🙂

I follow MrB on Strava and believe me when I say his legs are doing just fine so chill out and enjoy the build thread yeah? 😀

Were you on the size limit of that stealth frame MrBlobby? I'm looking to get a second hand stealth or exocet, but I'm a hair under 6' and been thinking a large was in order. If I could look at medium as well that would be good - there's a nice one on ebay atm, for example.

Thanks crosshair, I thought you'd managed to escape the forum 🙂

Garry, decided to go for the medium stealth as it was my first TT frame and I wanted as much opportunity to play with position as possible. The Zipp Vuka Alu has a huge range of fit, I do have quite a long stem, am near the limit of pole length, and have about 25mm of riser under the poles. I've not looked at the geo for a while but I think I'd have been fine with the large as it happens as the stealth is fairly long and low.

Just wondering why you went for the cevelo and not the px? Position related?

Sorry flange, missed this. PX is what I rode last season. Not sure I understand the question. Went for the Cervelo really as it seemed the best compromise on good aero performance and second hand availability and price. Oh and that I could make the geometry work too.

Not sure if budget has been mentioned yet but that John Lewis table cover thingy wasn't cheap either!

Thanks, I shall be having a word with Mrs Blobby about her spending habits!

You need a good circular route of a few miles, about five laps and a decent but not maximal effort. Then air density from weatherPro and a guess at tyre resistance. Add 50% for the trike. Probably not to be compared with other power meters, but ok to look at changes in position.

Thanks TiRed. I've read up quite a bit about AeroLab and keep meaning to give it a go. Quite a few threads on it over at the time trialling forum (yes there are other forums!) with some quite varying views. Sounds hugely time consuming to get decent results... but then when you put potential gains in terms of watts it seems a lot more reasonable.

Re the actual build... it's mostly been more measuring and thinking. Trying to work out how best to cable the bars and where to hide junction boxes so it won't be a complete arse when I need to adjust something. Most likely adjustment is moving the poles fore and aft and adding/removing riser blocks. The wires run through the middle of the risers so somehow needs to be easily detachable. I just about have a plan!

A couple of hours of messing about this evening trying to cable up the bar assembly. Plan was to have a junction box in the end of each pole so that I could easily detach from the cable that comes up through the riser if I needed to change the spacer stack or shuffle the poles about. Just couldn't make it all fit, not enough room for all the loose cable, mainly at the ends of the basebar.

A bit annoying that the shifters all have a fixed length of cable wired in and not just a socket for your own length cable. Would make the job a lot easier as the supplied lengths are just not convenient. I guess I could get out the soldering iron and splice some cables to get the right length 😕

I'll have another bash at it tomorrow. I think the only place I'm going to be able to stick the junction boxes are in the poles ahead of the bolts.

Anyone got any neat ideas for securely mounting the battery and charger junction inside the frame? I could just duck tape it, but I was thinking I might be able to shape a block of modelling foam to match the inside of the seat tube and mount it in that.

Suspend it by a thread then squirt a bit of expanding foam in there?

Thanks for the reply chap - I just wondered why you switched from the PX but assuming the cervelo is more aero.

Regarding junction box, I found the wires were stiff enough that they just help the box in place without needing any support. Mind you, my bike makes such a god awful racket anyway that I probably can't hear it flailing about inside the downtube. Battery - I bought one of the bbb seat post things but that's not gonna work on an aero post.

Thanks for the reply chap - I just wondered why you switched from the PX but assuming the cervelo is more aero.

Aero mostly. Frame that apparently tests well. Clean routing too and not too much of a hack for Di2. And the geometry fits.

Suspend it by a thread then squirt a bit of expanding foam in there?

May do that, but I want to be able to get the foam block out easily too. Wondered if I could somehow line it with cling film or a freezer bag, squirt down some non-sticky foam, let it set in the bag to the shape of the frame, then pull it out?

Failing that I may just wrap it in some big bubble wrap and shove it in.

Two bags, one small one with the battery in it (or wrap it in cling flim), then a larger bag, drop the whole thing down the seat tube fill the gap between the two bags with foam. Take it out, trim to size.

Thanks, I think that's what I'll do. Trip down b&q later for some expanding foam.

New bottom bracket has arrived. Also now got the di2 battery and charger. Think that's all I need now.

Also picked up a Dremel style rotary tool to hack at the frame with 🙂 Going to do a hole in the top tube for the di2 wire from the bars and enlarge the hole in the seat tube for the front mech wire. I'm tempted to make a small exit hole at the back of the base bar as seen on TriRig's site ([url= http://www.tririg.com/articles.php?id=2014_07_Andy_Potts_Custom_Kestrel_4000 ]here[/url]) which would be cleaner than the current exit through a hole under the stem.

Nice looking build! Do the Di2 parts you have not dictate whether it will be 10 or 11 speed? My plan for budget TT bike this summer is to stick some pursuit bars and a front brake on my track bike....

Tempted by this idea, and the fact that I know MrB tests almost past my new house!

To keep things super budget and avoid the temptation to spend money I was thinking of picking up a track bike, I've already got some cheap clip-ons.

For sizing, what sort of reach does the frame need relative to a road bike? I noticed some Tri/TT bikes only come in small and large so I'm guessing it's not that important and most of it's done by adjusting the saddle and bars? So a ~54cm track bike. I normally ride a 56cm Cannondale (so at he big end of 56cm frames, and I'm 6ft with fairly average proportions).

[quote="geetee1972"]Anyone else still carping on about whether the bike was budget or not needs to get a sense of perspective and put a time down themsevles or disclose their own time.Erm, ok. 21:08 for a 10 and 53:05 for a 25, both on a normal road bike, also, both about 25 years ago 😳 Haven't done a "standard" distance TT since the early 90's. Plenty of non-standard ones. Which, according the RTTC, don't count 😉

And my "still in progress, it has been for four years (maybe 5?), i might actually get to set up the position this year" budget TT build is essentially stuff that's been retrieved from the bin. Stuff that doesn't actually work too well or isn't compatible with anything i use anymore. It'll be an 8/9/10 mash up. It'll probably have to be friction shifting and the brakes rub if i turn the bars too much. 😕

The actual cash spend so far is sub £50 (a pair of tri bar extensions). I reckon the depreciation on the bits i've had lying around is probably another £25........ No idea what it'd cost to build up new, some of the bits has been out of production for 10+ years!

Owned.

Anyone else still carping on about whether the bike was budget or not needs to get a sense of perspective and put a time down themsevles or disclose their own time.

Don't really understand why anyone would need a qualifying time to post a comment...

The word budget in the opening may not have helped but still a good thread

TT wouldn't exist as a sport if everyone who'd ridden slower than the fastest ever road bike time wasn't allowed an aerobike

I'd say that sub 21 minutes for 10 miles seems to be the sort of pace that puts you in the mix where no one should be s****ing that you've got an aero bike

I think it took me 28 minutes on knobbly tired MTB. Although I could tuck in quite well. Quite a hilly course with a few junctions that needed care. The record at the time was around 24 mins for that course

Owned.

? Not sure I understand that comment.

Anyway some amusing attitudes 😕

It's all just indulging a hobby. If you like doing time trials and you want a time trial bike then go get one. If you're a 25 minute man and want to drop £10k on an off the peg superbike then so what. I rather like it, you get a right mix of people and bikes at local time trials.

I guess it's the same sort of attitude that pokes fun at the middle aged IT contractor who turns up at a trail centre with a carbon everything Santa Cruz on the roof.

Anyway build comments only from me from now on 🙂

I plan on TT'ing with my track bike this year too. I've got a set of clip on bars - going to get a cheap deep section front wheel and a Raltech cover for the rear. Then play about with position until i get something half decent.

The only worry is that the ideal gear for a decent time is 53/11. Fixed. ***k my old boots...

umop3pisdn or however you spell it appears to be the man to talk to on here about fixed tt'ing.

It's all just indulging a hobby

It certainly is - and there is nothing wrong with that.
Have you seen how much mountain bikers spend? 😯

To be honest - compared to anything involving an engine, cycling is a 'relatively' cheap hobby!

Raltech covers are very good. General consensus seems to be that if on a budget get the best front wheel you can afford and get a cover for the back.

There's a guy who races fixed in our club, bloody impressive stuff. Must be (even more) tortuous on windy lumpy courses. I'm tempted to go single ring at the front, but going to stick with a double for now as the bike is for training and racing. Can't imagine going single speed fixed (even with the big aero win!)

Last ride on the PX Stealth today, she's being broken for parts, some for the new build and some for the turbo bike (worked out I can fairly easily convert the turbo bike between road and time trial geometries so I don't need to put the new bike on the turbo.) She's taught me a lot but it's time to move on 🙂

I have a Cervelo P2 with 80 / 101 PX wheels up for sale at eh moment. 54cm.

£1200 ONO, if anyone is interested, reply or drop me an email...

A medium PX Stealth and some PX 50/50 tubs for sale here too 😉

Looks like (an odd sort of) fun, looking forward to updates. I guess all sports involve doing odd things within sometimes arbitrary rules to gain advantage. A bloke came past me in town last night feet first at knee height on a partially faired recumbent tadpole trike, I'd bet he'd go faster than you for the same effort but that's not the point is it.

Was it TiRed? If the rules didn't forbid it they'd probably be racing the Tour on recumbents!

Looks like (an odd sort of) fun,

Is a bit odd really. I just started it to give the riding a bit of purpose when getting back into it after my boy was born. It's not too time consuming to train for and it's pretty convenient to compete in. Most club races are midweek evenings, and at an open you've got an allocated start time, and you're not away for a whole day at the weekends. So sort of fits in with family stuff.

Reckon I'll probably do it for another year or two and move on to something else when I've a bit more time (another reason for the relatively sensible budget.) Though chasing seconds is curiously addictive.

Build progressing with a tear down of the PX now... I bet there's something I've forgotten to measure! 🙂

To make fans of really budget bikes happy here is my old very budget tt bike;

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cheap ribble frame, tiagra nine speed running gear and brakes, second hand disc and normally a chinese ebay 50m carbon front wheel, got me under the hour for 25 with not enough training and round the Duo Normand a couple of times with the mrs (she was on a carbon px stealth with carbon disc, so you can see who earns in our house). Not nearly as nice (or as fast) as the OP's - enjoying reading about the build. Got the ribble out a few months ago and have now lent it to a junior at my club for the foreseeable future.

Riding a ten on a fixed was one of the most horrible tt's I ever tried 🙂

Oh blimey, you've just reminded me of my first TT build that I'd completely forgotten about. I'd tried to turn my turbo mule into a dedicated TT bike when I got fed up swapping the setup on road bike around. This was my 25 year old Pug with TT bars and a PowerTap wheel with Aerojacket cover. It really was budget. Weighed a tonne. Rode like an absolute dog. Did one race on it before ordering the Planet X.

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Was it TiRed?

It seems a bit odd to me that brake calipers and cables are still often out there in the wind, I'd have instinctively thought they would be worth tucking them into/behind the frame and forks a bit more, or it that a regulations thing about them not being allowed to be integrated?

Having them work is more important than tucking them away.......

I know that BITD it wasn't unusual for some of the top guys (and geeks) to tuck their front calipers in behind the fork. Or modify the arms so the cable ran infront of the head tube, instead of off to one side.

All while wearing woolen jerseys and back to front caps.....

Pro mechanics have a bit of hatred towards integrated brakes - they're a real pain to fix in a workshop, let alone the back of a van in the middle of the night. As such, it's kinda boiled through to the mainstream. Cav even decided last year to run the previous MY Venge as the Specialized aero brakes weren't as well functijoning and hard for the mechanic to work on.

umop3pisdn or however you spell it appears to be the man to talk to on here about fixed tt'ing.

Hai!

The only worry is that the ideal gear for a decent time is 53/11. Fixed. ***k my old boots...

You'll find finding an 11t sprocket quite difficult, so go big on the chainring.

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My bike's just gone to have an Infocrank 53/39, praxis bb and new 28/11 & chain fitted.

I'd budgeted for a replacement bb30 😯

Oh blimey, you've just reminded me of my first TT build...

Haha. That's amazing. I love the effort that's gone into it. Total respect for that.

MrB - drop me a mail re the Planet X if you wouldn't mind! There's an itch I need to scratch...!

Njee20, it's a dark path 😉 Email sent.

Wasn't me. I'm "resting" after being taken out in a race on Saturday. Chopped at 54 km/hr immediately before a bend.

My trike isn't THAT aero and nowhere near my TT bike for CDA - plus 50% more resistance (excluding the stupid grin)

Defeated by routing through the bars. Park Tools internal routing kit ordered!

Turbo bike (that pug up there ^^^) sorted with the poles from the PX now, with a swap of seatpost and saddle and a quick fiddle with the adjustable stem it's easily switchable between road and time trial positions. Don't need to bother swapping bikes around now, which is cool 🙂

Wasn't entirely straightforward as I had to source a 26.4 seatpost that I could run back to front. A quick browse of SJS Cycles and I found a suitable seatpin and separate saddle clamp that does the job nicely. Is there any "how can I get this to fit onto there" bike problem that can't be sorted with a part from SJS?