[Closed] Aero road frames..do they actually make a difference?

A better bike position would probably be moar aero..

on the flat I struggle to keep pace with my more powerful riding mate.

Just tuck in behind him then!! Save the cash 🙂

Just tuck in behind him then!! Save the cash 🙂

This is the current position tbf..works quite well!

With a bike thats already decent (albeit with minimal aero pretentions), I reckon an aero frame would make minimal difference. More benefit to be had from getting a narrower handlebar and perhaps assessing whether your position is somehow reducing the power you can generate on the flat.

But if you want an aero frame then of course, get one! 😁

More benefit to be had from getting a narrower handlebar and perhaps assessing whether your position is somehow reducing the power you can generate on the flat.

Power on flat is same as going up hill if I try. It's more that my power isn't massive, although power to weight is sufficient.

Already got narrow bars.

But yeah..probably I wanted someone to tell me it would overnight make me faster so I have an excuse for a new frame..

About 75% of the aero gains to be had on a bike come from the person - the riding position, clothing, helmet etc.
If you're going onto the bike itself, wheels then anything around the front end (especially bar shape, cables and where your computer is mounted) make the most difference.

But it's no good being all aero about the bike then putting on some flappy clothing and sitting upright on the bike!

Hmmm..i have a fairly low position, it's a race bike so short head tube, and all my clothes fit. I even have an aero helmet which I think makes a slight difference to ride speeds.

Aero bars may be a cheaper investment. Looked at the prime aero bars but they only had them in a 42 and I don't see any point in getting wider than I already have (40). Any other decent aero bars for not mega bucks?

Sounds like a frame isn't a sound financial investment. Quite fancied a propel..it looks fast

By all means buy new kit if makes you happy and you want it, but everyone already knows in their hearts that they’d be better off doing more and harder training than trying to buy speed.

Roadie here, ridden aero frames for years. They do provide some benefit, they tend to be more aggressive positioning making the rider more aero, frame saves a couple of watts, the wheels save some more.
But they are not a magic wand for fitness differences unfortunately.
I ride an Aeroad, previously on the Madone. As a full system there is some “speed gains”, but it is the full system and not just the frame.

Doing alot of road riding recently and whilst I’m pretty good going up the hills, on the flat I struggle to keep pace with my more powerful riding mate.

If he is a mate, why doesn't he slow down a bit for you? Is he in a hurry to get somewhere?

My Propel SL is about 15-20 watts faster than my Defy SL, all else being equal. I tested this at Hillingdon by riding five flying 200 Watt laps and timing them with the same and different clothing and wheels and helmets. I ran this through a statistical model to adjust for temperature and wind.

The biggest difference was skinsuit. I wore a highly aero skinsuit for one test and that saved about 30 watts with aero helmet compared with my regulat jersey and helmet. Position is the same on both bikes. Wheels were the same too, although I also run HED JET6/9 combo on the race Propel.

Whether 15 watts is important to you or not is another matter. But it is a real and reproducible effect. The downtube on the Defy has the profile of a brick -other non-aero frames my fare better!

Less techy approach, how about core strength and yoga? Quite a low cost and low effort* way of gaining some speed.

*Maybe

pootle along the flat at around 20mph

if a pootle speed is 20mph, are you really asking the right question? As mentioned above, if you have the aero clothing & helmet, aero wheels is there anything else other than the bars that you can think of? Maybe a fetching pair of calf length rubber overshoes, for that full on modern tester look?

I was utterly sceptical of anything aero in real world terms until last summer.

I was out on a summer Saturday ride, rode from home up to Stanage on my pretty bling Enigma, near the top I just about caught a guy on a Canyon Aeroad with the full aero set up - deep wheels, bar and stem, he had an aero lid on, really well fitting kit etc. Was just behind him at the top. He carried on round Higgar Tor, I dropped down the back, but direct, way into Hathersage down School Lane. Now I'm not a bad descender and I broke 50mph that day (always memorable). Got through the village and headed up to Abney, only to gradually overhaul the same guy again. He must have absolutely beasted the longer flatter descent (with a nasty road junction) to get that far in front of me.

I was a bit in front of him as we went through Abney and there's a short descent to a dogleg over a bridge. Was just turning into this, when I suddenly hear him jamming on the anchors behind/alongside me as he nearly overshot the corner.

Cool starry bra etc, but made me think a little more about the benefits of aero, as I was fairly obviously the stronger rider climbing, and its very rare for me to be outpaced on road descents, so to be quite so comprehensively caught twice suggests there's a wee bit more going on than comes to the eye and the obvious difference was the aero kit.

if a pootle speed is 20mph, are you really asking the right question

Tbf 20 miles an hr on the flat isn't going to get you anywhere in a time trial. You need about 170 watts to go at that speed, so I'd say for any relatively fit cyclist that's pooling pace on a road bike.

Unless I'm misunderstanding your point.

Are they bigger than you. I have mates who I leave for dead riding uphill as I weigh about 10kg less. However, they are tall and strong so on the flat they are super strong and more than a match. It is the difference between absolute watts and watts/kg. For flat riding you just need big watts.

I'd say an aero frame would make little difference. There would be cheaper ways to get faster.

Position - flat back, lower front, narrower bars can all help but you might need to condition yourself.

Kit - Aero helmet, spped suit or good jersey/short combination. Aero socks, more aero shoes. Aero gloves, cable routing. Bottle positions. It all adds up.

More dedicated to testers but this is interesting. I wonder if anyone has done one for general road riding.

https://cyclingtips.com/2010/04/biggest-bang-for-your-buck-in-time-trial-equipment/

Do you drop him on the hills?

If so, don't worry too much - that's the important bit.

as I was fairly obviously the stronger rider climbing, and its very rare for me to be outpaced on road descents,

But thw two dont equate to speed on flat. I'm as good if not better climber than my mate, as my power to weight is better. On the flat though he's way faster as he puts out 50 watts more and gravity doesn't come into it. He's obviously way heavier than me.

Edit..as per what jomba said

Tbf 20 miles an hr on the flat isn’t going to get you anywhere in a time trial. You need about 170 watts to go at that speed, so I’d say for any relatively fit cyclist that’s pooling pace on a road bike.

Unless I’m misunderstanding your point.

20mph on a dedicated flat bit is pretty sedate, but a 20mph overall average on a flattish road ride is pretty serious, most folk couldn't manage that with all the variations and stop start you get on normal roadying. So I don't think comparisons with testing are that useful, where it's completely non-stop, max aero position [pretty uncomfortable unless you're very trained on it], plus you just paid real money to put a number on your back and hurt yourself.

In other words you wouldn't really see many benefits from the aero frame overall, with the variable nature of the roadride, the intrinsically small wattages you're talking about in the first place, plus the bollox idea of ruining a perfectly nice ride by stressing your neck and upper back with a proper aero position.

Not a go at the OP but I have nostalgia for the days when you couldn't buy speed so easily, and even those racing didn't.

As above 20mph average around Edinburgh has my respect.

If you really wanna piss on your mates chips..... just buy one of those seat tube / crank spindle electric motors 👹

I feel the op's pain. Why do I have to wait at the top of the hills for the fatties but they can spank me on the flats? My advice is try to not let them dictate the pace. Get on the front on the flat and set a steady tempo, if they go past and up the pace, let them go.

I understood that uphill your power is working against the losses in the bearings etc and gravity, whereas on the flat your biggest losses are air resistance. If two riders are putting out the same output in W, a lighter rider will win uphill as he has less gravity to work against, downhill the heavier rider will win with the gravity. Not sure how this spins out on the flat, but it comes down to all out power. I would imagine that if the heavier riders output is higher,he may be slower on the hills (due to gravity) but pull away on the flats due to all out power. (I remember reading this a while ago, explained much better than me here.)

As above 20mph average around Edinburgh has my respect

Just to be clear, I don't average 20 miles an hr on my rides! Most of my rides are quite hilly, between 50 and 100 foot of climbing per mile so I'm well below that average speed. But the only place I struggle to keep up is on the flat bits, where typically I'm doing over 20 mph.

When we push on on the flats he can maintain a good pace (let's say 24/25 mph) whilst well under his ftp, where as I'm far closer to threshold at that pace . Sure I could just sit behind him for the entire ride, but if not when I take a turn up front the pace drops significantly.

Is this really an issue, not really. Was I hoping someone would say 'you'll instantly jump up a few miles per hr' to justify a shiny new bike...possibly..

If you drop him on the hills then try to casually suggest some hillier routes where your superior power-to-weight advantage will come to the fore.

Op if you can afford an aero bike and you want one then just buy it. It sounds like an itch you need to scratch. Even the placebo effect will make you faster because you will think your bike is faster.
I have an aero bike and carbon aero wheels and it's like running in slippers when you were a kid. Fast as flip boiiii

Smaller/lighter rider on the flat may generate less power, but would gain a little back from having a smaller frontal area?

Aero frames do make a difference because they are more aggressive at the front end and the brake is normally at the rear of the forks . I ride a propel and it just goes and goes . I am 13 st and in a straight line I can produce more power than my friends who push on when climbing. This is prob the case with yourself

Surely if an aero frame made enough difference, then your mate would go out and buy one too. Then you'd be back to where you started, but skint.

If your mate can sit at 24 -25mph on the flats , comfortably under his ftp, what the hell is his ftp? ,or watts/kg?
That is proper fast , like cat 1 fast , sub 4 hr century fast. No wonder you cant keep up, very few people ( on here ) could.

If your mate can sit at 24 -25mph on the flats , comfortably under his ftp, what the hell is his ftp? ,or watts/kg?
That is proper fast , like cat 1 fast , sub 4 hr century fast. No wonder you cant keep up, very few people ( on here ) could.

Is it? Maybe we aren't going quite that fast then, but all I know is I will be putting out around 260 watts (roughly my ftp) going at the same pace as him (when not drafting), and he'll be putting out not much more than that, which is well below his ftp of just over 300. 260 watts on the flat for me equates to not far off 25 mph if I'm on the drops I reckon.

Should be pointed out I did say 25mph was us 'pushing on' and putting in a bit of effort, no-one is saying we can maintain that kind off effort continuously for the duration of a ride. Average speed on flats is usually far closer to 20 id say.

Just to add some perspective here, you seem to be advocating buying a new frame (presumably at large cost if it's replacing your canyon) just so you can keep up with your mate for a bit of your ride together.

If you've got the money and that's how you want to spend it then that's cool, but maybe you could think of something else to do with that money to bring more joy to your life.

I bought an aero bike (also propel).

It's exactly the same position as my previous non aero bike.

It shifts compared to my old bike.....but it's 3 kilos lighter.

Probably not the aero that makes faster

My ramp test ftp is 245 - 255 depending on how I perfom on the day ( decent gym bike ). Most of my rides average below 17mph between say 40-70 miles. Maybe a little quicker on short runs, can go into the 29's in a club 10TT , slower over a century.
This is either on a Roubaix with 32mm alloy rims , or a Propel with 55mm carbons , Miche Powr comp tyres , conti supersonic tubes .
76kg , 32in waist , 5ft 11 tall , 49yr old.
The Propel feels faster , and is faster according to the guys on the sunday club run. However the Garmin /Strava stats do not reflect this. For me anyway

If your mate can sit at 24 -25mph on the flats , comfortably under his ftp, what the hell is his ftp? ,or watts/kg?
That is proper fast , like cat 1 fast , sub 4 hr century fast. No wonder you cant keep up, very few people ( on here ) could.

Yeah but he's not said under what circumstances this is or for how long. Is it over a couple of miles or a couple of hours? What are the road / traffic conditions? Is it the "effort" part of an interval?

I've done circuit races on some of the flatter/less technical venues like Lee Valley and Hillingdon where I've sat at an [b]average[/b] of 27 or 28mph for an hour but that's completely different to riding in the real world on my own or with one/two others. Even on a circuit like Richmond Park with no traffic lights and (relatively) little traffic I'd be struggling to get 20mph average for a lap never mind 3 or 4 laps. If it comes to a normal road ride - junctions, traffic lights, hills, out for a few hours - then an average of 16mph is much more realistic.

It’s more that my power isn’t massive, although power to weight is sufficient.

If he's a big guy and you're not, then this will always be the outcome. He'll smash you on the flat and you'll smash him on the climbs. When me and my mate both had power meters his ftp was 270W or so, mine 335W. But he still whipped me on the MTB due to only weighing 65kg. But I could mash him on the flat due to superior power.

Just to add some perspective here, you seem to be advocating buying a new frame (presumably at large cost if it’s replacing your canyon) just so you can keep up with your mate for a bit of your ride together.

Well tbh I'm probably advocating a new frame as I like shiny new things. I'm also wanting to move to di2 and my frame isn't compatible so that's another reason. If I can find enough reasons to justify the purchase I might just treat myself.

Most of my rides average below 17mph between say 40-70 miles

Mine as well. But once again 20mph isn't an average for the ride, it's what I do on the flat parts of the ride. My usual routes are far from flat, in fact looking at strava I'm pretty much averaging 100 ft of climbing for every mile I have done this year.

 

Don’t forget that aero gains work better at speed. But it is relative speed that matters. Hence into a headwind you will be saving more watts than into still air. It’s easy to get a relative wind speed of 20 mph 🙂

My Propel sits in those bunches at 27-28 mph as well. Not this season though as still Ill.

My other Propel makes for a very comfortable training bike.

That’s the only time I’ve ever seen the words Propel and comfort used in the same sentence! I rode one once, hateful thing, couldn’t give it back quick enough.

The new redesigned disk model is pretty dang comfy.

The old ones were proper anal jackhammers I didn't buy one because of that and the shite brakes.

If he is a mate, why doesn’t he slow down a bit for you? Is he in a hurry to get somewhere?

If you’ve got the money and that’s how you want to spend it then that’s cool, but maybe you could think of something else to do with that money to bring more joy to your life.

Noticing a funny undercurrent in this thread*: since when did it become wrong to want to buy fast bikes, ride them fast and race your mates? Given the legendary status of some of the commenters, I'm assuming people do realise it's fun to go fast yeah?

*or just missing the jokes?

That’s the only time I’ve ever seen the words Propel and comfort used in the same sentence!

I've raced mine over 200+ km (ok French roads 😉 ), and have regularly ridden 100 mile plus rides - you've seen it on Ride London. It's fine, honestly. Position is what makes comfort, My Propel is not as rigid as my Defy. I cured the poor original brakes with some (expensive) Fourier's. Then Giant bought them for the update on my second Propel. They made a HUGE difference. Saddle position is UCI 5cm behind BB, any further back might cause some discomfort I guess. Position on all three bikes is identical.

If I had to choose just the one bike, and not race, I'd probably buy a TCR SL now.

The Canyon is a better looker though. Except I like white bikes.

Above about 30kph my mate's Orbea Orca Aero just pulls away from my Canyon Ultimate when freewheeling downhill. Up to that point the drag seems to be about equal.

My Canyon is about a million times quicker uphill though, corners like a demon and doesn't have to be surgically extracted from me after a long ride on rough roads.

When we push on on the flats he can maintain a good pace (let’s say 24/25 mph) whilst well under his ftp, where as I’m far closer to threshold at that pace.

You might be missing the point of road riding (maintaining a casual relaxed expression when you’re breathing through your ears to crush the moral of everyone around you)

< I will be putting out around 260 watts (roughly my ftp) going at the same pace as him (when not drafting), and he’ll be putting out not much more than that, which is well below his ftp of just over 300.>

.....and therein lies the answer to your problem! Save your cash and get stronger. Its not rocket science.

and therein lies the answer to your problem! Save your cash and get stronger. Its not rocket science.

Genuine question..what bikes do you own? I'm going to assume you ride rigid single speeds or heavy road bikes from yesteryear because you have no requirement for any technical advantage. I don't need to save my cash, but I'm not going to buy something that isn't going to be of benefit.

As for getting stronger, I'm considerably faster than I was a year ago. But unsurprisingly so is he, which is the issue.

Was just turning into this, when I suddenly hear him jamming on the anchors behind/alongside me as he nearly overshot the corner.

‘Kin hell! Just reading that terrifies me! 😬

You might be missing the point of road riding (maintaining a casual relaxed expression when you’re breathing through your ears to crush the moral of everyone around you)

He’s not joking btw 🙂

It’s the old marginal gainz thing.

I have a venge with zips(non pussy version without disks) that I have a love/hate relationship and oh yes it does make a difference but you’ve really got to be giving it everything then it’s insane.
(Then sneak into the bushes and be violently sick when no ones watching)

I keep it around to remind myself I don’t like race bikes.

I would think if you're 1mph faster with the aero rims it's not just because of the aero, probably faster tyres on them too.

It will help, but you'd be far better getting an aero helmet and a skinsuit (or even just well fitting normal lycra) first, and it'll be far cheaper.

Edit - I see you have an aero helmet and lycra that fits well, and you're getting in your mate's slipstream already. I think the latter will minimize any gains from an aero frame, unless you just want it to sprint for the 30 signs.

I’d get a skinsuit though sometimes the castelli ones come up in the sales reasonably priced.

If he is a mate, why doesn’t he slow down a bit for you? Is he in a hurry to get somewhere?

If you’ve got the money and that’s how you want to spend it then that’s cool, but maybe you could think of something else to do with that money to bring more joy to your life.

Noticing a funny undercurrent in this thread*: since when did it become wrong to want to buy fast bikes, ride them fast and race your mates? Given the legendary status of some of the commenters, I’m assuming people do realise it’s fun to go fast yeah?

*or just missing the jokes?

I think at least the second comment is pretty relevant to anybody going out and buying a load of kit to get fast - it might be worth it for them, but let's face it a decent aero road frame is about the cost of a family holiday and if you're choosing between the two, for most people the holiday would bring more joy!

I think at least the second comment is pretty relevant to anybody going out and buying a load of kit to get fast – it might be worth it for them, but let’s face it a decent aero road frame is about the cost of a family holiday and if you’re choosing between the two, for most people the holiday would bring more joy!

Appreciate that, and I'm not going to splash money on a new bike at the expense of other stuff. However I'm in the fortunate position of being able to buy one without living off bread and water for the next few months. Likewise though I'm not going to just throw cash at something for no benefit, which from the comments appears to be the case with an aero frame.

I do find it interesting though that there is a general theme of 'haven't you got better things to spend your money on' on this thread, and indeed any thread relating to aero wheels, marginal gains etc. Yet no-one will make the same observations when it comes to someone spunking their hard earned on the latest 1 grand fox forks, or 3 grand carbon Santa Cruz frame, or a ti gravel bike. Ultimately, unless you are a pro or racing at a fairly decent level then no-one needs more than mid range kit. Doesn't stop us all from buying stuff we don't really need though, and an aero frame is no different.

A full aero bike is ugly, but in a nice way. Kind of like an ugly person with a damn hot sexy bod - you know you shouldn't but you just want to.
I love my Aeroad, everytime I get the mountain bike out to go for a ride I have to pass the Aeroad - honestly I always get the pang to go and get changed and take the Aeroad out. Every time.
My Domane isn't much slower, but its not as good to look at. The Aeroad is plain black, ugly, but my god do I love riding it.
I also can't pootle on it, don't know why. But there's something that gets in my head when riding it that makes me want to ride it as hard and as fast as my lungs and legs will let me.
There's also the fact that when I'm on the Domane I can blame the bike for being heavy and slow, when I'm on the Aeroad my mates just want to crush my soul. There's an unsaid rule that if I'm on that bike they go 10% harder.
OP, I'm with you, buy what makes you happier. Its your cash you know your budget....But also agree with the fact that if you want to keep up on the flat you need to get fitter....just saying. You don't see Alaphilippe (all 62kgs of him) complaining that he's too light during MSR, or outsprinting Viviani, or the Ardennes Classics. (Yes OK I have a man crush on him!!)

If he is a mate, why doesn’t he slow down a bit for you? Is he in a hurry to get somewhere?

Holy shit! I assumed everyone* would take that in the lighthearted manned in which it was intended. It's all bikes. Spend your money how you want to as long as you actually ride the bloody things.

*particularly those that have actually met me in person.

Appreciate that, and I’m not going to splash money on a new bike at the expense of other stuff. However I’m in the fortunate position of being able to buy one without living off bread and water for the next few months. Likewise though I’m not going to just throw cash at something for no benefit, which from the comments appears to be the case with an aero frame.

In that case, the trade off is more is the time buggering about getting stuff set up on the new frame worth it - bearing in mind this is time you could spend riding it.

For me the answer (Assuming you're otherwise happy with the current frame) would probably be not until it gets worn out or cracks, which will probably be quite a while with a decent road frame. But I'm quite time poor, if you're not then whilst the difference could be marginal, it's still an upgrade, you can afford it, why not?

Holy shit! I assumed everyone* would take that in the lighthearted manned in which it was intended. It’s all bikes. Spend your money how you want to as long as you actually ride the bloody things.

Roadies innit - miserable fekkers 🙂

Likewise though I’m not going to just throw cash at something for no benefit, which from the comments appears to be the case with an aero frame.

There is most definately an advantage with an aero frame but it only kicks in at 20mph+ when your not on someone’s wheel anyway your mate will buy one if you get one and you’ll be back to square one.

It’s all about the aero.

Cheaper to give a good club rider some cake an coffee money to wear your m8 down and then attack him 🙂

Yet no-one will make the same observations when it comes to someone spunking their hard earned on the latest 1 grand fox forks, or 3 grand carbon Santa Cruz frame, or a ti gravel bike.

Those upgrades change how the bike feels significantly though, I doubt many buy them to cut their times, just for enjoyment.

Each to their own but buying a good time just seems odd to me. I could easily do 10 in say 25 (once upon a time) then turn up the following week, £3K lighter, put out the same power and do a 24. But I'd feel it was pointless (and different to your situation OP).

I have 2 road bikes - a nice pimpy (chris king / hope but with mudguards etc..) older genesis equilibrium and a mostly aero rose xeon with 404s. They are both setup in the same body position and ridden with the same helmets / kit.

I swap my vectors between them - pretty consistently for the same power I am 10% faster on the xeon. I imagine an even more aero frame would be a bit more. There is however about 2kg in weight difference between them, but the main difference is blasting along on the flat rather than uphill.

I doubt you would see such a big margin with already a nice carbon bike vs aero, but if you have the cash why not? I'd love an S5. Been very tempted by cheapish propel frames several times now, but I've just spent £300 and several hours refurbing the xeon for another seasons use

I get that, and As im not racing i see the point that buying speed is a bit pointless. I'd argue that going faster for the same effort is fun though, otherwise we'd all be riding steel road bikes with boat anchor wheels.

But as other folks have said, as it will make hardly any difference it sounds like a fairly pointless purchase. The only other thing I was hoping to benefit from was the possibility of di2, as my frame is mechanical only ... and I'm not spending over a grand on etap.

pretty consistently for the same power I am 10% faster on the xeon.

That's interesting if you can look at power to av speed and average out a lot of miles? 10% seems a lot as an av speed hike but as I only own a bike like the Equilibrium with guards not an aero race bike and I don't have a power meter, I've got nothing to go on. So not doubting, just impressed if that is the case. Getting my average up 10% on a long-ish loop takes quite an effort.

Wish my Aeroad was 10% faster than my Domane. 10% is an awfully big margin. Rubbish at maths, but wouldn’t that be same as averaging 20mph on the slow bike and 22ph on the faster bike?
I have a power meter on the Aeroad, going to have to do some experimenting as im nowhere near that difference.
My Domane with fast tyres and 40mm rims averages close to 20mph on my 30 mile training loop. No way is the Aeroad averaging 22mph.
That would be like when the pro’s ride aero bikes and drapac where on their supersixes, Trek on their Madones having an extra 2.5mph.
I would suggest it’s more down to your slower bike than the faster bike.

Looking at my strava I have a regular 20 mile route with 2000 feet of climbing that I do on a variety of bikes. The heavy caad x with road tyres averages about 15.5mph, the allez with normal wheels around 16.5 and the canyon with aero wheels usually just over 17.

That said, the caad x usually comes out when the weather is a bit rubbish, so that probably plays a part in the speed reduction.

The canyon definitely holds speed easier however. I put it down to the wheels, narrower bars, and a much lower front end.

Cheap propel frames???

Cheap propel frames?

What do you mean al? You seen any about?

Pedalon had cheap frame sets £700 ish, gone now they still have a 2017 sl frameset for 999 in ml.

I was referring to DTs post. Paul's has them listed at £899

I don't believe a 10% speed gain for the same power is possible (assuming comparable tyres and decent body positioning on the non-aero bike etc).

On my >10kg very-non-aero-slack-geo Arkose (with stock anchor wheels etc) a 10% speed increase would have comfortably let me finish in the lead group on yesterday's 113km London Phoenix Easter Classic (lots of flattish exposed sections), even with a nice cake stop. I am just not that fit.

My best argument for an aero bike is that they look bad *ss and also you put more effort in due to looking silly if you go slowly 🙂

Ah right..alas they only have them in medium large for 900 quid. I'm a medium so too big for me.

I'd be tempted if a great deal came up, but I'm not exactly feeling that they are going to add much in the way of speed. They look good however.

GCN guestimate 1.5% gain using non-scientific test

Hmm..that totally contradicts another test they did, when at 200 watts a pair of aero wheels alone gave you 2km/h difference.

I notice only the aero bike in the vid you posted had aero wheels..so either one of the tests is wrong, or boardman don't make a very good aero bike!

Push your seat forward and fit a longer and lower stem. A lower, more forward position should make you more aerodynamic as you'll be able to get a flatter back and a lower head position.

Although not as fast as the TT bike, my road bike that's setup like the above is certainly faster than my road bike that isn't. The "faux" aerobar position is also more comfortable as there's no need to sit on the rivet.

I've never used an aero road bike, but if I were to buy one (I've considered it) I'd be looking at one of the new models with the aero stems/bars/brakes and all internal cabling. I see little point in just buying the frame and then hanging all of my non-aero kit on it.

Do it. My mate always pulls away from me on the descents, and given we're a similar size and weight that's down to a higher gearing (I run out of gears first) and the profile carbon wheels. On the flat we're more closely matched, but he's definitely got a slight advantage.

And aero road bikes are a lot sexier, too.

Oh, and it's worth it just for Di2.

when at 200 watts a pair of aero wheels alone gave you 2km/h difference.

The wheel test on the WW forum showed that 50mm rims would save you about 10 watts over a box section rim at 30km/h. That's nowhere near enough difference in power to give an extra 2km/h.

@tpbiker - fair comment about the Boardman... but please give a link for 2km/h gain @ 200w!

I typed a long post calling BS on that but the forum logged me out 🙁

Anyway, in short- 200w is kind of low. I guess that's 28km/h average for me @ 75kg on normal terrain, so 2km/h gain would be >7%. I don't believe it!

Here

It's actually a cycling weekly vid, but 2 km/h is the result at 200 watts regardless.

I can believe that, as I am noticeably faster on mine.

This GCN video

puts it at 1km/h at 400w watts (41.1 vs 40.1 km/h), i.e. around 2.5%, which is closer to my expectations (although I'll admit I expected it would be slightly higher). They say 0.5km/h at 200w.