Road bike with tri bars for TTs

I’m quite enjoying TTs at the moment and as I can’t (currently) justify a TT bike I’m thinking about getting some clip-on tri bars. I’ve read that I’ll need to move my seat forward if I do and so think it might be worth getting a second seat and post to make it easier to swap between road and TT setup. Has anyone done this or similar and do you have any tips or advice (any photos of your bike setup would be useful too)? Thanks.

The clip on bars make a big difference.

I’d recommend a bike fitting after fitting the bars to get both them and the saddle set correctly. Mine took many painful hours before i got them sorted properly.

2017-05-21 11.26.24 HDR by Kieran Bennett[/url], on Flickr

I did end up with the seat much further forward than for normal road riding, its a bit of a compromise when you want to be on the drops or hoods but then it forces you into the aero position more often

Exactly what I did, but I turned it permanently into a TT bike. It was a road bike frame that was a little on the small side, which is essentially all a TT frame is.

I used a Bontrager XXX seatpost which you can actually turn round so the offset is forward (only 5mm but better than backwards).

bar height is another issue, particularly with clip-ons, as to get into a good aero position generally needs a low front end – hence the slightly too small road frame helped me here. Most people can’t produce as much power or are very uncomfortable with a very low front end and end up using loads of spacers and a positive rise stem anyway even on full-on TT bikes – therefore the slightly longer headtube and raised position of clip on bars isn’t too much of an issue – especially if you use a low drop stem (eg 17 degree drop).

Another downside to just using clip ons with your road bars/shifters is to change gear you need to take your arm off the clip on bars. With practice this can be done reasonably smoothly, but it’s much slicker on the end of the clips ons!

I’ll try and dig out a picture of my set up.

Yes spare post and tt specific saddle (ism adamo) with profile clipons. A little marker on both posts meant it was a 15min job to switch between. I just used the turbo to get comfy. I now have a tt bike and you can get a much better aero position on it than I could modifying my road bike

Same here. Thomson layback post with the top of the head flipped and Cobb Max saddle. Also use a BBB adjustable stem to get the front lower. DIY disc cover optional.

It does take a little while to swap everything over, but I really can’t justify a TT bike at the moment.

It does take a little while to swap everything over

Do you adjust the stem between road and TT? Other than that, swapping wheel(s) and seat and fitting tri bars do you make any other changes?

I used clip-ons on my road bike. It didn’t feel that fast, and wasn’t particularly.

Then I did it again for another TT and at the same time I flipped and slammed the stem. Bars were so low that it was hard to ride on the normal bars, but it absolutely flew when on the clip ons. Got a great result somewhere around sub 23 but I never foudn out my exact time as my computer stopped working 🙂

So I’d use clip ons, put the saddle forward, tilt it down and also lower the bars as much as you can manage. I’m fairly flexible so I got away with it, but even then my shoulders hurt 🙂

As a minimum, like matt, you should replace the seatpost and saddle; a reversed Thomson and a TT-specific short saddle like an Ares will get you about 5cm further forward. The aerobars can stay on, and a shorter stem may help, but saddle position and type is the biggest change. Should be able to get all used for £100 and swap saddle/post in minutes. A used Giro Advantage helmet will cost £30 too.

Used TT bikes start at about £400. And when you’ve got a good position, it’s not about the bike. Might be a little bit about the wheels, skinsuit and helmet though 😀