http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/538831/andy-wilkinson-s-dolan-time-trial-bike.html

I think that is a great bike, and has been used to set the 12 and 24 hour competition records.

What the hell does the chain do when it’s on the granny ring, given that the front mech stops about 2″ above it?

Are you sure this isn’t a wind up?

the mech falls on the paralelogram so it probably “just” clears it . but ill bet he doesnt cross his gears.

probably only uses it when hes towing cars out of ditches while touring.

That is a nicely humbling for all us gear whores out there. Coming 15th in the national 25 on a bike you have toured on and can take mtb tyres is pretty special and shows its not about the bike.

wanders off to the shed to work out what I can live without……

There’s a 5 part documentary on Wilkinson on Youtube where he talks about his choice of bike. He uses the same bike for MTB as he does for racing 12 and 24 hour events. The gearing is an interesting one, his thoughts are that a triple gives him the best spread of ratios that he couldn’t get with a conventional double chain set.

Man is a total legend, his distance set on the 24hr national meant he was doing an average of 23mph. For 24 hours. 23mph!!!

That is a nicely humbling for all us gear whores out there. Coming 15th in the national 25 on a bike you have toured on and can take mtb tyres is pretty special and shows its not about the bike.

Well yes and no, it’s a storming result, but he’s a bloody good TTer, so he’d have gone faster on a ‘proper’ TT bike I’ll wager. I don’t think it proves much at all frankly, it’s only really the frame/fork/seatpost that aren’t that aero, he’s got very fast wheels, and the Tula bars are meant to be very fast indeed, so the position is pretty sorted.

If he’d won it, or come 15th with the knobblies on that would have been awesome!

the issue ive got with the one bike does all thing is that you spend so much time changing your bike between diciplines

Well yes and no, it’s a storming result, but he’s a bloody good TTer, so he’d have gone faster on a ‘proper’ TT bike I’ll wager. I don’t think it proves much at all frankly, it’s only really the frame/fork/seatpost that aren’t that aero, he’s got very fast wheels, and the Tula bars are meant to be very fast indeed, so the position is pretty sorted.

It’s the other way of looking at it that impresses me more. This is someone for who riding a bike is pretty much his life and he is proper good at it; yet he can make do with so much fewer bikes than even also rans like me. Some folks would have a best tt bike, a training tt bike, a summer road bike, a winter hack, a tourer, an off road bike and a commuter. Andy has a do it all bike – that’s it!

and shows its not about the bike.

No, all it shows is that he’s a great rider. No matter how good you are, you’ll always be faster on an aero bike, all other things being equal. Laws of physics apply.

Some folks would have a best tt bike, a training tt bike, a summer road bike, a winter hack, a tourer, a commuter. Andy has a do it all bike – that’s it!

And? If you’ve got the money for lots of bikes, why not? The problem is when people start thinking the perfect bike is essential, or that it’s the reason they’re not winning.

No, all it shows is that he’s a great rider. No matter how good you are, you’ll always be faster on an aero bike, all other things being equal. Laws of physics apply.

Yes, obviously, but…..there are plenty of soft middle aged nobodies buying stupid expensive carbon lovelyness in the quest for free speed that is making them faster so they can come 255th in a triathlon instead of 265th they would have come with a “compromised” bike.

Today it feels like a bit of an arms race. For me at least Andy’s approach is refreshing – but I guess I have always viewed bikes as tools rather than items to be drooled over and coveted. Obviously other’s opinions vary.

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9g_g73Iqeg
Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=SY7FvebjQrs&feature=endscreen
links for the other episodes should be at the side of the play window.

IMO I think the point here is that for a 12/24 hr event comfort takes priority over all out speed hence the USE post and such. For shorter events I’m thinking a true aero bike would be more advantageous where every single second counts.

Wilkinson is one of the old guard though. He doesn’t train on power or HR, just on feel which when you’re at the sharp end of the national 25 is interesting. A complete contrast to Hutch who apparently changes his chain for every race to help with drag. As mentioned by Njee, he also has a very aero set of wheels fastened to it which combined with the bars makes for a pretty aero position anyway.

that granny ring is definitely useless. Looks like the chains never been on it! Maybe it just stops the chain getting caught between the BB if it comes off.

Aero frame gives the least help according to this, and also works out the most expensive in terms of price per seconds gained…

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

Interesting that those aero wheels give such a small advantage compared to their cost too, I think I read somewhere that the advantage from deep section rims is the same advantage you get from pinning your number on correctly…

Today it feels like a bit of an arms race

Well quite, but that’s the case in any sport that requires kit.

That article is interesting though. In a thread trying to show that it’s not about kit, that lot saves around 8 mins for a 40km time trial, which is a hell of a lot!

that granny ring is definitely useless. Looks like the chains never been on it! Maybe it just stops the chain getting caught between the BB if it comes off.

seeing as he uses for CX plus touring plus it part of the campag chainset perhaps he just leaves it on as a bail out when touring etc

doubt it is doing any harm there for TT and as you say might even help as a chain catcher

anyhow good result for him on the National 25 TT

Well quite, but that’s the case in any sport that requires kit

, and particularly sports followed by folk with lots of disposable income and manufacturers who recognise the power of advertising/marketing and so on.

Not always a bad thing, but does begin to exclude people without the spending power.

It’s the other way of looking at it that impresses me more. This is someone for who riding a bike is pretty much his life and he is proper good at it; yet he can make do with so much fewer bikes than even also rans like me.

Can’t argue with that.

it’s certainly one of the better looking TT bikes out there.
and is it my computer or does he have non-circular rings on there?

If anything, it confirms that successful long-distance testers are nuts, more or less by definition. If you’re going for long distance TTs I can see it makes sense to ride the same (or identical) bike as much as possible so it becomes 2nd nature.
There’s a real old school feel to it (and him), harking back the days when people would ride to a TT with their race wheels on wheel-carriers, swap wheels and race, then swap them back and join up with the club run afterwards.
But I’m still not convinced by the granny ring!

PS – I think I’m starting to want one, it’s nicher than niche; must go for a lie down till the feeling passes.

Andy’s a nice bloke too, apart from the way he goes past me on the way to work.
Including solo on a tandem with rocks in the rear panniers to make it hard work!!
He’s really good with new riders as well, always makes time to encourage and answer questions.

Love it, sticks two fingers up at the “you can’t do this on that bike brigade” vee brakes & flat bars – must make it a hybrid then 😆

good story, and good on him, but going back to the OP’s question. No one NEEDS aero, apart from pro’s where results dictate their wage, but if you want to win a TT these days, at any level, I would suggest you aren’t going to do it on a normal road bike.

vee brakes & flat bars – must make it a hybrid then

Flat bars? It has about the most aero of aero bars on there!

He uses the same bike for MTB as he does for racing 12 and 24 hour events.

sorry not got chance to watch the vids, does he do all that with just a tyre change* or does he just keep the frame fork seatpost and change pretty much everything else on the bike? Dunno how he’d get on riding mtb on those TT bars. Cause if it’s the latter then he’s just as much of an equipment whore as everyone else, he’s just proving a point by using the same fuselage**

*wheel change allowed I guess.
**sorry 😳

<edit> not taking anything away from his achievements, obviously a shit hot rider, just wondering about the “same bike” thing

Latest On-one offer e-mail says their fastest ever wheels (the fat 45’s, presumamby that makes them comparable to Zipp firecrest 404’s?) are 3 minutes quicker over a race, as long as it’s an ironman! And that’s not faster than their other carbon wheels, thats over alloy (presumably open pro’s or similar?) wheels!

They’ve just saved me a fortune as I was begining to believe the hype and deliberating splurging £2k on a new ‘more aero’ bike!

Well at least the MAMIL’s who are dropping big bucks on carbon bikes they don’t need are making them cheaper for those few who do benefit from them. And supporting the companies developing these products which we like to drool over Buying products is not about need but all about want.

At the low 20’s mph on a machine with such a small frontal area (which has the biggest impact on drag) the gains with aero bikes must be small. Worthwhile if you’re chasing seconds over 50km, but for the majority of us they’re not really provideing any real benefits. You’ll get the bulk of the benefit getting your body into the most aerodynamic position you can. Bathe rest is all about small percentage improvements.

I was involved with the 2011 national 24 hour TT where Wilko utterly smashed his previous event record.

The course was seriously sporting and many of us said beforehand that a 480 mile / 20mph avg ride was going to take some doing.

I was the pushing off man and Andy started without his pointy hat (late technical issue). He got that sorted and then did the first 100 miles in 3:56.

Talking at the presentation dinner 6 months later, he reckoned he stopped for a total of 45 secs during the whole event! – We didn’t ask about comfort breaks……

This is one of my fav shots from the event.

I took that around 1:30 AM in Henfield High St.

541 miles in a day is just insane.

I was stood by the finish when he broke the 12 hour record by a few metres in 1996 he rode a fairly aero for its day giant and a pointy hat then .I packed after 4 hours but did have him come flying past me early on that day

Yes, obviously, but…..there are plenty of soft middle aged nobodies buying stupid expensive carbon lovelyness in the quest for free speed that is making them faster so they can come 255th in a triathlon instead of 265th they would have come with a “compromised” bike.

I resemble that remark a bit 😀 But if your going to race and can afford it why not have the best kit ? 255th sounds better than 265th to me. Racing for most people is about being the best you can be.

Yes, obviously, but…..there are plenty of soft middle aged nobodies buying stupid expensive carbon lovelyness in the quest for free speed that is making them faster so they can come 255th in a triathlon instead of 265th they would have come with a “compromised” bike.

Just jealous you can’t afford same eh!

Just jealous you can’t afford same eh!

I can look into the shed from where I’m sitting – I can see the Cervelo P3, the Zipp Disc, the Zipp 1080 front and pair of Zipp 404s, the new all carbon front end and the “old” perfectively serviceable carbon one it replaced sat on the bench. And then there’s the other TT bike (still carbon)sat on the turbo where its been for the last 6 years. Both with power meters of course. And that’s just the TT/tri specific kit!

In other words I was having a go at myself as much as any other mamil (although I wasn’t actually a mamil when I first bought and raced this lot – but I might be now) 🙂

But if your going to race and can afford it why not have the best kit ?

I think it’s the pervasive widely held opinion now that you “need” it that irks most – and as above I was part of that arms race as much as anyone. If you measure your performance by where you come in the field or your performance last time on the same course, buying a bit of extra performance feels like a bit of a hollow victory.