I’m reasonably optimistic that our club may run a few tts from July onwards, and as such I thought I’d put the new tt bike on the turbo and get the position dialed in…having seen the power numbers it’s left me pretty depressed.

Last year I had an old planet x stealth, I spent no time trying to get the position sorted, just jumped on it and within 2 rides my power output was pretty much the same as on my road bike. And I was pretty aero as well, ended up coming 3rd in the club tt series as a result

So I thought I may have found something I’m good at, upgraded the frame to a dolan scala, disk wheel, electric gears etc..it looks the part. But unfortunately I’m about 10% down on the power id be expecting, despite my roadbike ftp being almost identical to last year.

I’ve tried saddle up, forward, back, dropped the front end, raised front end, fitted shorter cranks, tried an oval chainring. Nothing works. It feels like all my power is being generated via my quads and no amount of fettlking can bring the rear of my legs into play.

So..any ideas on how I remedy the situation?

Invent a time machine so you can go back a few years and be a bit fitter.

Did you take dimensions off your Stealth before you stripped it ?

Did you take dimensions off your Stealth before you stripped it ?

Nope…i hadn’t appreciated there appears to be far more science around tt bike fit than I had thought

The guy I use for bike fit, Matt at Crimson Performance, is doing video link bike fits on turbos if that could help. Obviously it’s not going to be as good as a full bike fit but in the interim it could assist?

Too early to say mate – it’s a time trial, not a power trial (more’s the pity). Need to see what it does on the road, you may be more aero and correspondingly faster.

I may be interested in that option. You got a link to his details?

I suggest you’ll need to adapt holding and riding in what is a very different position to your road bike.

My power is lower in tt position than regular road position, its not just about power and the turbo isnt really the best place to get the numbers as aero is more important. Over a 90k 1/2 ironman distance im 3-4kph quicker than i would be even at lower power, but its hard to gauge because ive not done the same course on the same day with both bikes. I ‘feel’ slower though. I can tell the difference because on a gentle uphill i can feel my glutes engage and the power kick in, but overall I’m quicker over the course in the tuck.

Id take your new bike out on some of your regular tt courses and do some comparing to your numbers last year. I think it also takes a while to get adjusted if its a radical change, no idea on the numbers of the new bike but a stealth is very old now, could be a very different geo. Get comfortable on it and put a couple of hundred miles on it, sounds like your making lots of changes in a short time based around feel, which isn’t the whole picture because the goal really is to optimise your power output rather than just increase it. Found it hard to get my head round.

My power is lower in tt position than regular road position

I think most folk’s is. Which is why I was kinda surprised when last year I jumped on a tt bike and within 10 miles was puttimg out exactly the same numbers as on the roadie.

But were you going faster on the same route in similar weather conditions for the same power effort on the TT?

TT is all about achieving more speed for your power effort, by reducing aero drag.

I was going way faster on my tt bike than my road bike for the same power. I’d say 2-3 mph faster easily.

Just wanted to echo that if you do go down the bike fit route Matt at crimson is excellent and a really nice guy to boot.

https://www.crimsonperformance.com/