I ride a Giant Trinity 0 triathlon bike which comes as standard with integrated gear levers on the tri-bars.
I am racing this bike in a triathlon in Barcelona which is draft legal and therefore I am looking for some advice. The rules (ITU) state that nothing can pass the gear levers which cleary my tri-bars and gear levers do.
I am therefore planing on replacing the front end (handle bars and brake/gear levers(105 or upwards)). What I dont know is if there is anything I need to consider to achieve this? I love the position of the ride on the Trinity 0 and am not looking to ride with this set-up for more than 4 weeks whilst I train and race on it.
Money is not the issue here, i just want to ride my bike in Barcelona as opposed to hiring one or purchasing a cheap road bike which I then wont need. I am happy to invest heavily to make the change (and back again) as I plan to race again in mainland Europe where draft legal races occur.
Thanks in advance for your time.
Jamie.
Here's some thought to get
Here's some thought to get you on the way:
http://www.slowtwitch.com/Tech/Are_we_ready_to_Get_Shorty__435.html
In any case it will be pretty simple: road bars, shorty clip on bars, shifters/brakes, and new cables and housing. Keep the cabling and housing for your tri set up for after the race. Even if you can't re use the cables, you'll know how long the cables and housing will have to be.
Keeping your current
Keeping your current position may be difficult, if not impossible. Using myself as an example, the difference between my current extension length and what would be ITU legal on a drop bar with STI levers is about 150mm. To keep my same position with a drop bar and shorty bars would require a 250mm stem, which if it existed would create a whole new crop of problems. Using my current stem and shortys would pull my elbows way too far back. At least in my case, what you'd like to do wouldn't be possible.
If I were to do a draft legal race, I'd either use a road bike set up with shortys (which often don't require any change from a standard road position), or I'd set up my tri bike to as close to a standard road position as possible, moving the seat back to as close to a 73-74 degree angle as possible...
MSK you say that what I want
MSK you say that what I want to do is impossible - but I dont see why this is the case?
I dont mind if I dont have the perfect angle when using the drops, as long as technically I make the bike race legal. Surely putting some drops on and changing the gear/brake levers and sticking some short clip on tri-bars is sufficent to achieve this?
The race is only a sprint so if the angle in the drops is not perfect then I can manage for a 20k race. However before I drop a few hundred pound to achieve this I want to be sure it will be race legal and wont be a disaster to ride on.
If that is the case I would prefer to invest further and go for a dedicated road bike - has anyone got expereince of making a tri-bike draft legal??
Thanks to all for the thoughts and comments, it is most appreciated.
All the best,
Jamie.
The problem is not in doing
The problem is not in doing the actual conversion,but in trying to maintain your current position. Most aerobar extensions are between 275mm and 350mm, but to be draft legal, you're limited to about 160mm-175mm (depending on your bar/shifter combination). As an example, if you currently use a 300mm extension, to be draft legal you will have to move your aerobars back 125mm to get to 175mm. For many people, that means a really hunched back, and if you currently have very little knee/elbow clearance in your aero position (my knees and elbows almost touch), your elbows and knees will now overlap by several inches.
If you want to maintain your current aero position, you'll need a longer stem to move your bar out far enough so that with 175mm of extension, the ends of your aerobars will be where they currently are. But in this example, that means finding a stem 125mm longer than the current one, and I don't know of anyone making anything even remotely close to a 225mm stem (if you were starting with a 100mm).
The easiest and most effective solution is to move your seat back (if possible) to get you in as close to a standard road bike position as possible when you replace your bars.
One thing you can try first is to ride your current setup, but move your arms back on your aerobars until your wrists are sitting on the armrests (or directly over the base bar, if your armrests are offset). This will be very close to what your position will be like with drop bars and shortys if you don't change your seat position or stem length. If that position works for you, then you're good to go. Otherwise, I would recommend trying to either make your current bike fit more like a road bike, or get a hold of an actual road bike...