Apr 11
29
Time Trial Equipment Time Savings
Not mine but it looks good!
When I was at the time trial the other night, my ride was a Planet-X SL Pro Carbon with clip-on aero bars, with standard wheels, nothing fancy.
There were people with aero helmets, skin suits, disc wheels, deep dish wheels etc. and I started thinking “How much time do these actually save?”
From my research, I could only find time savings for professional cyclists (or extremely strong club cyclists!), so for most cyclists the time savings wont be as drastic, but will still be noticeable.
For our hypothetical rider, lets call him “Henry”, Henry is a very strong rider, and has a PB of 22:00 for a 10 mile time trial. (I know that’s a very fast time! But keep reading, you will see how much of a difference aero equipment makes!)
By switching from a round tubed frame to a Time Trial Frame, Henry can get his PB down to 21:35 - that will move him up quite a bit higher in the rankings!
Next he buys a time trial helmet, reducing his PB down to 21:15 - a very respectable time!
There are various models of time trial helmets available on the market, such as the BELL Meteor II
By converting his clip-on bars to integrated time trial bars, he can save an additional 15 seconds, and by using a deep section front wheel, he can get his time down to 20:45. A place on the podium is looking very likely now!
Some further upgrades can move Henry up to the very top of the rankings, and hopefully make his competitors sweat a little 
A disc wheel will save ~12 seconds, a skin suit will save ~11 seconds, an aero bottle and cage will save ~6 seconds and shoe covers will save ~5 seconds.
Henry has now got his PB from 22:00 to 20:11 – he will be one of the most feared competitors in any club time trial, and he will find he is ranking much higher against his other club mates.
You may not save nearly 2 minutes from all those upgrades, but you can certainly move yourself up in the rankings simply by upgrading to more aerodynamic parts! Also, if your bike looks fast, you will gain a psychological advantage – you will push yourself a little harder because you have a nice looking machine!
