All right, fine, I'm a geek, I like to fuss with numbers and look stuff up when I could be writing papers, or training.

I'm considering a hypothetical rider - not me! - who can produce 300 watts for the length of a 40k TT.

Presuming he's using a UCI-legal time-trial bike, in the aerobars, and equipped with TT wheels (composite front and disk rear,), how much time does he save / lose just from switching a 'standard' vented helmet and jersey+bibs to a TT-specific helmet and a skinsuit? Or, any idea what the overall change in drag is for this effect?

I can't seem to make anaylitic cycling know what to do with this question.

Switching from 32-spoke, box-section rims to TT wheels looks like it saves right around a minute. The aerobars (with some assumed numbers about drag compared to 'hoods' positions) are huge, too - like two minutes, it says.

I'm trying to guess whether the helmet/skinsuit swap saves like 2-3 seconds, or a minute. Random, totally uneducated guess is that it's closer to 10s... anyone?

I'm trying to guess whether the helmet/skinsuit swap saves like 2-3 seconds, or a minute. Random, totally uneducated guess is that it's closer to 10s... anyone?

My random totally uneducated hunch of a response is that it'd save you 30-45 seconds to have a TT helmet and skinsuit.

You will need to be doing about 60 mph to stay in front of the rednecks in the rusted out pickup truck that want to throw yahoo bottles at the spandex clad geek with the funny space helmet on.

(just joking). I have not seen the numbers for the skinsuit, but I think the difference between a tight fitting jersey with shorts and a skinsuit would be very minimal. The helmet may be a little more significant (maybe 15-30 seconds) but you can get close to the same numbers by closing up the vents of a normal helmet with packing tape.

All right, fine, I'm a geek, I like to fuss with numbers and look stuff up when I could be writing papers, or training.

I'm considering a hypothetical rider - not me! - who can produce 300 watts for the length of a 40k TT.

Presuming he's using a UCI-legal time-trial bike, in the aerobars, and equipped with TT wheels (composite front and disk rear,), how much time does he save / lose just from switching a 'standard' vented helmet and jersey+bibs to a TT-specific helmet and a skinsuit? Or, any idea what the overall change in drag is for this effect?

I can't seem to make anaylitic cycling know what to do with this question.

Switching from 32-spoke, box-section rims to TT wheels looks like it saves right around a minute. The aerobars (with some assumed numbers about drag compared to 'hoods' positions) are huge, too - like two minutes, it says.

I'm trying to guess whether the helmet/skinsuit swap saves like 2-3 seconds, or a minute. Random, totally uneducated guess is that it's closer to 10s... anyone?

With packing tape on their helmets. That'll go over great with the sponsors!

Maybe on the "Office Depot" team.

:)

I wasn't talking about for yours truly. Me with a TT helmet and skinsuit would be like a 120 horsepower Civic with a giant spoiler and 20 inch wheels. I've got quite a lot more engine work to do before that kind of stuff would make any appreciable difference...

most of the big teams were riding TTs with packing tape (or special vaccum formed plastic pieces) over their road helmets. Most of the teams were not able to get their TT helmets UCI certified until just before the tour last year.

I have a book titled "High Performance Cycling" with a lot of charts and graphs dealing with how much the different TT equipment effects time. They had 3 columns in many of the charts a column with 100 watt average output, 200 average,and then a 300 average. What I found interesting is the time improvements were a lot greater in the 100 watt column than the 300 watt column. Meaning that a low power output ride will see a more significant reduction in TT times than a high output rider.

Will the low ouput rider get the same times with the gear as the high ouput rider, NO. But, the gear will result in a higher percentage improvement for the low output rider than the high ouput rider.

With packing tape on their helmets. That'll go over great with the sponsors!

Maybe on the "Office Depot" team.

:)

I wasn't talking about for yours truly. Me with a TT helmet and skinsuit would be like a 120 horsepower Civic with a giant spoiler and 20 inch wheels. I've got quite a lot more engine work to do before that kind of stuff would make any appreciable difference...

II'm trying to guess whether the helmet/skinsuit swap saves like 2-3 seconds, or a minute. Random, totally uneducated guess is that it's closer to 10s... anyone?

Check out the articles on this site:

http://www.timetrial.org/index2.htm

They have some time estimates for what each piece of gear is worth. Very informative.

thanks! That side was helpful.

I remember that a couple of years ago, US Postal had thier new cutting-edge skinsuits delivered right before the TT and OLN did a piece on the suits. They said that that particular fabric was good for about one second per K.

cAll right, fine, I'm a geek, I like to fuss with numbers and look stuff up when I could be writing papers, or training.

I'm considering a hypothetical rider - not me! - who can produce 300 watts for the length of a 40k TT.

Presuming he's using a UCI-legal time-trial bike, in the aerobars, and equipped with TT wheels (composite front and disk rear,), how much time does he save / lose just from switching a 'standard' vented helmet and jersey+bibs to a TT-specific helmet and a skinsuit? Or, any idea what the overall change in drag is for this effect?

I can't seem to make anaylitic cycling know what to do with this question.

Switching from 32-spoke, box-section rims to TT wheels looks like it saves right around a minute. The aerobars (with some assumed numbers about drag compared to 'hoods' positions) are huge, too - like two minutes, it says.

I'm trying to guess whether the helmet/skinsuit swap saves like 2-3 seconds, or a minute. Random, totally uneducated guess is that it's closer to 10s... anyone?