# New TT bike - distance between elbow pads.



## grellboy (23 Mar 2019)

I am a virtual novice at TTs. I rode several last year on my road bike - sometimes with a one piece Profile Design aero extension on it. Anyway, managed to secure a great price on a dedicated TT bike and just picked it up today from shop. Whooah! As detailed I'm not exactly a veteran of TTs but have a very twitchy ride on the way home and tbh spent most of it on hoods. I know it will take some practise so will find quiet roads and take it easy to start with and all that but just looking into it, someone suggested on a forum that handling suffers the closer the bars are together. When I just measured the one piece bar on my road bike, the space between the bars (where I held them) was about 9cm. On this new bike it's 5cm!!! So, put simply, purely from a handling point of view, would greater spacing between the bars improve the handling?


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## roadrash (23 Mar 2019)

I would presume so just on the basis that I find narrower bars to be twitchy, not much help I know


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## mattobrien (23 Mar 2019)

Position is going to be much more affected by the width of the pads as opposed to the width of the tri bars where you hold them. 

Measuring centre to centre, how far apart are your pads?


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## grellboy (24 Mar 2019)

mattobrien said:


> Position is going to be much more affected by the width of the pads as opposed to the width of the tri bars where you hold them.
> 
> Measuring centre to centre, how far apart are your pads?


Will measure in morning, but from inside edge to inside edge the distance was 5cm!!


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## screenman (24 Mar 2019)

I would start off wide and work your way in with them as you practise more.


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## mattobrien (24 Mar 2019)

Mine are around 16cm centre to centre and there is an 8 cm gap between the pads.


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## frank9755 (27 Mar 2019)

Wider is better for handling (hence mountain bikes have very wide handlebars) but narrower is faster. 

Given that all you are trying to do on a time trial bike is ride down a straight road and navigate the odd roundabout, the handling requirements are not that demanding. So people tend to put their bars close in for speed. The extreme case of this is just having one single aerobar in the middle (done by Nik Bowdler when he won the 12 hour championship a few years back, and Mick Fountain for many years). 

But, obviously, make sure you can ride whatever setup you choose without falling off.


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## fossyant (27 Mar 2019)

You need to practice, but not near traffic, other bikes etc. You'll get used to them.


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## viniga (1 May 2019)

From an aero POV best to have them set so that your frontal area - width wise is not dictated by the distance between your elbows. Looking front on if your elbows are slightly narrower than your thighs that's a good indicator.

Obviously a balance between aero, comfort and handling. (Handling is trickiest in cross winds with a deep section front wheel).


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## grellboy (4 May 2019)

viniga said:


> From an aero POV best to have them set so that your frontal area - width wise is not dictated by the distance between your elbows. Looking front on if your elbows are slightly narrower than your thighs that's a good indicator.
> 
> Obviously a balance between aero, comfort and handling. (Handling is trickiest in cross winds with a deep section front wheel).


At risk of hijacking my own thread, currently looking at getting some new wheels. The wheels on my TT currently I've just moved from my road bike - 45mm Cosmic Carbones. Loom awesome on road bike, but a little wimpy looking on my Argon - the chunky tubes (not remotely cylindrical btw) and stays really need something deeper to fit in with them, aesthetically I mean. Thought 60mm definitely, but wondered about 80 or 88? I'm about 85 kg so no lightweight. Any suggestions?


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## HLaB (4 May 2019)

grellboy said:


> At risk of hijacking my own thread, currently looking at getting some new wheels. The wheels on my TT currently I've just moved from my road bike - 45mm Cosmic Carbones. Loom awesome on road bike, but a little wimpy looking on my Argon - the chunky tubes (not remotely cylindrical btw) and stays really need something deeper to fit in with them, aesthetically I mean. Thought 60mm definitely, but wondered about 80 or 88? I'm about 85 kg so no lightweight. Any suggestions?


I'm a lightweight 63kg and I have a 62.5mm on the front and a disc on the back, perhaps you can look at a disc.

Also being a lightweight for optimal aero my poles/pads are set close together but when I started out I had them further out and more stable but narrowed them as I got more confident.


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## mattobrien (5 May 2019)

@grellboy the Aerocoach wheels are highly rated in terms of aero dynamics. I think that the front might be a little deeper than 80, but I suspect at 85kg you’ll be okay in most weather conditions. There were some QC issues with the disc originally, but as that was around a year ago hopefully that has been sorted. 

I have a Zipp 808 on the front and Super 9 on the back and haven’t struggled in conditions that are safe to ride in. If it is too windy for a 80mm front then it is possibly too windy for a safe TT.


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## viniga (5 May 2019)

I run a 60mm on the front, if I had an 80mm I would run that in calm conditions. It's the front wheel that is affected most in cross-winds. Before you tt check the weather forecast and if you are lucky enough to have options then you can decide what to run with. (NB If its speed you are interested in then get a skinsuit first).


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