Road Bike Vs TT Bike: Aero Bars Wind Tunnel Tested | GTN Does Science!

What's the name of the Profile Design Stem shown at the end of this video in combination with the hydration system? Seems like it allows for integrated cabling yet I can't find it on the PD website.

For most riders a good road bike with clip ons and wheels. TT bike be faster on those riders who avg 27 mph or more.

It would be realy interesting to test Climbing bike vs aero Bike. Umtimate VS. Aeroad

GREAT video!!!! thank you guys...

My question would be:
Difference in Watts between shaved and hairy legs 😂?
Cheers!

Hi Mark i was also suprised for sure and would be intrested to know about an aero helmet vs a road helmet please

I'd love to see more TT vs Tri bike testing. There's lots of road vs tt or road vs tri, but not a lot of UCI legal TT vs UCI illegal Tri bikes.

Thank you for the way you did this comparison. Specifically using the same wheels and adjusting your seat forward. This was very helpful to me. My takeaway was that a modern aero road bike with the same wheels, seat moved forward and clip on bars isn't much of an aero penalty to a tri bike. I race but I am no pro. Thus perhaps I can put my money towards a new aero road frame instead of a tri bike as the road bike will get used more often. My only question left is that it looked like the road bike had regular round bars instead of aero road bars, so I am wondering how much closer the road bike would have gotten to the tri bike with those bars on it instead?

Would really have liked to see a more aero road bike position such as the “aero hoods” position included in this comparison. While I appreciate it’s not a position most can sustain long term, with training it can be held quite a long time, and it can easily be adopted for shorter times on the faster parts of a course.

I had already decided to use my 3T Strada road bike for IM Nice in September and to swap out the 3T “non-compatible with clip-on” handlebars that came with the bike for 3T’s clip-on compatible drop bars, but this video confirmed why that was a good decision over using my Blue Triad TT bike. Thanks GTN.

I have a question, I have seen more pro athletes with higher aero bars almost covering their face. However, in this video, the more aggressive position was lower. Can you explain why?

You missed one very important test category and that is aero hood tuck. Which is when you use the brake/gear hoods as if the were vertical handlebars.
You should have tested the aero hoods against clip on aero bars and tt bars

and i'm so fat, i banged 232W in sprint races on aeroad and barely avg 32kmh. lol

So, tell me the truth. Will I be the only one at a IM70.3 later this year on a road bike with no aero bars?

Next GTN challenge: James vs. a banana

Thanks for testing this. I’m conflicted between my TT bike and my tarmac both are from 2010. My conflict is that I’m doing IronMan Championship in Nice, France and I’m not a good climber… so I’ve been considering the tarmac which I’ve not taken out in 18 months. Suggestions welcomed.

I noticed this when I put clip ons on my road bike. I was never able to crack 45km/h on a flat straight before and now I can go up to basically 50 if I'm pushing myself. With these things when you lay on them it's fairly easy to reach a "travel speed" of 30. And I haven't even optimized my position on it just yet ^^'

Interesting video and timely for me as I am just TT-ing my road bike. Clip on bars, TT saddle, bottle behind the seat, TT helmet. Training for my first 70.3 this summer, I am hoping that at the minimum I can go the same speed for less power (hence less energy expenditure), or I might even be a bit faster. Testing continues, but this vid has given me some hope!

Great video, very informative! :) Would also love to see a comparison with a 'beginner' bike. For example one with a wider handlebar, wires hanging out at the front, just standard wheels and a Tiagra/105-groupset. I myself ride a beginner gravel bike (thus, wide handlebars, wires at the front, wide fork clearance etc.) with clip-on aero bars at a speed for us mere mortals (30 km/h), where I swap out the wheels during a triathlon. I'm very interested in knowing whether it would be worth getting a triathlon bike besides my regular multifunctional bike in terms of costs/speed-gain.

Quite surprised that the road bike with aero bars was quicker than a relaxed tt position. I would have though the drop bars hanging out in the wind would have a bigger negative effect. Could it be that a better body position accounted for the defecit? Interesting test

Every time I see "kph" instead of the proper metric system notation of km/h is like a kick in the stomach...

A huge problem for me. I have not been able to find clip ons for flat aero handle bars. It seems all clip ons are made for old handlebars???

As briefly mentioned, on the Tri bike there would be no bottles etc. Also, you would go with 60 mm front and disc wheel rear so real difference would be much bigger.

That's good to hear, I wanted to check so use aero Emonda ALR in time trial

so why should I buy a raodbike ? to be slow and not aerodynamic ?

The reason you didn't see a difference in clip on and full aero is because the bike doesn't matter. Wheels and rider (and what they are wearing) matter more than the frame and if the cables are hidden. Consumers need to stop buying (both figuratively and figuratively) marketing BS. All bike manufacturers lie about the improvements we gain from spending thousands of dollars/pounds/euros. We've seen it with press fit BB and we are about to see it with hookless rims. (I was however wrong about disc brakes, they are amazing)

Does anyone recognize this Frameset?

you slightly wrong, air load is speed cube! + mass load = more or less, change in speed CUBED is watts needed

Is the road bike felt as well?

😊

Good

🎉

Informative

Nice

😊

What if all the aerodynamic gains were from his loss of beard? 😂

Great video and all… but I feel like I’m missing something. If the bike is fixed to the ground, how does the wind affect the bike?

I was debating getting clip ons for my 18km (one way commute to work) 90% of it is on roads where that position would be fine and a potential 40 watt saving at my usual cruising speed sounds almost too good to be true! After an 8 hour shift on my feet it would be great to "rest" and actually potentially go the same/higher speed

This makes the case that aero road bikes are mainly marketing. It’s the position that matters. Not any “aero” tube shapes.

this is huge !

Went cycling today and was at 30kph when 2 girls on TT bikes overtook me, I pushed to 37kph and tried to hold that speed but they were atleast going 42-45kph and causally talking 😵‍💫. Passed them on way home still cycling at 48kph from car gauge reading and this was 30mins after I finished my 40km cycle

i’m a totally average guy. I bought a road bike to do long distance tri. i did a bike fit with and without aero bars and some half’s with this set up. i eventually made the decision to buy a TT bike. in a short ride if we are looking speed and power yes it’s the same between the two set ups. but if you want to manage your fatigue and power output over a 90k/180k the tri bike will allow it much easier. after that you have to run and then the fatigue management really comes into play. so for me is worth it.

if performance is not really important 150€ of aerobars + 150€ on a bike fit with the aerobars and people are ready to fly

Excellent video, thanks for sharing.

Would have been really neat to see a test in an aero road bike position, ie spynx. Super cool data!

Don’t let my wife see this vid. my tri bike dreams will be toast😂

So 9 watts difference at 30ks and 26watts 40ks between road bike and aggressive tt position which you didn't point out????? Why ?

I would have liked to see the difference if he shaved