Aero Special: This makes you fast - Ride your road bike faster with aerodynamic tips

The good news is that it doesn't cost any money to ride significantly faster - just training for an aerodynamic riding position. The investment in streamlined clothing is also manageable. Only when it comes to the final tenths does better aerodynamics become really expensive. TOUR names the decisive starting points for high feelings through more speed.

How we measure: To calculate the speed increases, we used a 70-kilo rider who produces 230 watts; this results in a different initial speed in each of the three situations (riding position, clothing, bike).

The seating position

The rider causes much more air resistance than the bike. The first and biggest step towards faster riding is therefore to reduce the frontal area: head down, arms inwards! Leaning on aero handlebars would make you even faster - but this is only permitted in time trials.

• Savings at 35 km/h: 54 watts -> 3.9 km/h faster
• Costs: none

The clothes

Clothing contributes more to speeding than you might think. It's clear that clothes flapping in the wind slow you down. But not every tight-fitting jersey is necessarily optimally aerodynamic. One-piece suits with specifically roughened sections on the sleeves and trouser legs and smooth fabrics on the upper body are the fastest. The textiles can even be optimised for the desired speed range. Important: Fast clothing always helps - even if the riding position, such as on a marathon racing bike, is not aerodynamically optimised.

• Savings at 35 km/h: 27 watts -> 2.3 km/h faster
• Costs: from 250 euros

The wheel

The main adjustment screws on the road bike: frame set and handlebars (narrow and flat) as well as the wheels. Frame tubes and rims with an aero profile glide through the wind much more easily than round tubes with a large cross-section or angular rims. This advantage is always present, as our experiments show - even in the slipstream, even if the effect is reduced.