Time trialling means road cycling in its most extreme form. The synergy of man and machine, all for the one goal of riding as fast as possible on your own and under your own steam. No back to hide behind. No tactical games to lull your opponent to sleep. Only one thing counts: maximum speed. Everything is subordinate to this. That's why time trial bikes are uncompromising, hard and uncomfortable. Comfort features? The only thing that comes to mind are the padded armrests: a few millimetres of foam to prevent your forearms from breaking when you hit a pothole at 50 km/h. Time trialling sounds like pain, numbness and a stiff neck. Despite this - or perhaps because of it? - the battle against the clock is perhaps the most fascinating form of cycling of all.
This fascination is catalysed by the technology of the bikes. Modern time trial bikes are spectacular speed sculptures against which a normal road bike looks like a Golf GTI next to a Lamborghini Aventador. Futuristic-looking handlebars emerge almost seamlessly from the top tube, curved frame tubes nestle around wheels, brakes are hidden out of sight in the fork and frame. All cables run internally, and the Avantgarde now even has electric shifting. While people have been talking about system integration on road racing bikes for years, it has long been state of the art on time trial bikes.
The test results of the eight time trial frames can be found below as a PDF download.
Influence of the impellers
Even if the bike manufacturers don't like to hear it: From an aerodynamic point of view, the wheels are far more important than the frame. This raises the question of how the measurement results in the wind tunnel will turn out if you put really fast wheels in an inexpensive aluminium time trial frame. For the test, we chose the Opiat Tri T model from Poison, which is available as a frame set for a fair €449. The wheels used were the new 808 wheels from Zipp, with which the high-end frames were also tested: 2,600 euros expensive, but currently in a class of their own in terms of aerodynamics (see wheel test in TOUR 4/2011).
The result might shock some aero fans. With the Cosmic Carbone SR wheels from Mavic fitted by the manufacturer, the Poison performed as expected in the wind tunnel: 223 watts of resistance at 40 km/h - a good 20 watts more than the best high-end wheels. With the Zipp 808 wheels, however, things look completely different. The resistance is only 210.5 watts, which puts Poison between the much more expensive bikes from Giant and Canyon. Mind you, the latter were also measured with 808 wheels. The test shows: The investment in a top time trial frame only pays off in a measurable time gain if the same high standards are applied when choosing the wheels.
Poison Opiate Tri T
Price 449/2,549 Euro
Weight 19.0 kilos
Reference/Info www.poison-bikes.de
Weight Frame/fork/steering bearing/
Seat post* 1,557/552/68/200 grammes
Frame sizes** 49, 52, 55, 57 cm
Stack/Reach/STR*** 502/404 mm/1.24
Driving stability 87 Nm/°
Power transmission 57 N/mm
EQUIPMENT
Brakes Shimano 105
Gear lever/gear shift Shimano Dura-Ace/Ultegra
Bottom bracket Vision Trimax Pro (52/38 t.; BSA)
Impellers Mavic Cosmic Carbone SR
Tyres Michelin Pro3Race
Saddle/post Selle Italia NT1/Amoeba Scud
Handlebar/stem Vision Trimax Alu/ Controltech One
1) Frame set/complete bike. *Weighed weights. **Manufacturer's specification, test size greased. ***Stack/reach: projected vertical/horizontal measurement from the centre of the bottom bracket to the top of the head tube (centre); STR (stack to reach): Values below 1.30 indicate a race-like riding position, values of 1.20 and smaller indicate an extreme time trial position.
Downloads:
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