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Setting up a triathlon bike

I recently swapped my road racing bike for a Trek Equinox 7 (tri bike). However, I have no idea how to set it up. i.e. How exactly I should be positioned on the bike. Any advice or a pointer to a link would be much appreciated.

Comments

  • BonusBBonusB Posts: 279
    The main thing is so it's comfortable for you.



    If your familiar with bike setup's then the only main difference will be setting up your cockpit with the aero bars. First you need to decide how low you go! Typically the headset will have about 4 spacers on it, these can be removed to lower the overall cockpit height (how low your front body is). Elites tend to try and get as low as possible, but if your new to aero positions I recommend you start high, and work lower as it puts a lot of strain on the neck and shoulders. (You'll find this even in a high aero position until your body gets used to it, so don't worry.) Until your confident about your set up do not cut the stem down to size as once it's gone it's gone.



    For deciding the length I mainly go for what feels comfortable, I like quite long arms on mine which I think (and this could be mistakenly) helps me get lower, you'll need to compromise on how far in you go as you need your knees to not clash with the elbow. The spacing between you elbows should be done so that when you knee is closet to you elbow they are in line. This helps maintain the effect of the aero position by not breaking the line of your body through the pedal stroke.



    I think that's about it for the main points. It's mostly a trial and error process. I know that 220 rana good article last year on aero positions but I can't recall the issue number.
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