{"id":79,"date":"2012-06-25T11:50:29","date_gmt":"2012-06-25T11:50:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sbrsport.wordpress.com\/?p=79"},"modified":"2014-06-28T18:29:33","modified_gmt":"2014-06-28T18:29:33","slug":"bike-frame-geometry-what-happens-when-you-ride-a-time-trial-bike","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sbrsport.co.za\/?p=79","title":{"rendered":"Bike Frame Geometry \u2013 what happens when you ride a Time Trial Bike."},"content":{"rendered":"

The design of a time trial bike is quite different to the design of a road bike. The time trial bike is specifically designed to help you get through the challenges of a triathlon.<\/p>\n

Triathlons within themselves place unique stresses on the body.\u00a0 Swimming places strain on both upper and lower body, cycling works the lower body in a seated position, whilse running works mainly the lower body but in a standing position.<\/p>\n

Over the last number of years the concept of a bike designed specifically for the sport of triathlon has evolved. The two major changes on the bike are the steeper seat tube angle and tri-bars.<\/p>\n

The purpose of this article is to look at what a steeper seat tube does to the riding experience.<\/p>\n

A little bit about seat tube angles:<\/p>\n

A typical road bike has a seat tube angle of between 70\u00a0– 76 .\u00a0 You sit in a similar position to sitting on a chair\u00a0with your feet a bit forward from your hips. A Time Trial bike has a steeper seat angle normally greater than 76 .\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Some observations with regard to the different effects caused by the seat tube angles.<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Your cardio and respiratory loads are slightly lower on a Time Trial Bike thus making a TT bike a more efficient bike to ride.<\/li>\n
  2. Road bikes with a less steep seat angle are easier to handle in typical road riding situations.\u00a0 You have a better weight ratio between front and back wheel on a road bike – that makes the bike easier to handle.<\/li>\n
  3. Road bikes are safer, in that you generally have quicker access to your brakes.<\/li>\n
  4. A Time Trial bike allows the hips to be extended, the spine to be more flattened and the rider to create less drag than on a road bike.<\/li>\n
  5. You are able to run faster after climbing off\u00a0 a Time Trial bike.
    \nGarside and Doran (2000) found that cyclists were able to run the first 5km of a 10km run significantly faster after a 40km time trial, when using a bike with a seat angle of 81 \u00a0as opposed to a bike with a seat angle of 73 .
    \nThey also found that stride length was greater after transitioning from a TT bike indicating that the hamstring group shorten in the traditional bike position.<\/li>\n
  6. Under intensive testing (Richard et al \u2013 2005) analysed Electromyography (EMG<\/strong>)\u00a0 \"\"<\/a>results of various leg muscles. EMG is a technique for evaluating and recording the electrical activity produced by skeletal muscles. The most profound result of the test was that the Biceps Femoris and Semimenbranous muscles worked a lot less in when placed in a bike with a steeper seat tube. The fresher the hamstrings, the better your run afterwards.<\/li>\n
  7. Tight Biceps Femoris muscles explain why some triathlon runners appear to run in a squat like position after climbing off the bike. One of the benefits of a TT bike is that the Biceps Femoris muscle is forced into a stretched position thus enabling the runner to run in a more efficient position.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

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    Regards
    \nMike
    \n    \"Mike<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The design of a time trial bike is quite different to the design of a road bike. The time trial<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[141725414,7461],"tags":[63411,27813,15196513,23467201,31448,2807033],"class_list":["post-79","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cycling-bike-setup","category-triathlon","tag-geometry","tag-run","tag-time-trial-bike","tag-triathlon-2","tag-tt","tag-tt-bike"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t