Single speed for a triathlon - bonkers or not?

[palinurus]

Not bonkers with the right gear ratio.

 

[marzjennings]

Plus of course the correct position is important, a "praying mantis" style does very little to improve airflow, and the low position which needs careful practice to msximise benefit is the
only way to go. And if we really get into things, frictional losses increase with speed/cadence, plus the energy used in chain deflection causing energy use by heating said chain, etc., etc.......

Agreed, correct position is key. That's why I mentioned to the OP that there's no point slapping on aero bars the day of the race and that they need to spend some time riding in a low efficient position to get the body used to it. It's taken me about 6 months and about a 1000miles to get to a point we I am comfortable enough to ride 40 miles on the aero bars.

But I have seen that if I'm riding with hand on the drop of the bars at about 18mph and drop onto my elbows my speed easily picks up to 20-21mph for what seems like the same effort.

 

[swee'pea99]

Thanks all - v interesting. So, anyone have a good link to a good guide on 'how to set up your tri bars'?

 

[fimm]

You don't have to have aero bars to do a triathlon, though: I did my first three on a hard-tail MTB with road tyres, and now have an old road bike but still no aero bars.

The TriTalk forums (http://www.tritalk.co.uk) are good.

 

[e-rider]

You would be fine to use single speed but you will almost certainly be faster using a geared bike. Plenty off top riders have been riding fixed for TTs over the years/decades and way back to the start (the late Zak Carr springs to mind more recently) and have achieved much success but few doubt they would have been even faster riding a geared machine.

 

[Ravenbait]

You can spend not a lot on doing tri but from what I've observed it's basically an excuse for middle-aged blokes to go shopping for loads of shiny toys across three different disciplines.

Oi! Not just blokes!

Sam

 

[Chuffy]

Oi! Not just blokes!

Sam

Wotcha!

Ok, birds too. Ooooh, shiny....

 

[Ghost Donkey]

I can;t seem to find the text on the Blenhiem triathlon webpage

Wouldn't recommend doing Blenheim on a single speed if you have a geared bike. Not flat enough to use a high cruising speed gear only

Not bonkers at all if you ride on a flat-ish course.