change your bike position a week before a tri?

oops, that was the pre-adjustment photo, it now looks like this.






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Well... If the new setup fits and works for you that will be much faster. Finding the right seat height though should be adjustments of mm rather than inches. That's why mountain bikes have quick release levers on the seat post on a mtb it is useful to be able to change your seat height on the fly on a road bike there isn't really a reason to change it once you have it dialed in. I'm noticing you changed seat height, and the angle of your bar and I assume purely based on appearance that this fits you better. What concerns me is did you change your saddle as well? I'm not sure I would race on a saddle that I have not tested on several high speed rides and at least one long ride.

Sorry, I should clarify...
First pic was added in error, it was the set up when I got the bike from a guy who was 2+ inches shorter than me and said he rode quite upright.

The second pic is when I had tossed the junk specialized seat, put on my own seat and adjusted it for my pedal stroke.
I did rotate the bars down a little, just felt a bit better a bit further down.

I guess I'm asking if I should drop the stem (move spacers up), get a lower rize stem, rotate the bars further?

I don't have tri-clipon's and I spend most of the time hands on the top of the levers.  It's still feeling strange to me after 200 miles on this bike compared to my MTB position, so that's why I'm asking if I should drop down further.


Edited by alex jb 2009-09-21 3:27 PM

Sorry about that... I re-read your post and realized I can't read. I ride on the brake hoods a lot, for me that's the most comfortable position with the most flexibility. But if the bike fits it should be comfortable to ride in the drops. If you can't get low enough to ride down in the drops I wouldn't lower the handle bar, though that stem is giving you a lot of rise I would be surprised if you weren't more comfortable a bit lower. Go ahead and play around with it. You'll race better if you are more comfortable and by the looks of it you can probably be a lot more comfortable. If you know any roadies ride with them and ask for some pointers, honestly 5 minswith an experienced rider could save you hours of trial and error setting up your bike.

If your still getting use-to riding on the hoods and its uncomfortable to go into the drops... DON'T lower the stem and make it worse...

It takes some time to adjust from the MTB to the road position, and it takes even more time to get comfortable /stable in the areo bars.  Once your fully comfortable riding in the drops then start making tweaks and add areo bars. When you decide its time to get lower, its not the worst idea to go to the LBS and have them look at you in the drops and see if its appropriate to adjust the stem length/height. 

I just had my position changed 5 days before my race...it was wonderful. There weren't any major changes made, but what he did made a huge difference in the pressure put on my shoulders.

It depends on how drastic the changes are and how long your race is.  At least those are the options I would consider.

Making a small change for a short race is probably not a problem.  The bigger the change, the bigger the issue.

Also, the longer the race, the bigger the issue.  A small change, close to an IM, could be devistating.  5-6 hours or more in a new position could cause injury.

However, a big change in the bike for a sprint is probably not as dangerous, IMO.