Biggest Bang for the Buck for Bike Speed (Page 2)

You say you're new to road riding, so have to point out that adding clipless pedals and aerobar just before a race is asking for trouble.

Going clipless is definitely worthwhile for better power.  But PRACTICE with 'em a lot before a race.  Clip in & out literally hundreds of times on grass (soft surface!) so it becomes second nature.  Cleat set-up/adjustment is HUGE for both best power AND injury avoidance.  Wrong cleat positioning can really mess up the knees. (ask me how I know that ).  And forget the fancy "shoes already clipped in " transition you may see elites do.  Saves little time, but risks injury if you don't get it right.

Decent set of lower-priced aerobars (I use Profile Design Aerostryke) can add 1-1.5 mph at same power due to better aero position, but again, set-up & practice are important.  Do a web search for setup advice.  Practice to make sure your position is comfortable and feels "powerful" to you.  Bike handling will seem sensitive or twitchy to you at first.  PRACTICE in open area (empty parking lot) with small steering moves to get the feel of bike's handling with arms on aerobars.  And practice moving your arms between handlebar & aerobar positions enough so that you keep good bike control.  Don't try to take sharp turns on aerobar position-move hands to the hoods (or drops) for best handling.

From my experience I tend to agree that if you did 19.4 in an OCR with flat pedals, you have a 22mph "engine" with some better equipment.  As others have said- aero is MUCH more important than 2-3lbs of weight for a tri bike.

Good luck & have fun!!!

After reading this thread, I see that you guys really love clipless pedals but there is reference to the current bike just having flat pedals.  Is there much advantage of going to clipless over pedals with a toe clip?

All I have read thus far is that the shoes are stiff and allow for better transfer of energy.  I just don't know if it is worth upgrading clip to clipless. 

IMO, you'll never develop an efficient and powerful pedal stroke with toe clips. If that doesn't matter to you then by all means, do whatever makes cycling fun for you.

It is totally worth it to upgrade to clipless. The advantage it tremendous. The toe cages don't really allow you to pull that much, and the stiff shoes make a huge difference. Make the change. You won't regret it.

My Training LogMy Race Log

I'm a newbie and this thread brings up a question for me.  I'm riding a hybrid and just switched from platform to clipless pedals.  How much of an increase in speed should I expect to be seeing?  Someone had said that the OP would go from 19 to 22mph with clipless, but that's on a road bike.  Would it be the same or less for me on the hybrid?

I could be wrong but I got the impression that this person isn't going to be sprinting at a higher wattage than the TdF sprinters and will therefore probably be OK without the extra security of clips/straps in addition to clipless pedals. I also think that anybody contemplating whether they should go clipless, is probably not going to have their toeclips attached so securely that there won't be movement between their shoes/pedals in about 50% of their stroke (if it's even possible to attach them that tight).

Edited by breckview 2009-07-25 10:08 AM

Thank you guys for the discussion on the clipless pedals. I have been constantly improving with my biking. My mph is nowhere near 20mph yet but I've not seen anything resembling a fairly flat route yet.  The OLY I'll be doing in Sept. has two hill areas so I've been mainly working on getting strength in my legs.  This morning, I did a 21.8 mile hill ride despite feeling tired and sore and I still improved. I noticed that my clips don't give me hardly any "pull" on the lift until my pedal is at least halfway up.  I actually feel my foot lift off the pedal between the bottom and 45* after that.  I believe that is where you guys are talking about where a clipless pedal would give me an improvement.  It seems very small but I guess with 80 RPM * a 1 hr ride, there is a lot of lost energy there.

I'm looking into some clipless pedals but is 5-6 weeks of training with them enough to make a difference?

I say ride as much as possible at the speed, distance and intensity of your future races.

Today, I watched a friend of mine compete in a super sprint triathlon (his very first race) on a bike  that is at least 20 years old,  not even painted, with the real old style lever shifters on the down tube.  He peddled right past some people on expensive high tech triathlon bikes. Nobody past him on the bike portion of the race.

In my mind, he was simply better conditioned for the bike portion of the event.  He puts in hard time and miles each week on that bike.  The best part was it cost him almost nothing to do it.

If I were you and had to spend money on something, it would be clip-less pedals and then do a few more races.  You will have plenty of time to drop some coin in this sport.

No way am I defending clips/straps.  You're right that most have their toe clips too loose to help their pedal stroke, but at some point many realize their feet are moving around & tighten the straps.  That's when they fall trying to get their feet out & get all freaked about even trying clipless.  My better half was in the latter category & I STILL can't get her into clipless!!!  Truth is clipless is prob safer (with a bit of practice) than loose clips/straps. It is easier to get in/out  & there's no clip or strap to cause trouble.  Like at start when pedal is upside down (due to weight of clip/strap) & newbie falls while struggling to rotate pedal up so he/she can get their foot in.  IMHO- Toe clips/straps are an advanced & specialized technique which should NOT be supplied with entry level bikes intended for entry level riders. 

BTW- In a 600-entry Sprint I did this month some guy was top ten OA using top clips/straps.  He is an experienced track (velodrome) rider & could get in/out amazingly fast by bending over to tighten/loosen the straps for T1/T2.  I've been riding 4-5+k/yr recently & NO WAY could I do that.

With exception of flats for newbie cyclists, townies, and BMX/freeride/stunt riders , most other riders should be on clipless pedals.

I totally agree with everything you wrote. I really don't understand the difficultly many beginners have with clipless especially considering how easy it is to get in/out of speedplays.

Back when I was racing tri's when I was younger on the flats of Dallas TX, I was always messing around testing clipless vs. cages in order to eliminate the overhead of changing shoes. I had a device that was basically a rigid platform with a toe cage and with clamps that would attach to the sides of a running shoe sole. It worked pretty well but I never actually used it in a race. While the sole was held firmly, there was still some power loss from the upper part of the shoe

I agree with this 100%. I just completed my first triathlon today, a sprint. I am riding a 35 year old  road bike with friction shifters with some clip-on aerobars. In the transition area, I saw a guy staring at my bike and I. He turned away, standing next to his newer Trek. On an uphill portion of the bike, I passed him, to never see him again. I ended up getting 1st in my age group and 18th overall. My training (and youth) allowed me to do as well as I did. Although I am still a newbie, I would have to say the best spent money for increasing your speed would have to go like this:

1. Hiring a coach
2. Aerobars
3. Clipless pedals
4. Professional fitting

Most of us here are not professionals, and the gains that you can make from buying a better bike/ upgrading are dwarfed by the gains you can get by training more efficiently. With the exception of areobars... the speed increase is very noticable.

Edited by Kickback 2009-07-26 2:01 PM

Thanks for the amazing advice!  I have an OLY in 5 weeks.  I will try to convince my wife that I "need" clipless pedals and aerobars right now.  I suspect that I will end up doing the OLY with the current configuration and go clipless/aero in the spring.  Xmas is a great time to get new bike goodies.

Thanks again.

You're aware that those guys are talking about toe clips, where your shoe clips into the pedal**, whereas the OP is most probably talking about toe cages, right? 2 completely different items, that look very similar.



** not to be confused with the pedals most of us use, which are called "clip-less", even though we "clip -in".

Edited by lrobb 2009-07-27 7:21 AM