Wanted to Borrow / Rent: Castelli T1 Stealth Top, Ski Bend Extensions

Dave Tallo

I have booked a day with ERO/Alphamantis for aero testing on the LA velodrome in late January.   My first are of inquiry is positioning and cockpit tweaks, but I also plan to test gear, focussing in on (1) the Castelli t1 vs the Izumi Octane, and (2) ski bend extensions vs "wrist relief" S-Bends. 

I have some, but not all the gear.  Maybe you can help?  

(1) the Castelli jersey that I have is a Medium, but there are a ludacris number of wrinkles in the arms.  So, I want to try a size small Castelli t1 <g class="gr_ gr_2230 gr-alert gr_gramm Punctuation only-del replaceWithoutSep" id="2230" data-gr-id="2230"><g class="gr_ gr_2335 gr-alert gr_spell ContextualSpelling ins-del multiReplace" id="2335" data-gr-id="2335">Steath</g>,</g> and determine if it's faster or slower than my PI Octane.&nbsp;<strong style="text-decoration: underline;">&nbsp;Does anyone have a Castelli t1 in Small I could borrow? &nbsp;</strong>I would use it for ~ 4 runs, launder and return with my aero gratitude and a small rental fee/donation in your name to CAF. &nbsp;I can't find one new online anywhere. &nbsp;</p>

(2) Any 'ol pair of ski-bend extensions, 22.2 diameter.  I have a stable of straight, S bend, lazy J bend, kinked pistol bend extensions... just not a basic old school, ski bends.  And I don't want to buy and install a set unless I'm sure I'll keep 'em.   But I really want to test these.   Do you have a basic set in your parts bin you can flip to me for a weekend? 

Again, I'm happy to pay a small rental fee and postage.  I wouldn't need them until late January, but thought I would start the begging now.  

 

John Withrow

I "think" I have a set of ski bends in my bike tool chest. My stuff is on a moving truck right now, but supposed to be delivered to my new house tomorrow. I should know for sure by Wednesday if I still have them. If so, they are yours to keep. They are carbon ski bends that were taken off of my P5 when I put the s-bends on. I think they were cut off by about an inch or so, but should work fine. I don't know the diameter, but I'm pretty sure they are a standard size. They came off a set of 3T bars.

tim cronk

Sorry Dave I dont think you would fit into mine if I had them! But I'm really looking forward to your thought process prior to your session as far as what you are testing and why and then a quick write up afterwards.... My velodrome session is the end of Feb. From what I understand its position first, then helmet, then clothes and configuration of bottles etc?

Dave Tallo

@ John - that's great. Thanks so much. I'll send you a PM later in the month once you've crawled out from under the move.


@ Tim - I'll absolutely write this up. In my case, priorities of the runs will be:


1. overall position


2. extensions - ski vs Cobb wrist relief


3. helmet: LG p09 vs Giro Selector


4. suits: size small PI Octane vs size small Castelli t1


5. If time / runs remaining:


-validate Torhans 30 preferable to BTA setup


-test cda of "Zabriskie" position as below (no, I WASN'T drafting - this was just the 4-mile--long pack clusterF*&k near the airport)

 

Coach Rich

Dave,

What aerobar system and extensions are you riding now? Your hand and head position in that pic is exactly how I prefer to ride: relaxed wrists, hands loose and draped, head turtled, etc. 

Thanks!

Dave Tallo

The bar is a Blackwell Concord Aerobar (now defunct), and it uses the Blackwell / Cobb "Wrist Relief" extensions. I've switched basebars this year to the USE tula (and have tilted the whole thing up to get the tips 2cm higher, to get forearms closer to parallel, after seeing good results testing at ERO), but I'll continue to use the Wrist Reliefs in this config.

And <g class="gr_ gr_8 gr-alert gr_gramm Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="8" data-gr-id="8">man</g> <g class="gr_ gr_9 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_hide Punctuation" id="9" data-gr-id="9">...</g> if you can get, and then sustain, that head position, it's probably a bigger gain that any piece(s) of equipment you could buy. Unfortunately, I can't keep that position going for a whole race, I lapse into something a bit less aggressive.<br />

 

** I have an extra pair of the wrist reliefs in the parts bin - unfortunately, they were cut down to 95mm.  But if these coupled with your 3Ts, would give you sufficient reach to the tips of the bar ends, they're yours.  I'm just not familiar with where the clamping mechanism is on those basebars.  

Coach Rich

Posted By Dave Tallo on 15 Mar 2015 08:09 PM

The bar is a Blackwell Concord Aerobar (now defunct), and it uses the Blackwell / Cobb "Wrist Relief" extensions. I've switched basebars this year to the USE tula (and have tilted the whole thing up to get the tips 2cm higher, to get forearms closer to parallel, after seeing good results testing at ERO), but I'll continue to use the Wrist Reliefs in this config.

And <g class="gr_ gr_8 gr-alert gr_gramm Grammar only-ins doubleReplace replaceWithoutSep" id="8" data-gr-id="8">man</g> <g class="gr_ gr_9 gr-alert gr_gramm gr_hide Punctuation" id="9" data-gr-id="9">...</g> if you can get, and then sustain, that head position, it's probably a bigger gain that any piece(s) of equipment you could buy. Unfortunately, I can't keep that position going for a whole race, I lapse into something a bit less aggressive.<br />

 

** I have an extra pair of the wrist reliefs in the parts bin - unfortunately, they were cut down to 95mm.  But if these coupled with your 3Ts, would give you sufficient reach to the tips of the bar ends, they're yours.  I'm just not familiar with where the clamping mechanism is on those basebars.  

Hey Dave,

Thanks again. I'm going to pick up a pair of S-bends today for this 3T setup. When I cut those I'll bounce my length off your 95cm below and let you know, might be good to have another option.

As this is all related to the aerobar, recabling, etc...what brakes are you running? I'm rocking Ultegra from like 2004 on this bike and was thinking about the TriRig setup. And, of course, since I wandered in there I'm now looking at their aerobar and stem...

 

Dave Tallo

I'm using a Tririg front brake. My progression over the years has been Ultegra-> Simkins Egg -> Hooker SL -> Tririg Omega. It's a solid item that will find a handful seconds of drag over the ultegra, fo sho.

His bars are also nice, but very spendy. As for the stem ... wait for your session at ERO! I suspect you'll come out of there with a different length after some position tweaks, and the Tririg only comes in a 90mm, so it might not give much flexibility. Says the guy with 8 stems in his parts bin.

Coach Rich

Thanks. I'm riding a 90 now and when I set the bike up years ago I kept a decent bit of steer tube. So by moving spacers I can go from Oly to HIM to IM flavor front end drops. Would be interesting to quickly compare each.