Small bike sizing comparison
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Are you 5'6" or shorter, or have an interest in one who is? Here is an assortment of small tri bikes, and where they fall along the geometric gradient of long, short, tall and narrow.
Inputs and Outputs: Volume 1
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In about a month, I'll have two bikes in my garage: a P3 and a Slice. The P3 was an output, that is, it was the result of a process. The Slice was an input: It commenced a process. Confused? ...
Empty space finds new traction
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Even if old ideas fade away, if they have value, they'll kick around and reappear. So it is with "empty space" between a bicycle's fork and its wheel.
What's in a tube?
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This, a companion to "What's in a tire," describes the difference between butyl and latex tubes, and also the calculus of tire pressure, and how to choose the right pressure for a race course.
Is Chrissie Slowtwitch approved?
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Chrissie Wellington rides hard. Very hard. And very fast. But does her position fall in line with what we teach and preach at Slowtwitch U, or is she an outlier bucking the trend?
What's in a tire?
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Let it never be said that Slowtwitch doesn't tell you where the rubber meets the road. We deconstruct the tire and explain what conspires to give you good flat protection and low rolling resistance.
Crank arm lengths for tri
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The question is more common among road riders than triathletes, but is probably more impactful on the latter group: what crank length should you ride? The answer is counterintuitive; probably the ...
The Normannator Retul video
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About a week a go Normann Stadler went to the Retul studio in Boulder, CO to get accurately fitted on his Scott Plasma 2. Bike fit is a crucial thing and even fast guys like Stadler may have space ...
Are we ready to "Get Shorty?"
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Last year I wrote a series of articles about the most underserved segment of the handlebar market. I described the state of the shorty bar, offered some opinions, and reported on the best current ...
Contact points
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Welcome to a new series: Why you're not comfortable. If you're not comfortable speaking in front of crowds, sorry, we're not addressing that here. But if you're not comfortable on your bike, read ...
Proprietary rubber in today's tri wetsuits
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There are several companies that say they have rubber nobody else has. Let's take a look at those claims, and the rubber they're using, and see what we can glean about the state of materials in the ...
Characteristics of good triathlon wetsuits
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The truth is, almost every wetsuit feature has a corresponding detriment, and certain features have only the detriment, and no corresponding asset. You must decide what features matter to you.
The Hooker
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It's considered the aerodynamic benchmark for double-diamond (front and rear triangle) bikes.
Rolling resistance
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Practitioners of motorized sports recognized the traction benefits of slick tires a long time ago.
Tires and wheels for timed cycling events
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If the frame of a bicycle represents the “heart” of a bicycle, it can be argued that wheels and tires represent the “soul”.
Yet more wheel size debates
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After two decades of heated declarations and ill-informed pronouncements, there remains not one shred of evidence suggesting one of these wheel sizes is inherently superior to the other. And yet...
What science says of seat angles
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There have been real studies performed by real scientists on the subject of seat angles.
The Physics of Moving a Bike
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How power propels a bike: This is the second of two introductory articles preparing for a year-long series on training with power.
X/Y Rules for cycling: After the "peer review"
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The nice thing about the Internet -- or the maddening thing, if you like finality -- is that there rarely is any finality. Articles that we publish are not the last word on a subject, they're ...
X/Y Rules in an Angular World
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In barely a month USA Cycling joins the UCI in legislating the Randy Newman ethic: "Don't want no short people round here." Fortunately, there is a deceptively easy alternative for both of cycling's ...
The Aerodynamics of hand height
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Floyd Landis, Fabian Cancellara, Dave Zabriskie, Levi Leipheimer have all raced with the "hands in face" position. John Cobb pulls out of his wind tunnel archives an analysis of hand heights.
Trek's wind tunnel white paper
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Trek's engineers went public with their latest Equinox TTX wind tunnel test to counteract what it called spotty and erroneous assumptions about its recent data.