Long distance TT comfort

[Dominic]

After a very sore middle section of the Charlotteville 50 yesterday I have started pondering the comfort factors of TTing. I am due to do my first 100 of the year in two weeks. I have decided to use my road bike for comfort reasons and a comfortable saddle.

My query is this, my TT bike is built around an aluminium 55cm frame with aluminium forks. It is stiff there is no doubt about that. The bottom section of the 50 course did have some ruts in it and it was uncomfortable to say the least towards the end, every time I hit them.

Would my comfort factor be enhanced by fitting carbon forks? To those who have used both is there a big comfort difference between carbon and aluminium frames?

All ideas/theories welcome.

[Marek]

Well, I think it could be worth it, also you should get a weight saving. How about a carbon seat post as well to dampen the effects.

Cheers

Marek....

[Paul H]

Spoke to George today and he said you two were going to grease each other up with some anaesthetic cream.

Ho about a different saddle.

[Andrew G]

Carbon forks should help dampen and I've found them to be more stable too. Don't know if that'll help your nethers though, carbon post might help there. Do you use a TT/Tri saddle with a more padded nose?

I know when I do my first longer TTs (50 & 100) I'm going to use my road bike as my TT is a bit extreme, certainly for me to start with. Speaking to Rob R-E he says he raises his bars slightly for the longer TTs, think just by putting a spacer from above to below the stem.

[Jon H]

Carbon forks and seatpost might help, but then again maybe not.

When I first built up my Dolan TT bike (carbon frame, forks & seatpost) two seasons ago I put an SLR saddle on it. After the first 50 of the season (the Charlotteville) I was numb in the old fella department for two days afterwards. I changed the saddle for a SLR T1 which has lots of padding on the front, and thankfully the problem has not re-occured.

[mrP(Boonen)VT]

I don't think carbon thingy's will make any difference there. They will reduce the vibration transmitted from the road, but that is not the cause of the problem, which is using tri bars which alters the angle at which the body is perched on the saddle and rotates the hips slightly causing a lot more weight on the nose of the saddle, which if you ride a road bike, you do not experience. (BTW my Dolan is all carbon, and is like riding with suspension))

I found by dropping my saddle 3mm, compared to my road bike, it is much more bearable.

[Dominic]

Thanks for the replies. I have a carbon seatpost already.

I think is time to try a different saddle. I had already lowered my saddle slightly and raised the bars for this race.