As much as I have tied to read up on the du je t of bike hearing, it’s still a mystery to me.
My Specialized Shiv TT bike has a 52/36teeth front crank and an 11/28 rear cassette. On mountainous courses it’s really hard, and I think I’m probably wasting energy straining away on the easiest gear going up 8-10% grades. Is it worth changing out to an 11-30 or even 32 cassette if my rear derailleur can handle it?
Whilst my TT bike has a carbon frame, the TT bars and horns are all alloy. When fully loaded up with large water bottle set on the bars the bike is unbelievably front heavy, such that on downhill sections it’s really scary in terms of manouverability and handling. Are carbon TT bars worth investing in? Or on mountainous courses should I stick with my aero road bike (which has 11-32 cassette, and is awesome at handling).
When I go on best bike split for my next race, there’s not a lot between the 2 bikes (TT vs Aero). What I would say is that the course I will be doing in May (Aix en Provence 70.3) is very very windy and has 3 biggish climbs with flat sections in between , and the tri bike in these circumstances may really help (if I can lighten it up a bit on the tri bars).
Thanks for any advice!
Gareth
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