Zip Ties Make The World Go Around
Had a few questions after yesterday’s blog post so figured I’d post the answers here as well.
#1.
Q: How did you mount the Joule in front of the Torhans bottle?
A: Zip Ties
A pretty simple and solid solution. The only problem I ran into was having the thing slide back and forth on the aero bars. To solve that I used a thin roll of electrical tape to form a bump on either side of the zip ties. The only downside is that it’s a bit difficult to pull off the Joule in between training sessions. Torhans does make a specially designed tray that attaches to their aero bottle, but it mounts in behind the bottle and I prefer to have the monitor out front so I don’t have to look down. This zip tie solution also keeps the Joule tucked in behind my wrists for optimal aerodynamics.
#2.
Q: How did you mount the rear bottle cage?
A: Zip Ties
Somehow I came across these incredibly old school cages. They’re made out of a product called plastic. Weird. If you refuse to mount a plastic cage to your bike you can stop reading now. Personally, I think the plastic is great cause it absorbs road bumps and shocks, pretty much eliminating bottle launches. I’ve never lost a bottle. Another great thing with this cage is it also has some mount-holes going sideways through the cage, as you can see. This makes it super easy to attach it to the saddle rails (one zip tie for each side), and then one on the main seat post to keep it solid. I’ve made it work on 3 different styles of Blue Competition Cycles seat posts over the last 3 years.
#3.
Q: How did you keep your bike standing on its own?
A: I zip tied Heather to the ground in behind the disc wheel.
I forget where I saw someone do this. It may have been slowtwitch, or LAVA mag, or Triathlete Mag. Actually, nobody asked this question I just wanted to post it. She also did this voluntarily, no zip ties required. 
eh,,Heather may cause a lot of drag being zip tied to the bike. I’d reconsider that one. But then again you said you are feeling great..giving the other guys a chance?
Robert Kunz said this on November 17, 2011 at 8:01 am |
Flat kit? Or pretreat tubies? Just wondering…
Brent said this on November 17, 2011 at 11:18 am |
Hey Brent, there’s a spare tubular in the Torhans aero bottle mounted on the frame. My nutrition goes in two normal bottles (behind the seat and the other on the seat tube) and the aero bottle up front.
Pretreated tubulars are VERY slow. I’m convinced Macca said he fills his tubulars with goop just to throw off his competition. That guy is full of mind game crap. Then again, he wins a fair bit:)
Trevor Wurtele said this on November 17, 2011 at 11:32 am |
I was wondering, as Jordan said on slowtwitch that he pretreats his. I don’t think he’s playing Macca mind games though
He seemed to think the Stan’s stuff makes no RR difference and just wondered how many other pros would race this way. But the aerobottle option is a very good one to be sure!
Brent said this on November 17, 2011 at 11:39 am
Interesting. I don’t take Jordan to be a guy that would post false info. I’m almost certain he wouldn’t. I also wouldn’t claim to know more than he does in that respect. Regardless, it’s goop in your tire. If a latex vs butyl lined tubular makes a difference I’m willing to say that lining the thing with gunk will also make a difference.
Hehe, not worth thinking about it now. I’m happy with my set up.
Trevor Wurtele said this on November 17, 2011 at 12:25 pm
Well there is no way that the other way is faster, so there is no worries about your setup being anything other than the fastest one out there. The other would at best be the same, maybe a little slower with possible convenience. You win!!
The new bike position is awesome btw.
Brent said this on November 18, 2011 at 8:06 am
I love the zip ties. I leave them in my transition bag and take spares on all training rides….
As far as the goop… Do you think something such as hutchisons fast air used after the fact would cause enough rolling resistance to discount time savings verse changing the tire?
el_slice said this on November 17, 2011 at 2:19 pm |
By after the fact, I mean after a flat.
el_slice said this on November 17, 2011 at 2:24 pm |
No, not at all. If that Hutchinsons Fast Air, or the Vittoria Pit Stop were to work as it’s suppose to, it would be way faster than actually changing the tire. Rolling resistance changes like that aren’t going to add up to incredible time savings, in my opinion.
I have no data to support this, but I could feasibly change a tubular tire in 3 minutes. If I were to get a flat in the first mile of the race, I really doubt that Pit Stop product would slow me down 3 minutes over the course of 180km. I carry a Pit Stop and I would think 30 seconds is all it would take to get going with that…but I’ve heard they rarely work. I’m not even sure what kind of PSI that thing would put your tire at.
All this talk of flat tires. Knocking on wood. Best bet is to make sure your tires have no nicks or unnecessary wear.
Trevor Wurtele said this on November 17, 2011 at 3:00 pm |
Trevor,
I was fascinated about how you were able to find creative uses for cable ties. It never occurred to me that they would make great fasteners for bike frames. I can see how though that zip ties have to be reinforced with tape to reduce any sliding like you experienced with the joule. Was that kind of trial and error or did you figure that out ahead of time?
I was also wondering if you gave any thought about the kind of zip ties to use? Did you choose a heavy duty kind or will any regular tie do? I know that there are many different sizes, and thicknesses to choose from which is why I ask.
Thanks for your humor and resourcefulness and for Heather’s willingness to support your bike habit (ha ha).
Amy Nelco said this on December 19, 2011 at 9:41 am |
Hi Amy,
The cable ties on the aero bars, for the Joule, was a bit trial and error. I first put it on straight up, after which it started sliding back and forth pretty easily. The tape keeps it solid now.
I’ve found that colored ties (I usually just always use black) seem to be a bit more supple. The clear ones were always breaking. Regular ties will do, it generally comes down to only being able to use a particular thickness anyway. For the Joule, the holes are a bit small.
Really though, nothing special. Just try it out in training to make sure it’s secure!
trevorandheather said this on December 19, 2011 at 7:38 pm |