Do Aerodynamics Matter for the Average Road Rider?

The short answer is yes. If you look at what’s been printed about the threshold at which aerodynamic equipment begins to make a difference, you’ll often see numbers in the range of 21 to 23 mph. Lots of us will spend the majority of a ride at speeds lower than that, so it can seem like an exercise in, “What’s the point?” 

I wish I could have afforded the time to rabbit hole this, but there was an amazing quote by Greg LeMond about drafting. I did spend a little time trying to find it. It was something to the effect of, “They say you don’t get a draft at speeds of less than 16 mph, but I can tell you that on a big climb there’s a difference between 12 mph on your own and 12 mph in a group.” 

I am, at best paraphrasing, and at worst, butchering what he said. The point is that aerodynamics matter even at relatively low speeds. One of the problems here I think is that what looks like a sufficient gain on paper is much bigger than the gain you might recognize in the real world, but the thing is, even at 16 mph, if you swap your wheels and helmet out for aero models, you will feel the difference. 

The gains are there to be had. 

Now one thing I want to point out that I think most companies get wrong in their marketing and as a result don’t sell nearly as much aero equipment as they might. Aero gains are always, always, always expressed in terms of savings. Shaving so many seconds off this, so many minutes off that. They don’t really talk about going faster. And if you want to sell fun, you sell speed, not savings. 

Practically speaking, what that means is that psychologically, you’ll often push yourself harder when you see notably higher speeds. Once your frame of reference is off, you’ll go more by feel and if you’re looking to push yourself and get stronger, you’ll push harder when you see higher speeds. I’ve lived that stuff. 

Also, with respect to group rides, those aero gains can mean being comfortable on front when otherwise you might not have been up front. Or, if you’ve gotten dropped in one particular section, aero equipment could mean maintaining contact with the group. 

Every time I put my Zipp 404s on my bike it was with the knowledge that I was going to come home destroyed because they would help me get to the front of the ride and take longer, harder pulls. 

Now, here comes the practical part of the show. Do you need to drop $3000 on a fancy set of wheels? Nope. A few years back I did a feature about visiting the Specialized wind tunnel to do some testing. I compared relatively loose-fitting—like club cut—clothing with form-following cycling gear and regular wheels vs. aero wheels, a regular helmet vs. an aero one, an aero frame vs. a regular frame AND hairy legs vs. shaved legs. 

What we found was that you can gain roughly as much with form-following clothing, an aero helmet and shaved legs as you can with aero wheels and an aero frame. That’s about a $6000 difference in cost, though.