grooming beer bike into thoroughbred

I'm starting to come round to most of what you said. Looking for 2nd hand helmet and aerobars. Maybe an enormous stem to boot. Also advice seems to be drop the bars and move seat forward…I have an inch or two on the saddle bar, see how that works.
shimano SPD SL for 40 bux on wiggle. bont riot tr shoes sound good to me, but I think I should go to LBS for them. can't make head or tails on online reviews for fit. NOt the cheapest, but I figure shoes is not the place to skimp completely.
If this cuts my commute time, then it's good I can justify some of the expense. It's 36 km, but with 25 km headwind more often than not on the way to work. I'm hoping being aerodynamic pays good dividends.
thanks, I'll post pics of what it looks like when I'm done.

Be careful with the whole lowering stem heights. Going to low can cause neck issues and makes it harder to breath. Also c cause lower back issues as well depending on flexibility. It takes time to get the body to adapt to the trip position. Remember that you still have to get off and run 10k during a race so minimizing things that can cause issues prior is a facto.

Best plan is to get the bolt on aero bars, mount them and go for a ride. Someplace like the roads through Pacific Spirit park are good. Place where you can get used to how the position feels for you. After a few rides then start looking at tinkering with stem height.

For 4 years on this Luddite tri bike was the bane of my age group. Was the provincial Duathlon Age Group champion in 2003. Time and and again would suck on the swim and catch all the guys on high end carbon bikes. Greatest pass had to be 2003 at the NOTL Du. Caught a guy who was one age group down on a guessing $8,000 Felt tri bike, full aero with TT type bars. As I go past he glances over and 2 buddies near him hear " You gotta be shitting me" when he saw what I was blowing past him on.

Stop bragging.
:D

I'm starting to come round to most of what you said. Looking for 2nd hand helmet and aerobars. Maybe an enormous stem to boot. Also advice seems to be drop the bars and move seat forward…I have an inch or two on the saddle bar, see how that works.
shimano SPD SL for 40 bux on wiggle. bont riot tr shoes sound good to me, but I think I should go to LBS for them. can't make head or tails on online reviews for fit. NOt the cheapest, but I figure shoes is not the place to skimp completely.
If this cuts my commute time, then it's good I can justify some of the expense. It's 36 km, but with 25 km headwind more often than not on the way to work. I'm hoping being aerodynamic pays good dividends.
thanks, I'll post pics of what it looks like when I'm done.

I'd be a little weary about the dropping of bars. If you take a look at any of the TT's lately, a lot of riders are sitting more upright than they did a few years ago. Like someone said ^^^, better breathing, and if you can bring your body in tight, you can still get pretty aero.

That said, moving the seat forward is a good idea? Something about utilizing your quads less, and saving them for the run? Some reading to do there, just something I've seen a few times when skimming over tri articles.

As for the shoes, a tri shoe is really only going to cut down your T1 time, a road shoe is almost better in every way? Also depends if you take the time to put on socks or not… If you are putting on socks, just get a road shoe. Then when you're not racing, it'll still be awesome/still/hold well.

If you're to try and commute on the super TT beer bike too you're going to have to go a lot more conservative on some of those changes.

TT bikes are torturous. The super steep seat angle and slammed front end just kill your hip flexors and use different pedalling muscles than you're used to You'll be swimming in lactic acid for the whole 40k. It's a trade with the devil for those sub hour times.

Your breathing however will be unaffected. Just do it correctly and maintain the angle between your torso and legs consistent at 90°. Seat forward, bars lower.

For a commuter I'd just clip in and get some clip on aero bars.

And aero helmet! One with a tinted retractable eye shade, preferably in 80's orange iridium.

There are better aero charts around than that one posted too. They vary quite a bit on their findings. MIT had a good one once upon a time.

Oh, and T1 and T2 time savings cannot be skipped over. There's no point in biking fast if you're going to sit on the ground and put on socks and shit first.

For refernce:

Old position:

New position: