Scoops: Best Practices
Today I want to talk about our lineup of arm cups, which we call Scoops. These were the industry’s first ultra-long arm cups, and our nine-cup product line offers the most variety you’ll find on the market in terms of sizes, shapes, and features. But of course, that also means we get a lot of questions about our cups, the best ways to install them, and which ones might be right for you. So today we’re going to talk about the best practices for choosing your Scoops, installing them, and enjoying them out on the road.
Step 1 in choosing the best arm cup for you begins with … your arms! Everyone has a different size and shape of arm, but the most important aspect as far as cups are concerned is how big around your forearms are. We make cups in a number of different shapes to accommodate different arm sizes, and we have a printable PDF to help you determine which one will fit you the best, as well as a video on how to use it.
Step 2 is deciding how much you think you’ll need in terms of adjustment range. Our biggest cups offer as many as five rows and four columns of bolts, for a huge range of adjustment. Our most race-oriented cups have only two rows and four columns, meaning you’re going to be a bit more locked in with less room to change over time. If you’re just starting out in triathlon, or you aren’t sure which cups to get, it’s hard to go wrong with our Signature Scoops. These are very middle of the road in terms of size, shape, and range of adjustment.
Step 3 – and this is a big one – is deciding whether you want closed back cups or open-back ones. Closed-back cups are great for a more locked-in position, and provide the ultimate in support and control. Open-back cups on the other hand, leave you free to move around a lot on the bike, and either choke up on the extensions or push your arms further forward. There’s no best answer here, and although fitters like Jim Manton swear by our closed-back Scoops and buys them exclusively for use in his fit studio, we still tend to sell about half open-back cups, either for folks who want to move around a lot on the bike, or folks who just don’t want to commit to a closed-back cup. Personally, I almost always ride with closed-back cups, but most shapes we offer come in either flavor, so pick what’s the best for you.
Step 4 has to do with installation. The very best way to install TriRig Scoops is with two M6 screws, in a fore-aft configuration. That’s the gold standard. If your aerobars use M5 screws, that’s okay as well, as long as they’re still in a fore-aft configuration. For anything else – if your bars use smaller M4 screws like the Trek Speed Concept does, or if your bars require side-to-side bolt placement, we strongly recommend using our Wingspan or Wingspan XL Adapter plates on your bars before installing the Scoops. This allows you to convert whatever your setup is into the nicer M6 fore-aft “Gold Standard.” The reason this is so important is that Scoops are much longer than traditional cups, and therefore you can end up with more weight farther away from your mounting points, meaning more leverage, meaning more stresses on the system. Two M4 bolts in a side-to-side configuration, plus 200mm of cup length, plus 150lbs of body mass, is a recipe for wobbly cups or worse. So M6 bolts in fore-aft configuration, or otherwise really look into our Wingspan and Wingspan XL adapters, and we also make kits specifically for the Trek Speed Concept to make life a little easier on that bike.
Okay, so those are all the mechanical do’s and don’ts for Scoops. How about from a fit perspective? What’s the best way to use these cups? Generally, you want the cup to start somewhere around your elbow and to as far up as it can on your forearm. You don’t want it too far forward, which would have it contact the middle of your forearm. And you don’t want it too far back, which would put your elbow contacting somewhere in the middle. We know there are athletes out there using it at one extreme or the other for fit purposes, and while we can’t endorse that from a mechanical perspective, it’s true that triathlon has always been the place where athletes do a lot of experimentation and improvisation to make the bike work for them. And we at TriRig are a part of that sacred tradition. We just legally have to warn you that any off-label use could be hazardous to your health.
Have you joined the Scoops revolution yet? If not, there has never been a better time. Our product line is vast, and can give everyone the comfort and control of the pros, at a price anyone can afford. Check out the entire range of products at TriRig.com. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.
