What's Faster? Monoextension vs Superextensions
This year’s men’s World Championship race in Kona Hawaii was something of an eye-opener for me. I think that race more than anything else really helped crystalize a few trends in my mind. Specifically I’m seeing lots of double BTA bottles, longer reach positions, and a wide array of super extension solutions being used by pros and amateurs alike.
And of course, being me, I have an opinion about all these things. I think that in general, the trends really do make sense, and they’re pushing the sport forward. I mean it’s difficult to argue with the race times which have just been falling precipitously over the past 10 years, concomitant with the rise of exactly these trends.
But of course, as with any technical subtlety of this sport, the devil is in the details. Whether adding a double bottle or increasing reach will work for a particular athlete is a case-by-case question, and exactly how to achieve those ends is both an ergonomic and technical challenge that has to be approached in the right way, or you might to more harm than good.
But what I want to really focus on today is the idea of the super extension. Specifically, the question of whether it’s better to have a single sealed monoextension, as with race-winner Patrick Lange and bike course record setter Sam Laidlow’s bikes, or to use dual super extension, as we can see with riders like Cam Wurf or Leon Chevalier.
I think it’s tempting to look at the mono extensions and think that they might be universally better, at least from an aerodynamic perspective. If your goal is to punch through the wind without collecting that wind under your torso, it could be better to seal off that area completely. After all, having two separate cups potentially leaves an opening between them. But aerodynamics does not always behave exactly as we might predict. Depending on the rider, the position, and the equipment, dual extension can actually be *faster* in some cases. We’ve heard some anecdotal evidence where riders who tested taping the front of their extensions closed to mimic a mono extension actually found that to be slower.
I’ve heard speculation that a monoextension will succeed only if it has a proper aerodynamic skin shape similar to the hull of a ship. And of course, if you’re going to bother to make a custom monoextension, it makes sense to try to put some kind of shaping into it. But Canyon’s solution ridden by guys like Lange, Laidlow, and Lional Sanders is completely flat up front, and those guys have almost definitely done the testing to confirm that these work for them.
The other piece I really bristle at with mono extensions, and most super extensions generally, is their lack of adjustability. Position changes have the potential to be 10x more important than even the most radical of equipment upgrades, but most super extensions are completely fixed in every way, with no ability to change your position. That means if you invest $3000 in a new set of custom gear just for you, you’re basically saying you never intend to adjust, ever again. For me, that’s a trade I’m not willing to make.
Moreover, if your arms are sufficiently narrow, and/or your bottle setup sufficiently fills the space between your arms, it may have the same effect as a monoextension without needing to seal off the area. We think it’s better to be able to experiment, than to be locked into a single setup forever.
That’s why our approach at TriRig has been to design parts that always allow you to adjust. Our super extension is called Scoops Ultimate SL, and it maintains the benefit adjustment in every dimension: stack, reach, roll, extension shape and angle, and all while offering complete forearm support and a large aerodynamic skin shape. We’ve seen athletes gain 12 Watts just by swapping from their standard extension setup to Scoops Ultimate SL, and they didn’t have to give up adjustability to do so. Oh, and Scoops Ultimate SL are probably the best value in super extensions as well, coming in at a fraction of the price of some of the alternatives.
I still think this is an area ripe for innovation, and at TriRig we are constantly trying to find new ways to help athletes improve and achieve their goals. So watch this space for more as we head into 2025. We have a lot of ideas in store that we can’t wait to share with you. That’s going to be all for now. Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.
