What TriGains is
A calculator for the question every triathlete eventually asks: is this upgrade actually worth the money? TriGains ranks aero and performance equipment by how much time it buys you — against your power, pace, and race distance, not a generic reference rider.
The problem
Marketing talks in watts saved at 45 km/h, or grams, or “up to” percentages. None of that tells you whether $1,200 wheels beat a $90 skinsuit for the way you race. Saved watts only matter once you convert them into minutes off your finish time — and that conversion depends entirely on your speed and the length of your race.
The three metrics
- CWPM Cost per minute saved. The headline number, computed for every upgrade across all three disciplines. It’s how the dashboard ranks the catalog.
- CWPS Cost per watt saved (bike only), evaluated at the speed your power actually produces — no fixed reference speed.
- CWPP Cost per %-point of speed gain (swim & run), for gear whose benefit is naturally expressed as a fractional speed change.
How it works
Each item in the catalog stores a single physics primitive — a drag reduction (ΔCdA), a rolling-resistance delta (ΔCrr), a constant wattage (ΔWatts), or a fractional speed gain (Δtime%). From that primitive and your athlete profile, the model derives watts saved at your real speed, converts them to minutes per hour, and scales by your race split. The result reacts live as you move the sliders. The full derivation — including the BASE-rider model and the empirical scaling factors — is laid out on the science page.
No account, no tracking
TriGains is a static site with no backend. Your athlete profile and owned-gear list live only in your browser’s local storage — nothing is sent anywhere, there are no cookies, and there is no analytics. Details are on the data-protection page.
A note on the numbers
Every figure is a calibrated model estimate drawn from published data, not a measurement of your specific equipment. TriGains is an independent informational tool — it isn’t affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by any manufacturer, and nothing here is financial or coaching advice. Treat the rankings as a sharper starting point for your own decision, not gospel.