Draft Legal Tri/aero bars
Discussion
Inspired by the current habit of pro road racers to ride with their forearms resting on the handlebar tops I thought I give these a try. I used to race triathlons quite seriously but I now ride a conventional road race bike (Van Nicholas) rather than a tri-bike or TT bike. That includes the few recent occasions when I've done a triathlon for fun or to raise money. However, not having a good streamlined position to use when riding into a headwind or cruising down a long, straight, flat road seem like an omission to me so I thought I'd look into the options. I didn't want to carry around full-on tri/aero bars all the time and there's no way I was going to try the pro method on public roads. First I got a pair of 3TTT Tiramisu bars which are rather like the Cinelli Spinacis that were popular for a while in the 1990s before being prohibited.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/product-news/to...
It seemed like a good place to start since they were £12 on Ebay. As expected, they were fairly hopeless since the clamp diameter was unsuitable for modern handlebars meaning they had to be mounted too wide to give a aero advantage. Plus I was never confident they were secure. But they were still money well spent because they convinced me that going the next step would be worthwhile. So then I splashed out 10 times as much on a pair of modern ControlTech bars. Whilst I'd cycled thousands of miles with proper tri/aero bars years ago it took a few weeks to get used to them. Because of the shortness of the bars, when you lean on the rests you're not putting your upper body weight where it really needs to be. This limits the time I can spend on them because of muscle fatigue. With well set-up proper tri/aero bars it should be possible to ride indefinitely on the arm rests but that's clearly not the case with these yet. My conclusion though is still that they are a worthwhile addition that adds practically no additional weight (they are almost 100% carbon and superlight), don't spoil my bike's looks and offer a good alternative position for a few minutes in certain circumstances. So I'm keeping them on my bike as a nice compromise that makes it a better "all-rounder".
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/product-news/to...
It seemed like a good place to start since they were £12 on Ebay. As expected, they were fairly hopeless since the clamp diameter was unsuitable for modern handlebars meaning they had to be mounted too wide to give a aero advantage. Plus I was never confident they were secure. But they were still money well spent because they convinced me that going the next step would be worthwhile. So then I splashed out 10 times as much on a pair of modern ControlTech bars. Whilst I'd cycled thousands of miles with proper tri/aero bars years ago it took a few weeks to get used to them. Because of the shortness of the bars, when you lean on the rests you're not putting your upper body weight where it really needs to be. This limits the time I can spend on them because of muscle fatigue. With well set-up proper tri/aero bars it should be possible to ride indefinitely on the arm rests but that's clearly not the case with these yet. My conclusion though is still that they are a worthwhile addition that adds practically no additional weight (they are almost 100% carbon and superlight), don't spoil my bike's looks and offer a good alternative position for a few minutes in certain circumstances. So I'm keeping them on my bike as a nice compromise that makes it a better "all-rounder".
The positioning isn't the bars per ce but the geometry of your bike. A road bike has a seat angle of around 72 degrees give or take. a TT bike will be nearer to 80 - sitting you further forward.
Putting aero bars on a road frame means you're curling your back further forward to be positioned on them correctly - it's fine for a bit but it's not sustainable for long periods (at least, not compared to being in a proper TT position).
Some aero bikes allow the seat post to be swapped around to change the angle and get into the 'right' position.
Putting aero bars on a road frame means you're curling your back further forward to be positioned on them correctly - it's fine for a bit but it's not sustainable for long periods (at least, not compared to being in a proper TT position).
Some aero bikes allow the seat post to be swapped around to change the angle and get into the 'right' position.
keith2.2 said:
The positioning isn't the bars per ce but the geometry of your bike. A road bike has a seat angle of around 72 degrees give or take. a TT bike will be nearer to 80 - sitting you further forward.
Putting aero bars on a road frame means you're curling your back further forward to be positioned on them correctly - it's fine for a bit but it's not sustainable for long periods (at least, not compared to being in a proper TT position).
Some aero bikes allow the seat post to be swapped around to change the angle and get into the 'right' position.
I think you are correct in general terms. But still think that such artificially short tri-bars (they are after all, short for safety reasons when riding in a group) are never going to be very comfortable because the upper body weight is taken too near the wrists, rather than near the elbows. Putting aero bars on a road frame means you're curling your back further forward to be positioned on them correctly - it's fine for a bit but it's not sustainable for long periods (at least, not compared to being in a proper TT position).
Some aero bikes allow the seat post to be swapped around to change the angle and get into the 'right' position.
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