Hands Higher or Lower?
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tri-ac posted 42 weeks ago.
i'd always heard parallel to the ground creates the smallest profile to the wind, regardless of rider height
2807
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1686 days
Triguy98 posted 42 weeks ago.
My bars are slightly up from parallel. You can angle them up a little bit. If you are comfortable with your hands higher, that's fine. The worst thing you can do is angle your arms down.
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311
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1496 days
NotAsFast posted 42 weeks ago.
I read the same artice and wondered. So I played with it on my last lond ride, but before doing anything, I cautiously marked the original position.
I raised the front tips of the Aero bars gradually up to about 2 inches higher than normal while doing some repeats at the same speed on a straight flat stretch of road. My wattage decreased a little, about 10 watts at about 1 inch then started to go back up as I went higher than that. Then I factored in comfort etc and put them where I felt best and found that I was back to the same start position, which is close to parallel, and there was a variance of wattage between 5-10 watts overall. Which also could be accounted for the low to moderate wind conditions of the day.
Bottom line, I found raising my tips to create the classic paying mantis style of riding made famous by our friend Floyd (Who is out of his suspension in February) to be uncomfortable, and would distract me over the course of a long event, 1/2 or Full (Which I have yet to do) as my arms were getting to be uncomfortable.
For me, I like my position, and cant see the advantage for myself, but I have spent a lot of time in the past 6 months refining my riding position on a new frame and I think I have it now where I am comfortable for 3+ hour rides. After that my legs start complaining, buth that is a whole different reason from bike position.
370
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427 days
Gsal posted 42 weeks ago.
i think it depends on the rider. Floyd Landis rode his time trials with his bars slanted ridiculously high up. Faris al-sultan rides the ironman with his aerobars slanted down a little bit. Again, i think it just varies on what feels comfortable for each person. I dont know too much about this but i think xc800runner talked about this topic once in a thread. i'll try to find where it is
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134
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RunMDC posted 42 weeks ago.
I tend to believe that comfort is more important than lowering the drag coefficient 100th of a point. I ride with mine just a bit higher that parallel because otherwise I feel like I am going to slip off the front of the bars.
564
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677 days
xc800runner posted 42 weeks ago.
Mine are perfectly flat, but they aren't adjustable (fully integrated bar/stem/extensions). For aerodynamics, it is better to have your arms angled up, as it decreases your frontal area. However, this results in less power generated, which may or may not affect your overall speed. If you have a dead flat course, where generating more power isn't necessary, you will be better of with an upward angle. With a normal rolling course or something with long, gradual climbs where you'll stay aero, it would be better to angle the extensions down slightly, as it increases your total power while still maintaining an aerodynamic advantage.
191
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437 days
sasquatch posted 42 weeks ago.
I remember reading(and I can't remember where), that this was found to be dependant on the type of aerobars, s bend, ski tip, etc. and the rider's position. I.e. for certain set-ups, up was faster, for other set-ups, down was faster, and the bottom line was that the difference was small enough that comfort and the ability to stay aero was more important. I think they were looking at 40K time, and they indicated coming out of the aero position for more than 90 sec total(this is a vague recollection,may be way off) in the 40k would be the same as the max difference in position efficiency, so the best position was the one you could stay in for the full 40k. I'll see if I can find it.
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388 days
The Dude posted 42 weeks ago.
I don't understand why the height of the rider makes any difference if the bike is fitted properly to the rider. When the wind makes contact with the leading edge of the rider, handlebars, and front wheel, it doesn't know how tall the rider is or how large the bike frame is. My guess is that adjustments from 0 deg vertical have more to do with comfort than anything else. Also, I am a bit suspicious of any shop that purports to have conducted its own wind tunnel testing. Even if they have actually done the testing, I still quesiton their ability to properly conduct and analyze the tests. Now, if they have an experienced engineer on staff, that would make some difference...
-Tod
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321 days
Merchant46 posted 42 weeks ago.
As a point of information, the tests were conducted at the MIT wind tunnel. One of the guys who works at the shop and attended the test is a pro you've probably heard of, who also has an engineering degree from that school. While I wouldn't take their thoughts as the last word on the subject, I do consider them a source worth listening to.
I just read an article in the Feb. edition of Triathlete that said angling the aerobars upward brings the head lower, reducing drag, especially for taller riders. I have always placed the aerobars flat, after the local tri shop's owner (who's 6'4"), told me that their wind tunnel testing found that angling the aerobars upward works for shorter riders, but creates more drag for taller riders, and is thus counterproductive.
So, here we have a case where the experts' opinions seem to be at odds with one another. Has anyone on the forum, particularly taller riders, experimented with different aerobar angles? What are your thoughts?