aerobars on road bike
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Tikal Dog posted 1 year ago.
I have the profiledesign aerostrike 2000 on my road bike and I love them.
Don't have any problems on hills or anything similar.
Once you try riding with aerobars you'll love them. But you will do fine without them on your race.
Hyperactive Trifueler!!!! (I refuse to let the status go :p)
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491 days
Keegie poops posted 1 year ago.
I had some aero bars put on my road bike & I'm itching to take them off. They cut up my forearms (the inside). But to each his own. Maybe you could borrow a friends & give em' a test run...........
"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift" Steve Prefontaine
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592 days
Mike20124 posted 1 year ago.
I've been researching the same thing - adding aero bars to my Cannondale road bike. In reading and re-reading the Slow Twitch web site and speaking with folks in my tri-group with much more experience (and reading the posts here), I have come away with the belief aero bars on a road bike can be beneficial but you need to be cautious and ensure you get the right type for your body and road bike geometry. Don't let someone just sell you a set of full size aero bars if that does not work and stretches you too far (my case). You may need to also change stem length and or/move seat position for the correct geometry. It sounds like geometry is the key to comfort which the key to actually using the aero bars. But I'll let you know soon enough. I plan to take my bike into the LBS and spend lots of time selecting the right ones next week.
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1264 days
Anton posted 1 year ago.
Want more speed spazz? Spend more time on the bike...not meaning to be flip...but riding more helps.
I've toatlly given up on aero bars,having tried all kinds...Just more comfortable and faster without.
"What would life be if we had no courage to attempt anything?" - Vincent Van Gogh
My Blog: http://anton.trifuel.net
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1291 days
vanjames posted 1 year ago.
They take some getting used to for sure but can be very handy. I have always had aeros on my road bike and recently switched to the t2+ aerobars from profile design. Correct (or as close to correct) geometry definitely makes a difference. My bike has a seatpost that switches forward to create a steeper angle making my full aerobars fine. I still tend to ride the hoods when climbing and drops when descending but the aeros come in handy in the flats especially over the long haul. Anton makes a great point about spending more time riding. I replaced my road bike with a better road bike, opting away from a tri bike as I have much more room to improve my overall riding than the incremental increase I would get from the tri bike right now.
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The Tortoise posted 1 year ago.
What is the actual point of the aero bars? Why would they be better for triathlons but not regular bike racers? I may be wrong, but they don't use aero bars in road bike races, correct?
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480 days
CGroth posted 1 year ago.
road racers are limited in when they can actually use aero bars.
to the original poster. i am not the authority on equipment or triathlons but here is what my experience is. i have a road bike (would love a tri bike but cant afford it now). i have put a set of vision tech mini TT bars on them and they are great, for a while. the short nature of them puts your forearms on the "elbow" rest and that can become tiring after a long hard effort. putting a full length bar onto your road bike could be a good thing or a bad thing, like was stated before. since you are doing a hilly race you may find that you wont even need the aerobars. they come in most handy (and have the most speed gain) on flat fast courses. if you see the profession bike racers doing time trials, many of them opt not to use a time trial specific bike in a hilly race.
if you have access to the area that you will race, i would suggest maybe doing some recon and decide whether you think you would spend enough time in the aero position to make it worth buying them. after that i would get some help from a pro in deciding whether to go with a full sized bar (and possibly a forward seat post) or a mini bar.
good luck!
642
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1049 days
deepbluex posted 1 year ago.
Aero bars on a road bike are not a problem. Whether you have a TT geometry (78 deg frame) or road frame, having aero bars does one thing: unload muscular load from your upper body onto skeletal load and place you in a aerodynamic stance.
The only issue that comes up on the road bikes fitted with aero bars is that the reach can be too long and your torso is stretched out too much. This can be compensated through a combination of using a shorter stem, a flipped seatpost with the seat pushed forward, or a slightly smaller frame to shorten the top tube length.
I've used aero bars on a road bike before moving to a tri bike and I found that having them was a big help.
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1302 days
brittda posted 1 year ago.
Anton is right----
there is no substitution for time on the bike. Something I am working on as well. I have 2 road bikes--one with aero bars for racing and one with out for my commuting.
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UFTriGator posted 1 year ago.
The Tortoise;67238 wrote:
What is the actual point of the aero bars? Why would they be better for triathlons but not regular bike racers? I may be wrong, but they don't use aero bars in road bike races, correct?
They make you more aerodynamic by reducing frontal area...lowering your head and pulling your arms in line with your body. However, with your arms in the middle, you have less control of your bike. Most of the time in tris and TTs you're going in a straight line, so handling isn't important. With cycling races, you're within a few inches of other people the whole time, going around much sharper corners at much higher speeds, so handling becomes very important in order to avoid crashes (doesn't always work, though....ask my old Specialized road bike). It's because of this that UCI rules don't allow aerobars on anything except TTs.
______________________________________________
-Matt
Not fast enough.
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The Tortoise posted 1 year ago.
I'm assuming TTs are time trials? Good info here.
been researching and finding out putting aerobars on a road bike is not a good idea because road bike not designed for it, is it worth it to get a little more speed? also, i was told setting up a road bike more like a tri bike will make hills harder? the tri i'm going to do is a very hilly course and 30 mile bike, so should i not get aerobars?