alias5000

Hi guys,
I've been curious about aerobars on my road bike for longer individual rides. Recently, I got Profile Design Carbon Stryke bars for an absolute bargain. Still have to mount them to my road bike. Though, I have the fit very well dialed in right now so I am very hesitant to start playing again.
Primarily, I do group rides with my road bike - many hours on the hoods right behind someone else's wheel (aerobar use not allowed).
It seems obvious that the fit of the road bike should be adjusted to work best with aerobars. However, what I cannot find is what effect this will have on rides that will just be on the hoods and drops.
If I were to adjust the fit for the bars (i.e. saddle forward & up, shorter stem), how will this affect my road bike feel when not using the bars? What things can I do to make the bike fit most versatile? Would this even make sense?

There seem to be endurance cyclists that put these bars on road bikes (or similar geometry), 'just to have another option'. This is roughly where my mind is coming from.

For reference, saddle to bar drop is in the range of 6.5 cm. Just holding the aerobars onto the bars makes it appear that I would have to lose about 4-5 cm in reach so that my elbows are near 90degs.

Thanks for any comments!

zze86

I haven't played with aero bars so am not familiar with how they should be setup but what's preventing you from just putting them on and trying them out as is?

I'd imagine just holding them up to the bars doesn't allow you to put a lot of weight onto the pads and thus not allow you to fully stretch out.

alias5000

I figured that aerobars and ultracycling/long distance are good search terms...

Was about to put them on, but got distracted. Will have to get the cables out of the way, nothing really serious.

Will ask more specific question after trying, if there is any. I might have reversed the order 'real life - internet' a bit this time...

zze86

Lol, I hear ya on the distractions. One time I was working on a bike, getting ready to cut the housing and the SO stepped in distracting me with promises of brownies. After she left, I cut the housing...but forgot to pull it off the cable and cut the cable along with it! The brownies were delicious, especially with vanilla ice cream but we didn't have any so....

oh, right, distractions...

Well in any case, I wouldn't switch anything, if the normal "on the hoods" is your primary position. You want the bike fit to be most comfortable at your primary position.

If the aero bars won't work with the current fit then sell them off and get something that will.

Just my opinion.

catgita

Carbonfiberboy 

I've been using aerobars on group rides for over 20 years. Simple: don't change the fit. It'll work fine with the bars.

Maybe those bars don't fit you. The bars should put your hands well ahead of the hoods. I like the pads just aft of the bar tops and close to my elbows.

McBTC

Get a noseless ISM saddle and you can more easily slide forward as needed into a more aerodynamic position when using the aerobars... don't know the percentage but, triathletes use aerobars since drafting is not permitted anyway.