scottfsmith

I feel pretty good for about 1-1.5 hours into a ride, but after that the stiffness often gets annoying and I need to start stretching out as I ride. I have never used aero bars but was thinking of getting some just to have another position to put my body in to. It would not be for long periods and they wouldn't need to be the long or padded ones, just two little bars out front to give me another position.

Is anyone using aero bars to help stretch things out? Also, is there such a thing as a mini aero bar without the pads? I'm not going to be living in that position and something about those pads I find annoying.

Also any other ways to preemptively avoid stiffness would be welcomed. I do change positions a lot, forward and back on the saddle, standing for a bit, etc. I don't do stretches on the bike until things start to get stiff.

caloso

Something like this? https://vintagenosbicycleparts.com/3...-dark-ano-nos/

scottfsmith

Yes, something like that. Those are for old skinny handlebars though so some adapting might be needed. I was looking at these

https://www.amazon.com/CyclingDeal-M...dp/B01N3ZGODX/

which look like they will fit around wider handlebars. The bars may be a bit short; I could just replace the bars with some other bars if needed. Short is good to start with though, they should be no longer than needed.

Trakhak

I have used aero bars on all my bikes for the last 20-plus years. (Nerve impingement at my left elbow means that during any ride of over 20 minutes or so, my left hand becomes useless for braking and shifting.) I've grown to love using them, with stretching my back being one of the reasons.

I'd never bother with the dinky extensions linked to in the posts above. The forearm pads provided with standard aero bars are crucial for comfort. Just get a set of Chinese aero bars such as these and, once you've used them long enough to determine where you prefer gripping the extensions, use a pipe cutter to shorten them as appropriate.

scottfsmith

Thanks.. I ordered some cheap Chinese ones ($12 on sale - these) plus the short ones above, and will fiddle around with them to see what works. I like how the shorter ones sit lower down and I can use the longer bars with them if needed.

OldTryGuy

DANG, better price than when I got similar ones. Have worked GREAT.

KEEP IN MIND, long bars can be cut or just grabbed closer short bars CAN'T

spelger

i put aerobars on last year and almost live in them now. best thing i ever did after taking up riding.

Murf58

What brand/type?

spelger

These: https://profile-design.com/products/airstryke-ii

The pads spring up providing access to the underside when needed. They are loud when going over bumpy terrain and all roads here have chip seal. I'll try muffling the sound and if that fails I'll keep them down and see how much I miss having access to the bars.

I got them mostly for additional hand position. I didn't expect to use them so much.

scottfsmith

Hey I got my Aerobar goodies today and did an initial mount and test. The short bars on the first thing I linked above worked great, but the position was not all that different so it didn't really seem worth it. So I put the long bars from my $12 Amazon special on the short bar mounts. That seems to work fine; I plan on cutting the last 4" or so off the ends since I am gripping on the part before that.. no rush to cut though! Here is a picture:



I had to put the bar braces aiming down or the cabling was getting too impinged, so then aimed the bars more up. This bike (Specialized Roubaix) has. a lot of cabling crammed right there in front.

It has only had a couple spins, will need several long rides before I really have it figured out. I am avoiding elbow pads, if I need more padding I am just going to put some thick handlebar tape in the spots where it is needed on the handlebars.

SapInMyBlood

I like that flip up design. I wish I didnt already have a set I'm happy with

Wildwood 

I get an extra couple of inches of stretch by putting palms on the hoods (the front bump).
Just me, but tribars are useless weight in the worst place for 90% of my ride.

If one rides flat-ish and straight-ish routes (when there is little/no wind), then I could see putting bars on one bike. Otherwise, i like my bars clear of all 'accessories'.



I'm negatively biased because I once saw a triathlete (on the tribars) with carbon aero wheels take out 2 fellow riders in a crosswind, at speed. I know = 1 time is just an accident. I call it (as it relates to my riding) an accident waiting to happen. If my body stiffens, I merely get off the bike for a few. No biggie.

edit: the riders/bikes I always avoid are the large riders with bars at saddle level and tribars raised inches higher with large elbow pads. A+ for effort but stay away, please. (Note: some riders stay away from me because I often ride 40-50-60 year old bikes with rim brakes, and that's OK too). Big cycling World with lots of roads/paths/trails.)

scottfsmith

I also don't like having them on, and if they are not super useful I will take them off. It is also on those long straight rides that I tend to get stiff.

In terms of risk they don't seem too bad, as long as they are not used in any kind of situation where there could be issues. For example: heavy crosswind, other riders, etc etc.

Carbonfiberboy 

That's what I've been using for the past couple years, though with separate rather than conjoined bars.

Using bars w/o pads is going to be pretty short-term and is also not as secure, which is a big deal.

A caution for the new users: Practice with them! Stay down for 30' at a time and try to ride on the fog line. Get off them for any even somewhat sharp corners. I don't ride them on any blind curve or corner at over 30 mph. If anything goes wrong, you are totally helpless on the aero bars. I've been using them for over 20 years and have never gone down while using them. That's what you want. You aren't racing.

Riveting

These allowed me to ride 325 miles in 24 hrs. No way I could've done it without them:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001Q9JCSA...G6F1A746FPSAKN

scottfsmith

My thinking is with the modern wider, flatter aero handlebars and more padded handlebar tape there is less of a need for the aero bar pads. Along with shock absorption there is a larger surface for the elbows to "grip" on since the handlebar tops are flat. In my initial tests the control was very good, better than expected.

My thinking could be proved horribly wrong in the next few months, we will see :-)

SapInMyBlood

I use similar bars for loooong rides and they're life savers. Just another position for hand comfort, headwind adversity and aero efficiency if you're flexible

Carbonfiberboy 

Ah, generalizations. I ride with a guy who's 6'7" and rides with bars just like you say. He has a large section of wall for his long distance achievement medals, has ridden PBP twice, etc., though of course no aero bars allowed on PBP. On PBP years he rides without them. He's one of the safest, steadiest riders I know, plus he's fast, a much desired wheel.

There might be a video of that accident, though if one looks closely it's not obvious that the aero bars had anything to do with it. In any case, one shouldn't be on the bars unless one is 20' behind a rider, pulling, or solo. I've never had or seen an accident due to aero bar use. The usual cause of group ride accidents is wheel overlap, though I sometimes see people who have no idea, just slamming into the back of stopped riders.

I take my aero bars on 10,000' climbing rides. The teensy weight penalty is more than made up for by the few minutes here and there that I can ride them. For me, it's not so much the stretching out like in the thread title, it's just that my arms get tired after seemingly endless hours of riding during long events. I try to never stop for personal reasons other than pee and filling bottles, usually every 3 hours for about 15 minutes. Social rides are another story. On those the aero bars see some use trying to get a little competitive advantage, i.e. getting back on! I get dropped a lot, but am good at getting back on, partly because of the bars. Totally worth their weight.

Wildwood 

generalizations (muchly true) or anecdotal outliers - pick a poison.

spelger

Yeah, stretching is not why i have them. i just need another place for my hands. really to take the weight off of them. i have drops and that gives me a lot of options but after a long time in teh saddle the pressure makes my hands tired. with bars i can lean down on them while my forearms take the pressure. it is very comfortable.

scottfsmith

Good point about the hands, I didn't think of that but I can get some tingling in the hands on longer rides and anything to help with that would be nice.

I did my first real ride with the bars yesterday, the control is no problem on the bars but getting on and off you need to pay attention. Shifting was better than I thought, lightning move one hand to shift and back felt pretty solid. Not sure how much forward I am going to like, the more forward I go the more it messes up my pedal stroke (hip position etc changing). It did get more natural over the ride.

scottfsmith

Heres a picture of what I have settled on for now. I used 4mm padded handlebar tape to make some forearm pads in the bar. The elbows go just inside the bigger spots. So far I am happy. It looks sort of dorky but I don't really care, so far it has been comfortable and the elbows are locked in well so I have very good control on the bars. I also cut the ends off.




The wrap I just put on top of the old bar wrap, a bit of a hack which I should redo properly at some point.

spelger

there is no way i could do without the pads. those big bulges on your bars look uncomfortable to me with respect to a hand grip location. to me it is the loss of a hand position. maybe it works for forearm rest point.

funny, for my bars (https://profile-design.com/products/airstryke-ii) because of the LOUD noise they make i have the pads tie strapped down to see if i miss the hand positions. so far i do but i am getting used to them. nice and quiet though.

scottfsmith

I don't grip the bars much, but I am hoping the bulges will be good grabbing for bumpy terrain .. there is almost 1" of padding there. It will also put the palm and fingers in a different position to stretch them out. I tried it a few times and it seemed good, but only limited experience so far..

One other goal of this design is to be relatively lower in the aero bars position compared to using standard aero bar clip-ons. I have an endurance bike geometry with the handlebars relatively higher, but with these bar-pads I am relatively lower so things cancel out and I end up being in a similar position as if I had standard aero bars attached to a non-endurance road bike geometry.