ezee2

I rode a buddy's road bike with aero bars over the weekend. I found them to be very comfortable as well more aero dynamic. They gave me one more position to move around to, without any discomfort. How many of you guys have tried aero bars and found them to work for you mostly as another comfortable position. I'm always looking for more comfort, more aero is just a bonus.

Velo Gator

You'll get more in-depth answers, but they need to be set up properly to make sure you're not losing power when you're "aero."

iheartbenben

Mine weren't tailored for my fit at first, and I'm still not convinced i'm powerful enough to gain an advantage from aero vs drops. Gave me a lot of chest pains, YMMV.

They look cool though, huh?

DrPete 

On a road bike? Nope.

Commodus

Sometimes when I'm pushing into the wind I'll put my forearms down onto the top of my bars, I guess into an 'aero bar' position. I started doing it after seeing Cancellara motor away from everyone in the 2010 Tour of Flanders, and to my surprise I did notice some difference.

As for comfort, a guy I was riding with early in the season had them on his rando bike, and said he liked them for longer events (600+ kms), especially those that are quite flat. Mostly for the reasons you describe, it gave him another position to move into, I think just being able to move around is very important for comfort.

DrPete 

I just never found aero bars on a road bike all that comfortable. Set it up right for the aero bars, and the drop bars are no longer comfortable, and vice versa.

iheartbenben

This is generally what I'm experiencing so far with my aero bars.

I still think they look sweet, Dr. Pete.

GP

A friend said he helped invent them. Not sure if its true but I have a feeling it might be.

hhnngg1

Cue Dr. Pete's awesome pic of his Cervelo P2c with race wheels for what correctly done aerobars SHOULD look like.

iheartbenben

Yeah, for a person with dimensions relative to his. Also, I find that the correct way of having the fore-arms close together produces negative effects on my ability breath due to the way it forces a concave in my chest/upper back. Significant pain under power after about 10 minutes forces me to switch to a wider hand placement.

It's very frustrating at the moment, and is most likely due to my stupid body and bad riding style despite my shops attempts to fix me.

jmX

I bolted on some aerobars on my road bike and made no other changes (as I didn't want to mess with my regular riding positions). I love it. The aerobars are still very comfortable, and I almost instantly gain 1.5-2.0mph at the same heartrate. I'm sure my aero position is not optimal, but it's better than drops or hoods.

ezee2

I'm interested more with comfort, which another position would help with. I'm less worried about speed. I ride quite abit but its just for fun and to stay in good shape. I think I will borrow my buddy's and give them an extended try. Anybody else?

dissident

ordered some yesterday using overnight with prime.. profile design T2 plus... since nobody I know has tried em, thought I would.. what the heck. I ride alone, and mostly straight roads in the countryside, another position would be nice to have.

https://www.amazon.com/Profile-Design...8659119&sr=1-5

DrPete 

This is part of the problem with clip-on aero bars--in general, they're not very adjustable at all, and you're forced to bring the bars in very close together. On a road bike with clip-ons, the aero bars will be higher than they should be, and generally further forward--this puts your shoulder joints in a really uncomfortable position that your pecs need to continually fire to support.

Part of the fit process with a dedicated aero bar setup is getting the upper arms into a natural position, i.e. around 90 degrees. After that, setting the width of the pads becomes the next important thing--I have a shoulder injury right now, so I had to kick the pads out really wide to get comfortable, for instance. Again, the clipons just don't give a lot of range for this.

And then, underlying the whole thing is that using clipons will close down your hip angle and potentially over-extend your back if used with standard road geometry, hence the high saddles and steep seat tube angles on TT and Tri bikes.

So, basically, getting into a good, comfortable, powerful position on aero bars is just as challenging as anything bike fit-related, and is more complex than slapping a pair of clip-ons on the bar. But hey--if you put 'em on there and they work for what you want, then I'll be the last to argue.

DrPete 

And since I could never possibly pass up a chance to post a pic of my Cervelo when asked to do so, here it is. Note the waaay-steep seat tube angle (in a UCI race I'd have to chop the nose off the saddle to make this legal), which gets the body on top of the aero bars. The top tube and stem are 1.5cm and 4cm shorter, respectively, than my road bike, so you could see how slapping clip-ons on my roadie wouldn't work so well--that's a total of 5.5 cm of shortening of the top tube to get into a comfortable aero position--not to mention the shortening of the effective top tube length from the super steep seat tube angle, which I'm too lazy with trig to calculate.

iheartbenben

Beautiful Dr. Pete. I somehow already knew you had a Cervelo...

I had not thought about adjusting my saddle position to open up my hip flex, but I'm becoming more convinced I'm gonna rip them off by the end of the summer and CL them.

I thought aero bars were the be all end all solution to riding solo for long distances, instead I've just had more issues with my riding.

They still look SO COOL.

rizz

"Invisible" aero bars work too, and you don't have to buy a thing plus you can try out all the different positions without having actual hardware getting in the way. Put your elbows or forearms on the flats, extend your hands and try it.

iheartbenben

Eh, before I exit for the day, I find this to not be true at all. I can pull so hard on my aero bars that I wouldn't be surprised if I ripped them off under speed and send myself crashing one day. This has given me a lot more sprint speed and acceleration in aero position, which is very very cool in certain situations. Probably the ONLY reason they are still on my bike.

DrPete 

It's true to a point, but then remember that a real aero bar will raise you up at least 2cm or so, if not more with some models.

Andy Somnifac 

I used to have shoulder issues during long rides, and aero bars helped alleviate some it some by giving me another position. I've found them to be no longer needed after shedding 30 lbs and getting to a better level of fitness. Now I just get in the drops if the shoulder starts bothering me.

merlinextraligh

In my experience, you can't really have aero and comfortable. If you set them up in a way that they are substantially more aero than a good position in the drops, and they're not going to be very comfortable.

Also they are going to limit your ability to 1) see, 2) manuever, 3) react to hazards.

Hence, not a great idea other than for TT's and triathlons, or training for TT's and triathlons.


Because we don't have a second tandem for TT's, I needed to come up with an answer for this on the tandem. What we use is an Oval Concepts, under bar mount. It puts the aero bars below the top of the handlebars. Then I set the pads so they are the same height as the top of the handlbe bars,a nd my forearms are supported first by the handlebar and then the pads. Pretty much puts you in the IAB position, but with something to grab on to.

AdelaaR

I'm a quadruple hernia patient both in neck and back and I can tell you: aerobars are fantastic.
They take the weight off your back and wrists and put it on your elbows which is just what I need.
On my TT-bike I've got the standard straight S-bend type which are a bit harsh on the wrists, but in a short TT that doesn't matter much.
On my hybrid, I've got the Profile Design Jammer GT ... they are much more confortable because they are bent so your hands can just relax while gripping them. I also added some foamy ritchey truegrips to them for extra confort.
With that setup ... I, as a back patiënt, can ride for more than an hour without too much pain ... which is a lot for me.

AdelaaR

I disagree completely.
They do limit your abilities and so for doing tricky bits or in traffic I hardly use them.
However ... more than 90% of my riding is on longer stretches of road and then I use them all the time for added comfort and the best possible compromise between comfort and speed.

jamesdak 

[QUOTE=Commodus;12817128]Sometimes when I'm pushing into the wind I'll put my forearms down onto the top of my bars, I guess into an 'aero bar' position. I started doing it after seeing Cancellara motor away from everyone in the 2010 Tour of Flanders, and to my surprise I did notice some difference.

QUOTE]

Yep, I do this all the time when faced with a headwind. What I do is cup my hands over the hoods and lay my forarms flat on the top of my bars. It does make it easier to peddle against the wind and my speed does increase. So, even if it's all in my head it works for me and I will continue to do it.

AngrySaki

I'm completely sold on aerobars after riding with them for a few years. I have my bike set up in a TT position, but my winter bike is in a road position. To get the aerobars to be comfortable on that bike I basically mimicked my position when I'm in the drops. This required mounting my aerobars fairly high. I also personally don't like having my arms at 90 degrees, I find it more comfortable to move the aerobar pads forward in a more stretched out position.