Inst

I'm looking to upgrade my foldable, and one thing I'm considering is upgrading to a bike that ONLY has aerobars, with no additional bullhorns. I understand it's going to be way more unstable than a bar with aerobar + bullhorn bar, but because it's a full-size foldable in 700cc (Montague Navigator), with a heavy aluminum frame, I need to do whatever I can to get the weight down / keep the weight down (looking to pick up CX with this bike).

Is there any way I can achieve it? I know there are bar-end shifters for aerobar so I can put all the controls on the aerobar, but I'm having tons of problems finding a tri-bar system that only has aerobars. For clip-on, it could work, but I don't think anyone sells a short handlebar only for clip-ons.

CharlyAlfaRomeo

This is a terrible idea, so many things wrong with it.

AnkleWork

What a great way to save a gram or two -- great idea! Just take a hacksaw to your current bars.

And riding a folder with only aero bars in CX, that's a great idea too.

Consider the following:
remove the seat and post
strip the paint
shorten the chain
use worn out tires
cut out half the spokes
remove half of the bearing balls
drillium!

Inst

How about this? I strap a 700c to my feet, put some padding to protect my legs and the jewels, then grab the pedals of a unicycle wheel. I save on frames, seating, brakes, gearing, as well as any and all common sense.

That said, there must be people who want Aerobar only handlebars, even if Aerobars tend to be less safe and less suitable for normal and group riding than drops. It's for recreational, not competition purposes, and what I really want from the bike is to be able to completely eschew locking mechanisms by being able to bag it when I go indoors.

Inst

Also, another way to do this would be to have swing Aerobars that can swing out from front position to side, making it like a straight bar. No market, no demand.

The real reason I want this is because of my need for high weight savings (the ability to reliably backpack the bike), and my need for high cruising speeds. From work with bikecalculator.net, it appears that I may be able to sport 25 mph speeds, which is the speed limit in NYC, with just a combination of Aerobar and tubulars, at only 240 watts. This helps me in my goal of using my bike as an all-purpose commuter.

CharlyAlfaRomeo

HAHAHAHAHA

This guy.

AnkleWork

Done.

You can't deny that all my suggestions save weight.

And you don't need aerobars. You could rig a single bar tiller to save even more weight.

Inst

I'm not denying that your suggestions save weight; I'm just saying, if I wanted to go that route I'd consider grabbing onto the bottom half of a unicycle and strapping my legs to a rear wheel. While it may look ridiculous to you, after all, I save on common sense and trying to operate a two-wheeled "vehicle" that way might actually be fun.

That said, I do want to see what it's like playing with aerobars and no other handlebars, and obviously I have more expensive safety equipment to compensate if I'm worried about crashing. I am the proud new owner of a highly-used motorcycle, which is 6 times more dangerous per mile than cycling and probably 12 times more lethal per hour spent, and I have a motorcycle helmet and am waiting to have spare money for an airbag vest.

The way I see things going at this rate, I might be best off buying clip-on lightweight aerobars, stapling brake and shift controls (one or two? I have a front disc and a rear brake, and I'm looking for 1x operation with a 44t * 10-42t sram, so perhaps I could just disconnect and remove the rear brake altogether and dump one brake/shift set altogether) to the bar-ends, then finding a lightweight aluminum straight bar and modding it to my requirements.

AnkleWork

That's exactly what you should do. It will work better than the bike you imagine.

Make sure to add titanium spokes and nipples.

Inst

I am more than a bit too heavy to see if I can pull this off with cardboard, however.

That said, when the money becomes available I'll probably just do cheap clip-on aerobars just to experiment with the position and learn aerobar handling with my existing bike. It's not a priority at the moment; I still need the fitness to be able to reliably output the 240-260 watts needed to obtain 25 mph; and as I've said before, I am more interested in such a vehicle as a workhorse vehicle than as a racer or commuter; being able to obtain and retain 25 mph, even for spans of only an hour, will help keep me off my car.

Marcus_Ti

I like this thread. Would read again!

squirtdad

solution

Last ride 76 

too bad you wont be able to steer your all purpose commuter, in NYC no less.

asgelle

You could look for a set of Scott 100K bars.
Scott 100k Bar: Classifieds: Slowtwitch Forums

CharlyAlfaRomeo

25 MPH for an hour on a folding bike, in NYC......