Bewildered by Aero bars, no not the chocolate

bruce68

I did the London Tri the weekend before last and loved it. I've also done duathlon before and I've another coming up. I'm mainly a runner but enjoying cycling more and more.

I'm never going to win anything but I am keen to get my times down. I gather aero bars can reduce drag enough to make a significant difference, and so I think it's time I considered sorting some out, but I'm totally bewildered at the choices on offer.

I've got a Planet X Superlight carbon, with normal race bars except that they are slightly flattened at the centre/top, I forget the make. FSA?

I want to keep the weight down as much as possible, and don't mind throwing a reasonable amount of cash in, perhaps 200 maybe as much as 300 quid (mmm... taste the carbon).

I presume it's better to just throw away the current bars and get a new complete aero bar or are there good lightweight addon bars that would clamp onto the current ones in some way and save a fortune? I think being a bit of a purist I would prefer to throw away and start again.

I'm thinking "Profile Carbon X" or " Ritchey Probiscus" or "Oval A900" (they look incredible!) but does anyone have any recommendations?

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BeaconRuth

By far the most important thing about tri-bars is the position they allow you to adopt for racing. The aerodynamics of your body position are more critical than any issue of weight, material or style.

Clip-on bars added to your current handlebars will be cheap and only reasonably effective because it's unlikely that you'll get a very low or aerodynamic position with them. However, they will be removable, so that you can revert to an ordinary road bike at any time. Specific TT bars with extensions will be expensive but will probably offer far more flexibility of height and reach when combined with the right stem. However, you'll turn your bike into a race-only (or race-and-solo-training-only) bike which will be unsuitable for any bunch riding or group training rides.

Have a look at all these bikes and set-ups if you want to see what people who really know about time-trialling aerodynamics have:
http://www.sarahbrookephotography.co.uk ... 15370.html

Ruth
www.rutheyles.co.uk/

blackhands

If you live near (or can get to) Croydon then pop into Geoffrey Butler Cycles as they will have a Planet X TT bike with their aerobars on display.

bruce68

Thank you for that, very interesting. I read your profile, you have racked up some serious achievements there! I didn't see any mention of what part of the country you cover with your training though?

At risk of asking a silly question, what's the problem with aero bars in groups?

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AndyGates

Nothing as long as you don't use them! Bike handling is worse on aero bars - you're away from the brakes and while you can make sweeping turns, fast jinks are off the menu. So you can't react to other riders' movements.

BeaconRuth

bruce68 wrote:

Thank you for that, very interesting. I read your profile, you have racked up some serious achievements there! I didn't see any mention of what part of the country you cover with your training though?

Thank you . I'm based in the Midlands but even though ideally I'd work on position and riding technique face to face, the vast majority of my communication with riders is online. I can therefore advise riders up and down the country. I currently have riders from Sussex to Northumberland as well as one who lives virtually next door!

Ruth
www.rutheyles.co.uk/

Will1985

With regards to position, note that triathletes have a different position to full on TTers. At top level, the bike geometries are slightly different. Interestingly, Discovery Channel use Trek's tri frame as opposed to the brand's TT frame.

At the triathlon, you'll have noticed that the elite bikes had very short extensions so the riders appeared to be more upright on the bike. Additionally, there is no UCI rule stipulating that the saddle has to be 50mm behind the BB so the seatpost angles can be steeper - this is supposed to help the athlete in the most crucial stage just after transition by using muscles more closely linked to running in order to reduce the lag period when you switch disciplines, thus saving time and helping your body recover.

There are some helpful articles on this subject at slowtwitch.com

bruce68

More useful stuff, thank you all.

Just so I've got this lack of control thing clear...

I'm very uncomfortable with the idea of losing any significant degree of control. It's dangerous enough out there without making your bike harder to steer.

So, is it the case that if you move your hands off the aeros and onto the 'normal' section of the bars, that control reverts to pretty much the same as with normal bars? That I could stand, but if there's some fundamental way in which the addition of aeros makes even steering with the normal sections harder, then they are a non-starter for me I think.

(Slight aside: It's ironic that I feel far less safe on the roads on a 'road bike' than a mountain bike. I feel much more vulnerable going that much faster, with my head down, as well as having to look out for drains and potholes which on a mountain bike don't even enter my consciousness. Is it just because I'm blind in my right eye or does everyone feel like that?)

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BeaconRuth

bruce68 wrote:

So, is it the case that if you move your hands off the aeros and onto the 'normal' section of the bars, that control reverts to pretty much the same as with normal bars? That I could stand, but if there's some fundamental way in which the addition of aeros makes even steering with the normal sections harder, then they are a non-starter for me I think.

A lot depends on how severe a position you have - by which I mean the relative heights of your saddle and handlebars. Some people race with tri-bars, but where the handlebar height is very similar to that of an ordinary road bike. This means that it's really only the extra weight of the tribars that affects the handling - as the position is the same as a road bike. However, if you have a very severe racing position, then the handlebars are much much lower, the handling is very different, and the position is very uncomfortable for anything other than being down on the tri-bars. My position is so low that even when I'm just riding out to the start of a race it's far more comfy to be on the tri-bars than on the widest part of the bars. (Here's a pic of me: http://public.fotki.com/HappyShopper/20 ... 7-036.html ) But you woudn't want to ride like that in traffic, on very technical terrain and definitely nowhere near any other riders, unless racing a team TT. The aim is simpy to go in a straight line as fast as possible!

(Slight aside: It's ironic that I feel far less safe on the roads on a 'road bike' than a mountain bike. I feel much more vulnerable going that much faster, with my head down, as well as having to look out for drains and potholes which on a mountain bike don't even enter my consciousness. Is it just because I'm blind in my right eye or does everyone feel like that?) --

What are you doing with your head down?!! :shock: You should never EVER ride with your head down.

It sounds to me as though you've either not ridden a road bike enough, or your position is not correct if you don't feel completely comfortable on a road bike. There is nothing better for handling and speed (when riding on roads) and I think the pros probably know what they're doing. Have you ever ridden with any good club cyclists? There's a lot about technique and riding skills to be learnt, and if you mix with good cyclists it will rub off on you.

bruce68

BeaconRuth wrote:

What are you doing with your head down?!! :shock: You should never EVER ride with your head down.

Perhaps too little information. I don't mean with my eyes down, as I'd hit stuff all the time, but my head by definition is further down on a road bike than a mountain bike, because my bum is further up and my hands and neck are further down (relative to my bum) and my head is attached to my neck.

My problem, and I have given this considerable thought, is not inexperience (I have many thousands of miles) or riding position, it's that I am fundamentally afraid of cars, or rather, of wearing one.

Maybe it's my age (nearly 40, ok not ancient but your perspectives shift), maybe it's that I've been hit several times and nearly hit hundreds of times, maybe it's that as I'm blind in my right eye I can't see over my right shoulder very well, maybe it's that generally the faster I go the less safe I feel, maybe it's a little bit of everything, but even if I were to have my road bike position perfected by a pro like yourself, I very much doubt I would then feel safer on a road bike than a MTB on the urban roads round here.

Sure, it's the right tool for the job of going very fast, but I'm never going to be convinced it's the right tool for staying alive the longest in heavy traffic.

In its favour the road bike has agility (although decent MTBs are pretty damn agile as well so I don't think there's really much in it).

Against it it has speed (you're going faster), position (you're less visible, and can see less), frailty (potholes, and can't just nip up a kerb to escape trouble).

Sharing the roads with cars you need every advantage you can get. Even if you consider that speed can sometimes be an advantage, it's still no contest.

Don't get me wrong, I love road bikes, but there's no way they're safer than MTBs or commuters on urban roads, and I feel especially so in my case.

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knedlicky

bruce68 wrote:

At risk of asking a silly question, what's the problem with aero bars in groups?

AndyGates wrote:

Bike handling is worse on aero bars - you can't react to other riders' movements.

A triathlon/TT race-only bike is unsuitable for group riding not only because of bike-handling but also because they are an added danger in the case of a group crash. This is the one of the reasons they are not allowed in most races and cyclosportives.

knedlicky

Bruce68, if Beacon Ruth is right about that you've either not ridden a road bike enough, or your position is not correct, maybe you need to work on that side of things first, including your best aerodynamic position* with normal bars, how to take bends, etc. Doing this, and just getting the add-ons, would be the more sensible/economic start.
Doing that might also be enough to initially improve your performance in the duathlons and triathlons, especially if they are hilly - aerobars don't help on climbs, and you'll want to put your arms wideoff the aerobars during winding descents as well as at corners everywhere. Then, basic road bike techniques are more important than aerobars.
It's surprising how many road bike riders don't know their best aerodynamic position (or how to handle a bike at bends) - one of the reasons you sometimes see on a descent how a lightweight rider can catch up riders 3 stone heavier than him, despite gravity being on their side.


* A simple initial way to test for your best aerodynamic position is to just push off gently and, without pedalling, let the bike roll down a gentle slope of about 100 m length on to a flat 300-400 m stretch and see how far you get before your speed reduces to a certain value, say 5 km/h.
Try this several times, each time in a different (supposedly) aerodynamic position, different either because you've adopted a different body posture or because you've made minor changes to seat and bar heights or fore/aft settings.
You'll probably find that the range of distances you achieve is wider than you expected, maybe 80 m between farthest and shortest. You can then work more on improving the positions which gave the better (farthest) results.