Hoods vs Aerobars

NITR8s

Yesterday when riding home from work i decieded to ride home on just the Hoods as I wanted to take it easy and just enjoy the ride.

After a couple mins of lesiurely spinning along on the hoods, I overtook some guy on a hybrid who looked liked he was giving his all. As i figured I must be going fast I checked out my speed, this is when I noticed I was doing 25mph(on a flat section of road).

Anyway I carried on riding on the hoods and by the time I got home I had set a couple of PR on strava including a 4 mile stretch which is part of my clubs 10m TT course. Now i ususally do this section on the aerobars with bottle cages/pump/saddle bag removed etc, yesterday I rode with all of these and a heavy backpack full of workstuff and clothes and manged to set a PR.

I am starting to think i should just take off the aerobars now, as I seem to be better riding on the hoods. I am a small/slim rider at 5,4, would I be correct in thinking that any the aero savings would be a lot less than a medium/large rider would gain from Aerobars.

hatch87

I find I'm faster on the hoods to, it just allows me to push that but more with my legs that it over comes the extra aero drag. I pretty much only use the drops for high speed descents or just a bit of variation.

slowbike

Loads of variables ... the guy on the hybrid may well have been giving it his all - but he might just be slow.

Did you have a good flow of traffic going past or a tailwind? Makes a huge difference.
Were you straight armed on the hoods or were you bent down (ie more aero)

Your backpack may even be making you more aero - so you're not causing so much drag behind you. Heavy affects acceleration and climbing more than straight line speed - in some cases heavy can help straight line speed as you have greater momentum and more advantage on any small descents ..

iPete

On the hoods you can have your arms really narrow.


..or it was a tailwind.

cougie

If you're riding on the hoods - you'll have your arms out wider than on tribars. So you should have more drag. If it was more aero - nobody would bother with hoods.

I'd not change on the basis of just one ride though - maybe you were having a good day, or there was a tailwind, or the tour has inspired you ?

Another option is that your tri bar position is restricting the amount of power you can put out ?

slowbike

cougie wrote:

I'd not change on the basis of just one ride though - maybe you were having a good day, or there was a tailwind, or the tour has inspired you ?

On my ride home last night I got a KOM - a segment that I've wanted and aimed for many times - I always think about it, but didn't expect anything last night - I just thought I'd get my 2nd or 3rd best time ...
Yes -it was a tailwind and I had forgotten my backpack so riding light (it's an upward slope of 2.2miles). I'll probably ride it again tonight but doubt I'll do any better ...

junglist_matty

When you say areo bars, do you mean clip on's?

If so, on a road bike, they will make a bad position, I see loads of riders with clip on's and they're position looks terrible.... The bars are just too high up to get a good position, for aero bars you want a really low front end, most road bikes don't have this and clip on's are just a marketing load of cobble to entice certain riders to spend cash they really don't need to.

Get clip on aero bars for the fail.

cougie

I disagree. I think narrow is a pretty decent advantage.

I remember when tribars first came out. I put them on my road bike and I'd happily ride 1 or 2 mph faster for the same HR.

Low can be good but only if you can still put out the power - if you go too low you can restrict this. Theres no point in going low if you can't cope with the position.

Monty Dog

Aerobars are only of benefit if you get a decent position - low and narrow whereas this is counter to the way that most road bikes are set-up with tall headtubes and a stack of spacers. Windtunnel tests also show that road bars with hands on hoods / flat forearms can be more aero than riding on drops - provided of course you can get a flat-back position.

danowat

NITR8s wrote:

After a couple mins of lesiurely spinning along on the hoods, I overtook some guy on a hybrid who looked liked he was giving his all. As i figured I must be going fast I checked out my speed, this is when I noticed I was doing 25mph(on a flat section of road).

I don't know anyone who "leisurely spins" at 25mph, and I know some damn fast riders

You do realize that someone weighting 160lbs, riding a 17lb bike, on a flat road, of "general" size, on the hoods is likely to need around 330w to maintain 25mph.

If you can leisurely spin at 330w, then you are very likely to be able to be in the pro peleton.

FTR, you're full of shit.

junglist_matty

NITR8s wrote:

After a couple mins of lesiurely spinning along on the hoods, I overtook some guy on a hybrid who looked liked he was giving his all. As i figured I must be going fast I checked out my speed, this is when I noticed I was doing 25mph(on a flat section of road).

:roll:

A leisurely 25mph, so that was that downhill, or with a ridiculous tail wind!?

You managed to overtake someone on a hybrid whilst on your road bike!? .....Go you!!!!


EDIT: (whilst making a cup of tea) Beaten to submit the reply!

slowbike

Ah - when is flat flat?
What seems to be flat can quite often be a slight descent ... coupled with a decent tailwind or even significant traffic coming past and you can leisurely spin along at 25mph .... shame it doesn't last though!

NITR8s

Ok if you want an exact science, according to strava that section of road has a slight decline. The section I was referring to where i checked my speed is a 0.4mil segment with a slight decline of 0.3%, over this distance i averaged 23.2mph. However the point at which strava reads 25+ where i checked my speed is actually on a flat and is inbetween a two slight inclines.

According to strava power this took 227w of power for me to achieve.


I didnt want to post any strava recordings, as you can see my gps was wack yesterday. However the reading of 25mph was taken from cyclecomputer that has been measured with a rollout calculation averaged .
http://app.strava.com/activities/65630918#1253426990

I did push it up this segment which is more like the power you are referring to. 383w over 0.5mile.
http://app.strava.com/activities/65630918#1253426985

Although I dont know why I am trying to jusify, as I know how I felt. If you read my post, I am not trying to brag about how fast I cycled or how I overtook someone. I am actually questioning if I should get rid of the clip-on aero bars for TTing and just ride on the hoods.

danowat

You can say what you like, no one leisurely spins at 25mph on a flat road without a moohasive tailwind.

As for strava power readings, they are also full of shit

styxd

Obviously you've been using digital EPO.

Video or it didn't happen.

danowat

NITR8s wrote:

I am not trying to brag about how fast I cycled or how I overtook someone. I am actually questioning if I should get rid of the clip-on aero bars for TTing and just ride on the hoods.

a) Yes you are.

b) if hoods were quicker than aerobars then why don't all the fast TT riders ride on the hoods

I suspect your position is a bit pants if you are finding the hoods quicker than aerobars.

NITR8s

danowat wrote:

I suspect your position is a bit pants if you are finding the hoods quicker than aerobars.

Bingo I suspect your right, I think the aero position/drops is restricting my breathing, therefore limiting power.

markos1963

NITR8s wrote:

danowat wrote:

I suspect your position is a bit pants if you are finding the hoods quicker than aerobars.

Bingo I suspect your right, I think the aero position/drops is restricting my breathing, therefore limiting power.

On a standard road bike? I doubt this very much. Again if this was the case then why isn't Hutchinson riding a Spec Sectuer then?

jotko

On Sunday I stuck some clip ons on my road bike and took 1.5cm of spacers out from under the stem at the same time - never used them before, no real idea what I was doing setting them up.

Today I PB'd a 4.7 mile section on my daily commute, averaging 22.5mph, previous best 21mph and that was with a tail wind.

I am not particularly low - the pads are only a few cm lower than the saddle, but just getting narrow and low 'er' has made quite a difference.

racingcondor

On a standard road bike? I doubt this very much. Again if this was the case then why isn't Hutchinson riding a Spec Sectuer then?

Because Hutch's set up is better and I he's had a lot more practice.

In NITR8s case it could very well be partly because his aerobars aren't set up all that well and if they rotate him forward they may also be engaging a slightly different set of muscles which may not be as well trained.

NITR8. Personally I'm with the others who think you should dump them as they're probably not making a huge difference (and in my opinion they're ugly things). How do you find riding in the drops?

junglist_matty

NITR8s wrote:

According to strava power this took 227w of power for me to achieve.
http://app.strava.com/activities/65630918#1253426990

I did push it up this segment which is more like the power you are referring to. 383w over 0.5mile.
http://app.strava.com/activities/65630918#1253426985

The Strava power calculations are about as accurate as a blind man trying to follow a wiggly white line drawn on the ground

Mettan

You don't need to be low to be 'quick' (it helps though) ..... - I've gone under the hour twice this season with (only) a ~ 1 inch drop from my saddle to the tops of the pads - my position is 'very' narrow though. Not everyone can ride like Botty.

smoggysteve

If you think about it, the smaller you are the less effective having aero bars will be as you cannot get much lower than just being on the drops and be comfortable. IF you are a tall person you can lean alot further forward over the bars as you seat will be alot higher than your handlebars. IF you are small, you cannot get your seat high enough over the bars as you are restricted by the height of the wheel being a standard 700. So, if you are using aerobars, you are leaning too unnaturally over the bars and not very aerodynamic compared to a tall guy who can get his head and back in line with his hips and seat.