Aero bar or no aero bar?

antonyfromoz

Hi all,

I live in a very hilly area and so my training rides and local races are almost always going up hills or down again. I have a OD race coming up at the end of this month and am toying with the idea of buying some aero bars to put on the road bike (Bianchi Via Nirone) that I will be riding. I know that there are real benefits to riding on aero bars and many years ago when I was younger I used to use a pair of profile bars as often as I could. The question for me at the moment is this: Most alloy aero bars (clip ons) seem to weigh between 300 - 600 grams so am i better off keeping my bike up to half a kilo lighter and using the drops to get a better aero position or will the benefits of being more streamlined (when I can get safely in this position) outweigh the weight penalty when going up the hills? Any ideas? If I were to get the aero bars can you recommend some that are a) not going to cost too much and b) are as light as possible?

Cheers!

Zacnici

600 grams is not a lot when you consider the aerodynamic effieciy of using the bars.

A recent post of mine here:
slow-cycle-t48937.html#p66059

... an extract of which:

Aero savings
How much time could you save on a 40km bike leg by gradually upgrading your bike with aerodynamic kit? If your average triathlete takes 75-80mins using a normal aluminium frame with standard 32-spoke rims, integrated brake/gear levers, downtube mounted bottle, vented helmet and wearing a T-shirt and shorts, here’s how much…

Aerobars These will bring you forward and drop you into an aero tuck with a flatter back and narrow elbows. Time saved 3-5mins

Get the bars.

nivagh

Yeah, I agree. Get bars. What's 300 extra grammes, when you might also be carrying 500ml of water, plus what you drink before racing?

The aero advantage is worth the extra weight, IMO.

Jellybaby

Are comfortable using aerobars and can you stay on them for the whole 80-odd minutes? The guys are right about the weight not being an issue, but if you aren;t going to be using them for most of the time then your drops will be just as good.

antonyfromoz

Thank you for the feedback - I am not sure how I will go on aero bars after so long and on this bike but I will look at getting some. I have been thinking about some of the smaller "Jammer" type of bars both to limit the weight gain and improve the aerodynamics of the bike (and especially me) while not stretching myself out too far as I don't want to change the normal riding position too much (ie I don't want to change stem length etc). I realise that this will not be optimal but my thinking is that on a road bike there will always be a compromise of some type in trying to get an aero position. Does anybody have any experience with those types of bars (Richey Prologue, Profile Jammer, Controltech Aero Cockpit, Oval A700 Aero Slam Bar etc) or any other suggestions?

Jellybaby

I used jammers for a while before getting my tt bike and found them really good. They can be draft legal if you need them to be and have a nice relaxed upwards bend so your wrist isn't flexed out all the time. I've taken them off my bike and they were going to go on ebay this weekend, but if you PM me a sensible offer they're all yours (I think I've got all the shims, etc they came with too). I've never taped them and they look like new.