To Aero bar or not to Areo bar?

have you practiced riding in an aero position yet?  i haven't made the leap to aerobars because i'll do some straightaways on my regular rides down in the bottom of the handlebars and i'm just not comfortable with it yet.  you feel different, your legs work differently, yes it's faster but if you can't maintain it, doesn't help too much.

I put some on my bike 2 weeks ago and dropped 1min 10secs of my usual ride to work (9.3 miles) in near identical conditions which was an increase from 20.40mph to 21.28mph, so for me they worked.

Further to this I do a brick 2 days per week which consists of a 9.31m ride and 2.25m run, my PB before the aerobars was 45.53 since having the bars it's now 43.02 so an improvment of almost 3 minutes over distances shorter than a sprint tri, not bad I would say. They really do make a difference to how my legs feel straight off the bike.

And the best thing...it's the most comfortable I've been since owning the bike.

Hope this helps your decision.

I have them on my road bike and I really like them.  For some reason, I feel like I can generate more power from my legs in that position.  I know I need something that will either pull my bars back a little or move my seat forward even more because I'm too spread out right now.  Because of that, it took my back a little to get used to them.  On top of that, my neck hurt at first because you are forced to look forward quite a bit.

As far as time, they definitely helped.  You can feel a huge difference if it is windy out.  Try riding aero, then come up on the hoods and you can watch the mph drop on your computer.  This is probably even more exaggerated if you have a wide body / broad shoulders. 

I was looking at the profile Jammer GT bars. 

Do you have to adjust your seat position when using aero bars on a road bike?  Specifically speaking to the Jammer GT's, they seem shorter than standard aero bars.

1) A tri-bike should generally be smaller than a road bike.  So, it may be a better fit to add aerobars to your bike than a property fitting road bike.

2) A _properly_ fitting tri fit should actually be rather comfortable, with your elbows providing structural support for your weight and back.

Look at the position of these pro-triathletes, with very short top tubes, and elbows at 90 degrees supporting their shoulders.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/photos/Detailed/25.html

3) Generally, getting on aerobars should add 1-2 mph to your speed.

Note -- On the negative side, if the fit on the aerobars is wrong it can be uncomfortable, with dangerous handling, etc.

Edited by mrcurtain 2009-09-24 3:20 PM

Go to your local bike shop, the one that you trust the employees at, and ask them for a quick fit on your road bike with AeroBars. A good bike shop will help you to decide if the AeroBars will work for you on that bike or not. When I switched my road bike to full Tri, I had a complete bike fit done with the purpose of Tri. Made all of the difference in the world. Not only is my bike comfortable for the Tri, but I learned a lot about positioning on the bike. Not to mention how BAD my old setup was.

Also, when you add AeroBars you are putting your arms out further on the bike, potentially making the bike a little more unstable. I remember with my fit, I put on a stem that was much shorter (about half) to bring me back in. The fitter was worried about stability but the bike is solid (not so much for the rider!!).

By all means, yes.  And if you get an angled seat post, the geometry will be closer to a tri bike than a road bike.

One thing you need to make sure in your configuration is that there is enough seat post left in the seat tube after you "jack it up" so it does not cause problems (like detaching seat posts in the middle of a ride/race; seen a couple of those and if you are using clip pedals, it really is a bad wipe out mix...)

Get the aerobars. You will likely need no other bike upgrades for significant true performance benefit on the bike unless you are a top triathlete. Aerobars give you a real speed benefit, 5% or more, which is very significant. All the other fancy things ($2000 race wheels, $3000 Cervelo bike frame, aero helmet) will COMBINE for less advantage than your aerobars alone will give you on your roadbike. 

Aerobars are the most cost effective bang for buck upgrade for those riding a pure roadbike, although the aero helmet can be fairly equivalent for a smaller percent increase (but is much geekier to use on all your training rides.)

I'd get them if you are racing triathlons. Even if you find you don't like them, you can easily sell them on ebay, but I suspect that for $150, you'll rather keep them around for a sprint tri or something short.


 

yes get them, i did 2 weeks ago and love them, be warned they take some getting used to so if your race is soon the sooner the better.