Aerobar Cage Bottle

That's the cunundrum because currently it can't go back any further.  It's stopped by the aeropads.  The thing is I like my aeropad placement and don't want to move them back.  I guess I could widen the aerobars and allow the bottle to slide back more.  But then I might be negating the benefit because my arms are now sitting wider.  What to do, what to do?

Pic shows the bottle already butted up against the pads.

To me it looks like the bars are not going to allow the water bottle to drop down between them. I would look into something like this: http://www.trisports.com/torhans-aero30-bottle.html

Or maybe a smaller waterbottle?

I've always thought that the TorHans was a sweet looking bottle but there is no way that I'm paying 75 bucks for one.  Maybe the best thing for me to do is go back to the PD Aqualite.  An additional down side to the Aqualite/Aerodrink is that during hot races I can't douse myself with water since the bottle will be stationary.  I also don't want to use the Aqualite/Aerodrink for nutrition because if it splashes I have sticky nutrition on my face!  Blah!

I use the aero hammock and I have not had any problems so far. 

http://www.aerohammock.com/main.sc

The aerohammock doesn't work for me because I run my aerobars too close for the bottle to sit in the hammock.  Like I said before, if I widen my aerobars for the bottle(hammock) to fit I give up aeroness because my arms are now sitting wider. 

Look at the pictures above to see how narrow the aerobars are.

I think the PD HC would have the same problem that I'm having now if I mounted it on top of the bars.  And I can't mount the rear on top of the bars and the front below the bars without widening the aerobars, since there isn't clearance in the current config.  My aerobars are not wide enough for a top/below mount. 

But thanks, nonetheless for trying to brainstorm with me.  I wonder if I could mount the cage below the bars.  It would probably be too difficult to get the bottle in and out.  Hmmmm.

Front view.  See how close the aerobars are.  Not enough space for an aerohammock or a rear zip tie above the bar and front zip tie below the bar.  While looking at this picture I realized that it's not ideal, but it probably still has a lower frontal profile than the PD Aerodrink/Aqualite.  What do you guys think?

B12 Bomber - 2011-03-06 9:28 PM Can we see a side view with your arms on the bars and a front view the same way?  perhaps from two camera angles each?  if we can't see the battle, the wind probably won't either  I am see similar to this, but my bottle is back farther, cage is mounted to the steer tube in fact, it is fairly high like yours though as well.  Bottle is pretty hidden with my arms there.  

Will do.  I'll post in about 10 min because I have to throw the bike on the trainer.  Be forewarned that I'm not switching out my wheels before throwing it on.  So guys...don't give me crap about having Zipps on the trainer

I may be wrong but it looks like your forearm pads are mounted the wrong way. The logo "Cee Gees" looks like it should be on the outside. As I can see where the logo is, I see it is extended out to help keep your forearms from slipping out to the sides - At least this is how my Profile Designs T2 arm pads on my aerobars are mounted. On the opposite side of the logo, that area might be straighter (no extension). If you reverse them (install the pads /bracket with the logo on the outside), would your bottle be able to be moved back and sit in between the arm pads?

I hope I am making sense here. I'm only looking at the photo from the top view and don't know if both sides of each pad are identical because I am not familiar with your aerobars but it just doesn't look right.

Ha, you're a genius and I'm an idiot.  Last time I re-installed pads I was in a rush and I guess I got it backwards.  As much as I looked at the pads I didn't catch that.  I should have plenty of room for clearance to push the cage back after I flip the pads back.  Good catch!

Glad it worked out.

It's mounted with two rubberbands that I thread through the watch and then over the aeropads.  Makes for an excellent quick release since I can just grab the entire watch and just pull.  The rubberbands snap and I'm off.  I usually tuck the straps under the watch although that's not the case in the accompanied picture.

I think you fixed your problem but on your statement regarding widen the aerobars being less aero.  When Jeepfleep & BT did the windtunnel videos a few years back it was found for his IM positioning that going slightly wider with the aerobars was found to be a bit more aero. 

Good point Donto.  As I read your response I remembered reading it somewhere.  I don't know if you could answer this question but I'll throw it out there. 

So barring the access to a windtunnel, is there a way to tell when you're bar width is optimal?  Is there a common rule of thumb, or in general, does narrow tend to be more aero?

As I recall from that video, that's not quite what happened.  Rather, with the bars narrower, he was more aero, but was unable to breathe freely, so that the net effect was worse.

I might be misremembering, though.

I think it was for him.

As for 'in general' I think that's a dangerous statement, but it's the rule of thumb I'd use in the absence of any aero testing (doesn't have to be wind tunnel).

I went back and checked the video again.  They really didn't change his AB, they did a fake move by him moving his arm position on the AB.  Going really narrow wasn't the best because it raised his positioning which meant they would have had to adjust the stack to lower, move forward, etc., which they didn't do.  So more narrow possibly could have been more aero but was stated that would have been for positioning for short race lengths not IM positioning.  The wider position was stated as being about 1% more aero from his baseline position so for him it would have been the better setup (not sure if he actually made the change or not).

Guess without wind tunnel access actually knowing is the big ? as everyone is different in this regard.  So don't worry about it, if you were fitted and its working for you today leave it!