Aero bars or No aero bars on road bike

It's a little late in the game.  Have you used aerobars before?

There are a few questions that you might want to ask yourself:

• Is there anything wrong in training that you've found?
• Hand numbness, wrist pain, sore back, etc?
• Have you used aerobars before?
• How quickly can you adjust from one to the other? 
• What types of discomfort can you foresee after you change?
• What do you risk by changing at this point? 
• How are your bike handling skills?

It all comes down to pros and cons for you. Risk/reward. That's my feedback.  But if you're asking would I do it, the answer is a solid "no".

If it were a shorter race like a sprint, then I'd say go for it.  But with all you've got invested in training for a 70.3 I wouldn't risk it.  

Mark 

Four weeks is four weeks.  If you want get them.  Depends on how young you are and how easily you can adjust to them.  Will they make you get a faster bike split?  You bet.  Could they throw your' run down the drain?  You bet!  If it were me I would throw them on and get a few rides in with them and see how it affects your' back and calves.  You can always throw them on there and alternate riding the drops for a while and then riding the aero bars for a while. 

If you are going to do it then you should throw them on there right now.  Other people's points are valid I think as well on here about not getting them.  It's your' choice though and I think we have all given you enough info on weather or not to pull the trigger.

The problem I would see is that if you make any other adjustments (say to the seat position), to accomodate the clip-ons then you may have screwed up the base set-up also.

I use clip-ons with drop bars on my bike and love the ability to ride in multiple positions.  But it took several sessions with my fitter to arrive at a "compromise" set-up  that lets me ride comfortably on both my hoods and aerobars.  A lot of that involved trying the set-up for 50-100 miles out on the road and then coming back for fine-tuning.  My concern for the OP would be getting 20-30 miles into the race and then having problems.  Most folks can suffer through a sprint or Oly with a bad set-up, but it becomes more of an issue with longer races.

Mark  

Go for it if you want, but if you do, DO NOT change anything else about your bike fit. No seat adjustments, etc. 

What you are likely to find is that your lower back will be uncomfortable with aero bars on a road bike. You will have a bit of a weight penalty with the bars but shouldn't affect much. If you decide to use them in the race don't commit to them for the full race. You don't want a sore lower back when it comes time for the HM. 

Agree that if all you're going to do is slap the aero bars on, then go for it.  Even if you only use them for 10-20 minutes, you'll still be faster.

I'm one of those people that would never adjust a road bike (adjusting seat post, stem, etc.) fit to accomodate aero bars as the primary position.  If you really want a bike that's made to stay down on the aero bars 90% of the time...get a tri/tt specific bike.  Of course...that's just my opinion, and I know it doesn't apply to everyone.

I think you're making some erroneous assumptions.  The fact of the matter is that we actually swapped aerobars to a more adjustable model of PD clip-ons to help me get to a better fit solution with my long torso and short arms.  Due to my physique I'm limited to a fairly upright position on the aerobars anyway, so it wasn't a quantum leap between my hood and aerobar positions.  We also tried some different stems but at the end of the day only ended up making some small changes in my seat position.  Again, due to my physique my fit is closer to an ITU set-up than something you would see on a true tri bike. It works well for me, so well that it's one of the reasons I've held off on buying a true tri bike.  

Mark