Aerobars on a Road Bike?

do it. they are cheap and very effective

personally went from 18-19 avg to high 22s

as far as which kind to buy...ebay is your friend

I just installed a set on my bike and I'm curious to find out how they work as well. I haven't modified the seat post, just slide the seat forward slightly and will go from there.

Chances are, you're going to find quite a few entry level guys who have aero bars on their road bike. I'm one of them.

I put Profile Design T2 bars on my Specialized Allez. I also had the geometry changed too. Handlebars lowered, seat further forward, and seat raised. It works well too.

Maybe later, when the money comes in, I may start looking into an actual tri bike.

I installed the Profile Design century bars on my entry level Trek roadie and didn't even know enough to change the seat and I was off, averaging a good 2-3 miles mph better on training rides.  Do it! 

The set I got were $60 a few years ago and I picked them up at the local bike shop.  Now I would probably check out ebay or the forums here.

Edit: It's still a really comfortable bike and feels a lot different than my tri bike, but it's just as fast.

Edited by BikerGrrrl 2009-06-17 4:08 PM

I'd vote for getting them.  I think individual results may vary, but I noticed increased speed and like having the additional position to go to.  If your riding about 20mph avg for an hour or so on the hood then they'll help you cut through the wind and probably give you another 1mph over in similar conditions and on roads that are conducive to aerobars.  If your going really slow, then aerobars aren't really going to help much in my opinion since there isn't as much wind resistance.

FWIW, I didn't change anything else.  I just bought them, put them on in about 15 minutes and then went riding.  Then tweaked my seat just a tad bit higher and forward a little, but didn't change the seatpost and see no reason to...your position might be different because it's really different for everyone imo. For the $100 bucks it's worth trying it to see if you can gain that kind of speed.  That is the cheapest speed you'll ever buy besides losing your gut and getting in better shape.

Good luck.

i loved having them, but not being able to shift on them is kind of a pain.  you get used to it, but on rolling terrain it's not the easiest. 

I put Profile T2+ clip-ons on my Specialized Roubaix. They work well for me. I did have a bike re-fit though, just to make sure the geometry was okay. You dont get the full benefits of geometry like on a tri-bike, but I wanted to make sure it wasnt going to create any issues. Main benefits are (a) comfortable aero position...allows you to stay there more and (b) ease of hydrating with an aero bottle. Okay, and they make you look like a triahlete Its a cheap and worthwhile upgrade.

FWIW: I wrapped mine with bar phat tape, ...makes a difference.

I put aero bars on my road bike and like them.  Still fiddling with the saddle position though.  New cables and housings should be arriving today so I can hook up the bar-end shifters and bull-horn brakes (I've got downtube shifters right now).  Then I'll be all set!

I respectfully disagree.

The early "Triathlon bikes" in the 1980's had slack geometry (mine was a steel Dave Scott Centurian w/600s, which are now Ultegra). It was just a road bike with aerobars slapped on. Until this season, I've always ridden at the very FOP at ~74 degrees with aerobars.

IMO, the advantages of this setup over a pure roadie are:

1. You train your body to ride in aero which will crossover perfectly to steeper angled TT bikes later. I've never ridden a road bike w/o aerobars (except racing) and my body is trained to ride in aero 100% of the time if needed.

2. You are not signficantly modifying the design of the bike. When I'm in aero on my road bike, I'm just very slightly forward and in a position that would put my palms about 4" below the drops. The bike handles perfectly and far superior to my TT bike in aero. Personally I'd NEVER try to convert a slack angled road bike to an steep effective angle with a significant seat config.

3. You get an aero advantage from the aero bars w/very little add'l weight if you buy carbon. I have HED flip-light carbon on my Trek Madone and it's a climbing machine. My Trek TTX isn't close to the same league in terms of climbing or descent handling.

The disadvantage is obviously that you're going to be riding a smaller hip angle but since that's all I've ever ridden it feels perfect to me. I have no experience moving from a road position to a smaller hip angle on the aerobars but I don't think it would be too difficult after ten rides or so.

I'm still in the early stages of moving to a 77-78 degree angle (Trek TTX). My second ride was a race and it didn't go well (weird fatigue in my hips due to the wider hip angle and the bike just felt terrible at race effort overall). But now after about ten rides and lots of minor tweaks, I think I've got a aggressive position that feels good. My last ride was 53 miles with lots of climbing and the TTX finally felt great. I race it on Sunday.

ETA:
#1. In terms of aerobars, I would only put but clip-ons on a road bike. In my experience using road shifters is a non-issue. The beauty of the road bike w/aerobars is that you retain the qualities of the road geometry including hand positions.

#2. I had a buddy in town this weekend whose only ridden a steep angled TT bike for years. We set up my Madone for him and he loved it on the first ride even in aero. He wants to buy a road bike now...

Edited by breckview 2009-06-18 9:50 AM

As said before; GO 4 It.  Get on Ebay and get some syntace C2s. 

The aero position is a huge advantage for the solo rider; speed, fatigue and stretching.
I had a tri-bike and it was awesome to have the shift on the fly, but I'm not desperate to recreate that setup.

I agree with the early comment that something less than tri geometry is okay... maybe preferable if you're looking at longer races.

I have ridden with clip ons since, well.... since they were invented.  I even had the goofy looking Scott DH bars way back when on my road bike.  I love them and have always thought they helped.  In 1997 I upgraded a little and put bar end shifters on and moved my seat forward as far as it would go.  I wondered how I was able to use the downtube shifters so long.  Just this last week I upgraded to bull horns and fast forward seat post.  I rode it for the first time last night, albiet a short ride, but I was very excited about how much more comfortable the bike seemed.

I put Profile Jammer GT's on my Trek 1500 SLR and like them a lot.  Do they make me faster, who knows?  But I do feel more comfortable and certainly more aerodynamic when I am riding.

I would go with short aerobars (i.e. Profile Design Jammers) that are designed for use on a road bike and not worry about a FastForward seatpost.  I've tried to post and have never liked what it does to the feel of the bike (weight too far forward) so I've gone back to my regular post.

I do some draft legal racing so for some races I have to ride my road bike and will put the aerobars on for those events.  Ideally I wouldn't need them but if I am bridging or get gapped, it is great to be able to drop into the bars as opposed to having to sit in the drops.

Shane





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I put Profile's AirStryke bars on my road bike halfway through the first race season on it. Getting the bike refitted for aerobars means moving away from your previous fit. It might make riding on the drops, hoods, etc. less comfortable and make the bike a bit less stable, but using the bars should be better. I got refitted when I got the aerobars. An alternate plan to consider is to leave the bike set up for the more traditional road bike positions and just use the bars as another position variation. The choice would depend how much you plan to be in the aerobars. I pretty much use them all the time now, and perhaps should have bought a time trial bike in the first place but had no way of knowing it until after I had put enough miles in.

Ack! Didn't know I should have moved my seat forward too. Any rules of thumb for fitting after areo bars have been added?

I have the Profile Jammers on my road bike.  However, my fitter swapped out the armrest brackets on them to a different PD bracket that allows for more adjustments.  It made a HUGE difference in comfort for me, because with the stock armrest brackets on the Jammers, I felt like my arms were too close together and it gave me a "cramped" feeling.  I was also getting a LOT of bicep pain...as if my biceps were in an almost constant contracted state....VERY uncomfortable on a long ride!  But now that the new brackets are on there, my arms no longer feel cramped and are more relaxed with no more bicep pain.  I also swapped out the armrest pads for more "cushier" Cee-Gees pads...which also added to my comfort level in aero.   

I have a felt road bike, and have had very good results from using an Aero bar. One thing I did do, is fit a Ritchey adjustable head stem. I got the shortest one available and adjusted it to pretty much 45 degrees. What this did is bring the bar back and up a fair bit. This does not give you an aggressive road riding position, but seems to be 'just right' for the bars. I have Deda Parabolica Due aero bars, which are cheap and I love. I tried Profile Jammer GTs before these and really hated them.
 







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I also have aerobars on my roadbike and have been pretty happy with them.  I've done some rudimentary 'seat of the pants and watch the cyclocomputer' testing and have decided they are good for about 1.5 mph when in aero for the same perceived level of exersion.  I did change a few things such as move the seat all the way forward and a shorter stem but feel like a have a good fit at this point. 







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You need plugs for your aerobar ends.

I have a Raleigh road bike that I initally rode as it was made. Then I added some clip on aero bars and it was faster and comfortable. I didn't move my seat forward as much as just gave it a slight angle change to protect the twig and berries. I loved the aero position, but I did get tired of the shifters being on the drops, so I put bulls on with bar end shifters and new levers. She actually weighs less than before and feels more comfortable than ever.





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haha yeah, I have some plugs in since that photo was taken.

hi folks

Just saw this thread.. i recently just got aero bars fitted to my road bike.. i honestly feel that my back isnt flat enough to be gain any aerodynamic benefits from this.

What do others think? Has everyone lowered their bars?



Edited by skuzy 2009-07-02 5:40 AM