Aero bar on road bike - comfort question

I find that aero bars, when set up properly, are indeed more comfortable than riding on the drops. This is for a couple of reasons: 1) your weight is dristributed over a much larger area (forearms to hands) versus on the drops (just hands). And coming out of the water when your arms/shoulders are probably a bit tired, that's a really good thing; 2) you can ride the same speed at a lower effort, or faster speed at the same effort.

But monkeying with saddle position to set the bars up correctly does alter the bikes "virtual" geometry.

Possibly.

Thanks guys. I will give them a try then. It does make sense that they would be more comfy in the long run...er. bike.

I always feel more comfortable on the aerobars, but I also change position often, even if only briefly, generally taking advantage of terrain features. For instance there is not point in climbing with a 39/23 combination on the aero, right?

I just bought a set yesterday for my Specialized Allez. After the wracking pain in my lower back after being the drops for 40k in my first Oly on Sunday, I think it makes a big difference already.

I have a standard road geometry bike and put Profile Carbon Strykes on it back in the spring and I love them. The only gripe that I had was that I lost the tops of my bars which I really missed at first but that just force me to get used to riding on the hoods

Since then I switched to a Profile FastForward seatpost, pursuit bars and just got bar end shifters (I had down tube shifters) and find this to be a great setup - I got everything on sale or from eBay and for under $150 I have converted my bike into a decent (not perfect) TTer.

I know that this isn't perfect but for now I have the ability to switch back and forth between road and TT and I didn't have to buy a second bike (although I'm still trying to convince my wife that I need two

Also, many people recommend the Jammers for road geometry but I found the Carbon Strykes to work very well for me - they are very adjustable and comfortable.

Shane