"The 33"-Road Bike Racing - Speed bars... have you tried?

http://mlkimages.smugmug.com/gallery/4624976_iCHyh/13/286860599_aZRX9/Large

http://www.canecreek.com/images/stories/products/contact_pts/contact_speedbars.png

They look like less comfortable versions of the Scott drop clip-ons I had in the 90's. I rarely used them and later decided they spent most of their time as added weight, but I suppose if you're a breakaway artist they would come in handy more often.

Homer: Hey, what are all these holes? (points at bullet holes in car hood)
Car Salesmen: These are speed holes. They make the car go faster.
Homer: (impressed) Oh yeah, speed holes

http://mlkimages.smugmug.com/gallery/4624976_iCHyh/13/286860599_aZRX9/Large

http://www.canecreek.com/images/stories/products/contact_pts/contact_speedbars.png

They look like a great way to get impaled in a crash.

Our team president and break-away specialist uses them to great success.

never tried them, probably never will. I've seen a few masters who are crit specialists use them successfully, but that's about it.

Why not attach a peg on the outside of each front fork? (Copyright 2008 - all rights reserved)

Forget the fork. Just hold the front wheel in your hands.

nomad: at $30, you can probably afford to try them out. If you don't like 'em, I'll buy them from you.

Nah, I was just curious if anyone else has used them. They look unique, that's for sure. I envision myself getting impaled on them in some creative way of tipping over at a stop sign :)

where do your knees go?

can you turn the wheel more than 10 degrees in either direction?

They kind of lame and dorky.

is this one of those everything old is new again things? This was a short lived fad in mid 90s.

^ Yeah, when are they gonna bring back that Scott Drop-in handlebar. Easier to use now that they have face plates, too. I tried just about all of those things (except for Spinache) and realized "it's not about the bike"

Forget the fork. Just hold the front wheel in your hands.

Something like this?

http://www.fit-senior.com/acatalog/ABwheel_2.jpgLooks pretty aero to me.

Something like this?

http://www.fit-senior.com/acatalog/ABwheel_2.jpgLooks pretty aero to me.
Critique her position!

^ Yeah, when are they gonna bring back that Scott Drop-in handlebar.

I have a pair of those on my computrainer bike, and another on my fixed gear. Leftovers...I'm not under the illusion that they
do anything to make faster.

I have a pair of those on my computrainer bike, and another on my fixed gear. Leftovers...I'm not under the illusion that they
do anything to make faster.
Yeah, the argument was that they allowed your hands to be in a narrower position, but it also brought your reach back, which made you sit up a little.

The Drop-In bars always made me feel like I was forward of my hands and my balance was off. I had some in the early '90s and eventually got rid of them because I felt unsafe using them. The Speed Bars seem to have solved that problem by getting your hands more forward. You probably need some insane skills to use those in a race, though.

-soma5

Illegal...

Critique her position!

I'd have to get behind her to really critique it properly.

Isn't the "invisible aerobars" position better anyways?

http://www.fit-senior.com/acatalog/ABwheel_2.jpgLooks pretty aero to me.

Corrected.

I have both the Cane Creeks and the Scotts (Rakes, the add on bars, not the Drop Ins, the bar that has extra "bar"). They work to put you in an aero position.

The Cane Creeks I think work better. Don't use the lower bits, use the upper one, and make them parallel to the ground (the upper part of the Cane Creeks). Then you can use the bars like mini-clip ons. Wrap tape on them or you can leave them plain. Thin clamp area, the two bolts per side works better. They're also much lighter.

The Scotts are good if you have a short torso, else you end up with your arms pointing straight down. But they improve speed a bit. I mount them about an inch apart (whatever the width of the front of the stem). I can almost wrap my fingers around both bars at one time. I think it'd be worth experimenting with them mounted about 4-6" apart but I don't have bars that let me do that. The Scotts are more difficult to mount and dismount. Wider clamp, bigger bolt, harder to get threads engaged, and usually I need some shim stuff to tighten stuff up. A friend made them from carbon fiber, they were insanely light, other guys I know drilled them out (think Spinaccis).

Since I can't TT worth crap I'm semi-permanently lending my bars to a teammate that is a lot stronger than I am.

cdr

They look like less comfortable versions of the Scott drop clip-ons I had in the 90's. I rarely used them and later decided they spent most of their time as added weight, but I suppose if you're a breakaway artist they would come in handy more often.

i had those as well.

http://bicyclepron.com/lemond.jpg

^ Those are the "drop-ins" not the "clip-ons"

Although not a good shot of them, this was my bike in 1996 with the clip-ons
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/UrbanKnight/Bike/GTEdge1.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/UrbanKnight/Bike/GTEdge2.jpg

oh yeah. i remember those.

They kind of lame and dorky.

haha then i guess they fit right in perfectly with our sport

haha then i guess they fit right in perfectly with our sport

http://www.greginthedesert.net/files/page0_blog_entry1084_1.jpg

I've used the Cane Creeks in races (it gets windy in TX). They do provide a very slight advantage, but maybe like 1/2mph or so... barely noticeable and maybe self-hypnosis.

Re: legality, my understanding was and is that they're ok in non-UCI mass start as long as they don't protrude further than the brake levers. If you run 'em up high like baby aero bars, they will protrude farther.

If you run 'em down low like "inside" drops, you can angle them to put your hands about where they'd be in the drops.

Net/net, I took 'em off. Just wasn't that big a deal and rarely had reason to use them in real races, plus it messes with cable routing etc.