Triathlon - S Bends, J Bends, Straight What Kind of Aerobar

Do you like? I had Hed Clip Lites with S Bends on my road bike and just bought a P2C which I was looking forward to trying out J Bends. I found the S Bends a little uncomfortable, like a carpal tunnel event to happen. In my excitement to get fitted and get out with my new bike (I had to get back to work), I didn't really pay attention to the fact that the P2C I got came with Profile Designs base bar (not my favorite) and, yep, S bend T2+ aerobars.

Not sure if I got taken a little as the Dura Ace spec is supposed to have the VisionTech setup.

So, it has me wondering what people generally like as far as the bend of the aerobars? What do people find is the most comfortable? I know Tom Demerly at Bike Sport Michigan has a pretty detailed article on his site about how the S Bends are not the best for you.

Blackwell research has their "wrist relief" extensions. And Hed has a new "lazy" s-bend. Both are more "anatomical". I don't mind my hed s-bends.

These should fit in your profile clamps...http://aebike.com/page.cfm?action=details&PageID=30&SKU=HB7051

Personally, I tend not to like extensions where the "grabbing" area is parallel to the ground. This includes most "S" bends, "R" bends, and the like. However, most "ski" bends tend to point too far upwards for me--I like being able to get some leverage from the extensions.

So, I use the Oval single bend extensions, which are technically "ski" bends but they have about half of the amount of upturn as, say, the Profile Aerolites.

I think that, for triathlon, most people are better suited to ski bends, "wrist relief" extensions, or something else that is comfortable. (Though, if you're comfortable on "S" bends on your long rides, more power to you!) However, for shorter time trials where comfort is not a concern, or for athletes who like to use the aero extensions for leverage to get more power, I think the "S" bends are a better choice, as you can't get much power from ski bends unless you choke way up on them.

Forgot a few things.

With your T2+ Cobra aerobars, fear not! Hope is not lost. What you can do is use the T2+ mounting system but substitute some different extensions (like the Blackwell Wrist Relief). They're not that expensive, either, and you may be able to sell someone just the extensions as well!

You are correct in that the P2C Dura-Ace is supposed to have the Vision Tech cockpit. If the shop sold you the bike at MSRP, they probably took you just a little bit.

Thanks. I knew it about the shop and the cockpit. Never will know the full story, but I got the shop's 10 percent "team" discount. They sold me the bike at $2700, so I felt like it was hard to complain (though I may be spending the savings fixing it). I also got new Look Keo Carbons (at 15 percent off) and DA calipers (at 15 percent off). In the past, I have done a lot of shopping on the Net, and not supported the LBS enough, so it probably all evens out. In my day, I have opted for huge savings on the Internet, so it's time I paid some back.

Since I mostly train for HIM distance, and race an occasional Olympic distance, I think I will check out the Blackwell wrist relief extensions. For someone who is not much of a wrench, how difficult is it to swap out the bar end shifter?

Yeah, the price difference between Profile basebar + T2 compared to the Visiontech basebar + Vision clipons is probably less than $100. Especially since you got the bike at an already discounted rate it's probably not a big deal :)

Swapping out the extensions isn't that bad actually, especially if your bike has external cable routing. I typed up an explanation for you, but then I realized that there are probably better instructions written by more knowledgeable people on how to do this somewhere, on this site I think. If you're not comfortable doing this, your shop can do it for well under an hour's worth of labor I imagine (my shop charges $20 + parts for the service).