bt

You won't see me using them.

But, if a guy was gonna do a flat solo 100 mile ride, why not use them?

Again, not for me but......

himespau 

It depends, I prefer braking in front with my right hand because it's stronger and more coordinated for fine motor control, but I don't own a tri bike. People who ride motorcycle apparently also frequently set their front brake to right as that's how motorcycles do it.

RPK79

That escalated quickly.

gsa103

I'm going to do a quick post-accident review of what went wrong.

Aero-bars put your weight very far forward compared with standard riding position. Touching the brake caused his weight to shift even farther, resulting in the center-of-mass moving OVER the front wheel. If you look closely you can see that the front wheel never locked up, it was simply a weight shift throwing him OTB.

And that's the main problem with aero-bars. Great for aero, but there's no way to brace yourself for braking. In any sort of avoidance situation you're basically going OTB. In a group ride situation, the rider in front negates most of the advantage. So its only solo riders who have a significant need for them. Oh, and for climbing they're a bunch of useless dead weight (unless you can climb at 15+ mph)

Brian Ratliff

Not arguing at all. I have nothing against aerobars. I ride them myself sometimes, particularly for time trials.

Carbonfiberboy 

He's riding a tri/TT bike, not clip-ons on a road bike. His CG is already quite a bit forward of a standard road bike position. So BTW, if you do run clip-ons, don't change your position unless you plan on only riding the 'bars for that whole ride (TT).

Also, he didn't move both hands before braking. He straight-armed his aerobars from a high sitting position. Not a good move. One doesn't normally encounter folks on TT/tri bikes on group rides for good reason: they need to train out in the wind for those events. Ride a road bike on group rides. If you bring clip-ons on a group ride, use them to take nice long pulls, tow dropees back to the group, etc. Show 'em why you brought 'em.

During event season when I'll be using clip-ons, I train on them solo every week for at least 20 minutes at a time to build endurance in the position. Try to ride the fog line on them.

therhodeo

Or don't bring them.

Carbonfiberboy 

Totally!

Darth Steele

My $.02 slapping on Aero bars changes your bike setup drastically. The idea being to bring you forward enough so what your elbows are on the handlebars. Whereas on a regular road bike your setup is for your hands to reach the hood and drops. When using the Aero Bars you would have to sit on the nose your saddle, the knee alignment would be extreme.


A bike fit expert should chime in on this

Carbonfiberboy 

There's a very simple fix: use clip-ons which have the pads aft of the handlebars. I have a well-balanced position, handlebars ~3" below saddle, reach such that my knees and elbows just barely overlap when in the low hoods position. Works fine for me. I will come forward on the saddle during hard efforts to open the hip angle for better breathing. Even TT riders "ride the rivet" to open that further. As I said, not good to change position. On a road bike, you're going to spend a lot of time climbing. Optimize your whole road bike position. The clip-ons are icing, not the cake. As Greg said, many people manage OK with IABs. Clip-ons are safer, plus you can put down a lot more power.

Knee alignment isn't an issue. Knees seem to function perfectly well all the way from riding the rivet on a TT bike to 1-2cm behind KOPS.

RPK79

I think if I had pads aft of the bars I would hit them with my knees.

StanSeven

That's why many use a forward tilting sestpost. Some people also prefer those funny looking saddles with the dropped nose.

hueyhoolihan

yes, IME riding on an aerobar, if not accustomed to it, will have you wanting to lower the nose of your saddle in about 2-3 minutes. some compromises can help

bbbean 

Low slung 2 seaters are the fastest cars on the road. Why doesn't everyone drive them?

rpenmanparker 

My road bikes are all right hand/front. Always have been. That is how I like it. Also the cables look neater that way from the front.

Carbonfiberboy 

Sorry to be always commenting on this thread, but I seem to be the only one with long experience of them (20 years). Riding clip-ons on a road bike isn't much like riding a TT bike. A big difference is that the clip-on bars themselves are mounted above the handlebars, and the pads are higher yet. Measuring the Syntace C2 bars on one of my bikes, the aft end of the pads are 5cm aft of the handlebars, and the pads are 5cm above the top of the handlebars. On my setup, the point of my elbow is another 4cm aft of the pad. So . . . if you can't pedal in the low hoods position, with your forearms level, you have quite the radical setup or need to lose weight. Clip-ons are higher than that.


Note her saddle to bar drop. She would be slightly higher but more aero with clip-ons. Should not be a problem.

r8dr_rider

Cuz they are butt fugly and and i dont want to add more weight to my bike and i usually pass guys using them when im in the drops

bt

nice thread hijack

bt

wow great answer

roadwarrior

If the bars are adjustable you can set them up so that they work on a road bike. But your notion is correct. They need to be set up so the rider does not have to change position when moving back and forth.

What cracks me up is the notion that you are going to get faster, automatically, with them. You are looking for an aerodynamic advantage. If you are riding at 17 mph, you are not going to 25 with aero bars.

Dan333SP

I'm sure you do get noticeably faster, though. I've never used clip-ons, but if I'm doing an interval and I'm riding in the drops at, say, 25mph and then move my arms into the IAB position, I'll pick up 1-2 mph with the same HR (I don't use power). I'm sure real clip ons would be the same or slightly better. I'd like to try them one day because I've dabbled with the idea of running some of our local TTs and no one around here has a TT bike big enough for me to borrow.

Drew Eckhardt 

No. With weight shifting forwards during braking you must brake harder on the front wheel to maximize deceleration which requires more strength. You also want more finesse so you don't do something boneheaded. Most of us are right-handed.

Same thing on road bikes, mountain bikes, and motorcycles - the front brake belongs on the right.

The US government (CPSC) is more worried about stupid people neglecting to brace themselves and falling off when braking too hard than competent ones not stopping as fast as possible, so they require bikes ship with the front brake on the left unless the buyer requests otherwise.

OldTryGuy

I have used clip-ons for many years. 64yo with bad arthritis. The aero position provides an immediate increase in speed without additional power and I find it more relaxing, therefore I can maintain the speed for greater distances. 1-2 mph increase is spot on for me at your mentioned speed.

roadwarrior

If you are capable of riding for long periods of time at or above 25mph, indeed you will get an advantage if riding solo. As in a non-drafting triathlon or a time trial. for a casual rider, and 25mph speed for long distances is not casual speed, it really is nothing more than another position for sitting on the bike.

FWIW, understand that in road races we rode at 30mph for 6 hours in a pack. Then accelerated from there with finishes well above that. That is above the typical tt speed, solo.

Smokehouse

There is an aero advantage, I feel few can deny that. But like many have said, your bike needs to be setup for it and have the right frame geometry for it as well...AKA a tri-bike.

Of the guys I know that run tri-bikes...the vast majority of them use proper aero bars for the ease of them. Most of them describe it as a more relaxed riding position and easier to maintain than road handlebars. They're not pros...none of the are so good that they're to the point of shaving tenths off of their time.


Lastly...aero clip-ons on a road bike is just against my religion...