Invisible Aero (tri) Bars
 

Does anyone else ride invisible aero bars?

Of course, I don't really have any areo (tri) bars (visible or otherwise) on my LHT, but I do sometimes ride with my forearms resting on the tops of my handlebars. I can ride a few miles a time this way without causing any discomfort to my forearms. I only have to quit when I need to turn more than slightly or to brake. My handlebars are set about 1/2" below my saddle top, but that's as high as I can get them without replacing steerer tube (it was cut too short) or replacing the stem with a longer, steeper one. Other than the fact that I'm looking at a crash if something sudden and unexpected happens, I don't see any problem with this. I don't have any areo bars to hold onto, so I just hold one fist loosely in the other and it seems to work fine. Then again, if I'm going to do this much, I really should get some visible (real) areo bars before I have a bad crash.

Q. -- What combination of wide, flat-topped (ergo) road bars and areo bars would be most ideal for an LHT setup? My LHT was a birthday gift, so I didn't get a say in any of the componentry (not that I'm complaining, mind you), so the bike is not exactly how I would have built it if I had done it myself. I'm looking for a handlebar-aerobar combination which is meant for each other and suited to a large rider (6'3", 240 lbs) with broad shoulders and large hands.

I use clip on aero bars and rest my forearms on the grips of the handlebar as well. I frankly just won't have a bike without them. To me they are way more comfy than handlebar drops because you get the weight off your wrists. With the drops, the wrists are still involved in carrying the load of your upper body. With Aero's, the forearms take the weight and the hands just lightly steer; the wrists are at rest. I'm a believer. I bought mine for less than $20 bucks off of ebay.

I used an old pair of Scott Race Clip On's with flip up pad arms attached to a straight (mtb) bar. I thought it worked great for offering alternate positions and preventing hand numbness. Someone on Crazyguy had an even better solution that he recently posted. Here's the link:
http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?...c_id=2799&v=2G
Happy Riding.
CC

I have some 44cm Bontrager drop bars I got off Ebay and a set of the Profile Design Air Stryke aero bars. They are nice because the pads flip up when I want to ride on top and it does feel good to give your wrists a rest!

There would be no long distance touring for me without aero bars. In fact, I have aero bars on both my bikes. Both are Air Strykes (1997 model on my old bike, 2004 model on my new bike).