As I'm sure you know, Tri bikes and Road bikes are different creatures. I know a lot of folks with road bikes do put aero bars on the bike, but as stated by others in this thread, you will likely experience discomfort since your body position will be way off. The Geometry of a tri bike changes your body angle to a more agressive position and the aero bars are placed in the correct location to be able to support your body weight and relieve pressure, rather than cause discomfort.
Mike Beaman at Inside Out Sports best helped me understand the difference with a drawing showing how the angles work. Imagine a 90 degree angle, with the 3 points being your ankle at the bottom of your pedal stroke, your hip, and your shoulder. You want for this to stay at about a 90 degree angle, an acute angle will restrict your power output, and an obtuse angle will make handling more difficult. A road bike has a seat post at a more relaxed angle so you sit further behind the bottom bracket and the shoulders will be higher. A tri bike seat is more directly over the bottom bracket so your shoulders are lower and more directly over the front of the bike and better suited for your forearms to rest on the aerobar pads. I ride 95% of the time on a tri bike, due to the nature of how I race. That being said, I do not have aero bars on my road bike. I can imagine trying to ride it in the aero position with the geometry of that bike, it would cause too much strain in my back and shoulder areas. With all of that being said, If I was to have just a road bike and wanted to ride in Aero position, I would not only invest in aero bars, but also a forward seat post to help mimic the geometry of a tri bike. I hope that this makes some sense. I just don't want you to get aero bars and think that it really sucks because your fit is off. I personally find aero position much more comfortable, but only because I have been professionally fit to make sure that my body is lined up correctly... On Mon, Aug 13, 2012 at 3:00 PM, <[email protected]> wrote: > Too dangerous to use in a pace line as you are too far from your brakes. I > would remove spacers from the stack above the headset to drop your > handlebar height before going to aero bars. when all the spacers are out > and you want to get lower then go to aero bars. > > > ---- "[email protected]" <[email protected]> wrote: > > FYI > > > > Sent from my U.S. Cellular Android device > > > > ----- Forwarded message ----- > > From: "Bolt, Chris" <[email protected]> > > Date: Mon, Aug 13, 2012 1:43 pm > > Subject: Aerobars > > To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]> > > > > I've never bought any before, used them before, or know anything about > them.. I want to buy some aerobars for my road bike. Any do's, don't's or > must haves that I need to be aware of? Any guidance would be appreciated. > Thanks. > > > > Chris Bolt > > BB&T, Vice President > > AML Management Manager > > BSA/AML Management > > [email protected] > > 252.296.0772 (wk) > > 252.234.0831 (fax) > > 100-01-05-60 (mc) > > > > > > > > > > > > -- > > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google > Groups "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. > > To post to this group, send email to > [email protected]. > > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?hl=en. > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. > To post to this group, send email to > [email protected]. > To unsubscribe from this group, send email to > [email protected]. > For more options, visit this group at > http://groups.google.com/group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?hl=en. > > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "CyclistsOfWilson-COWs" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/cyclistsofwilson-cows?hl=en.
