Clip On Aero Bar Advice.

[Dom_Gleza]

Hi Guys,

I currently own a Specialised Tarmac Sport, and am looking to find a pair of aero bars.

Any recommendations, what should i be on the lookout for, will be first time in the aero position?

[Duck!]

First recommendation is to ensure your handlebar is clip-on compatible; not all are, regardless of material.

All handlebars taper from the central stem clamp area to the grip diameter, some almost right next to the stem, others further out. You need about 60mm of untapered bar each side of the stem in order to fit clip-ons and have some room for width adjustment. NEVER clamp onto the tapered section, you will have insufficient contact area, so the clip-on is very likely to slip, plus it will concentrate stress on a very small area of the handlebar, increasing risk of breakage.

Entry-level aero bars will have limited adjustment; a bit of fore & aft and lateral tweaking of the elbow pads is about it. Better bars enable reach adjustment, and split types will also allow rotation to suit the resting angle of your hands.

[MattyK]

Here's my repeated advice: (noting that this is for a race context, not say adding them to a touring/gravel bike for comfort)

Aero bars should be treated as one part in a package.
On their own (added to a road bike) while you'll get some aero gains by tucking your elbows in, there's a lot more that can be done. The most common issue is trying to hunch down onto low bars without adjusting anything else. This is usually too uncomfortable or difficult to produce power (acute hip angle), so the "solution" many people use is to mount their clip on bars way too high, meaning you're not very aerodynamic, which was the whole point to begin with.

Basically the aim should be to take a comfortable position (i.e. body angles), and rotate your whole body forward until your back is fairly flat.
Since the fixed point on your bike is the bottom bracket, this means moving your saddle forwards as much as possible, and up a little, while moving your bars/stem down as far as possible.
Due to the rotation, you'll be sitting on different parts of your pelvic bones, and can also squash your squashy bits, which means you really change to a more suitable saddle as road saddles aren't usually designed to rotate forwards that far on. Dropping the saddle nose a bit can help, but that also makes you tend to slide forward. Angling the aero bars up a bit can counteract this.

Note that this will make for a poor road riding setup, but remember that everything is reversible. I used to do this for triathlons on my road bike, and revert to my regular position in between.
My mutant bike: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=92692

Once the bike is set up, obviously you need to practice a bit. Stick to clear roads for this, ideally flat so you don't have to go for the shifters or brakes too often. Head low, keep your chin forward (rotate your head, don't lift your head), and don't spend all the time looking at your feet.

[SteatoLegato]

or something like this?
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/mascot/ ... 1290360946

[madmacca]

Aero bars should be treated as one part in a package.
On their own (added to a road bike) while you'll get some aero gains by tucking your elbows in, there's a lot more that can be done. The most common issue is trying to hunch down onto low bars without adjusting anything else. This is usually too uncomfortable or difficult to produce power (acute hip angle), so the "solution" many people use is to mount their clip on bars way too high, meaning you're not very aerodynamic, which was the whole point to begin with.

Basically the aim should be to take a comfortable position (i.e. body angles), and rotate your whole body forward until your back is fairly flat.
Since the fixed point on your bike is the bottom bracket, this means moving your saddle forwards as much as possible, and up a little, while moving your bars/stem down as far as possible.
Due to the rotation, you'll be sitting on different parts of your pelvic bones, and can also squash your squashy bits, which means you really change to a more suitable saddle as road saddles aren't usually designed to rotate forwards that far on. Dropping the saddle nose a bit can help, but that also makes you tend to slide forward. Angling the aero bars up a bit can counteract this.

As someone who is tri-curious, I am currently using the Redshift Dual Position Seatpost on my roadie to deal with the issue of hip angle.
https://redshiftsports.com/products/dua ... n-seatpost

Works pretty well, using a relatively short nosed saddle. Not sure I would want to do a full distance Ironman on that saddle, but for the couple of sprint distance tri's I have done, it works well.