I saw these bars - Cobra Wing Profile Design http://www.profile-design.com/profile-d ... -base-bars

and thought if you combine these with the Dura Ace TT ST 7971(only 116 grams), Brake Lever/Shifters you could have a handlebar shifter combo of less then 350 grams.

For those of us who barely spend any time in the drops this looks like a neat solution especially for going up hills.

I would the guess the ultimate would be to take a set of the new Schmolke 31.8 bars cut the bends off and flip them over. They should then look like the Profile Design Bars, but only weigh 125-130 grams, giving you a total system weight(shifters + bars of about 240-250 grams - not bad. This assumes that the Schmolke bars are as strong flipped over.

I wonder if Schmolke would custom make these?

Any other light nicely shaped base bars out there?

Easton Delta basebar in 26.0 are pretty light and you can cut off the upturns to get under 200g. The only other way to get lighter would be to chop a pair of drop bars like you mentioned.

You could match up the Delta basebar with a Syntace F99 stem and have a very nice light set up for a climbing bike. Even better for a climbing bike would be to just use the rear only but have the brake set up on the front.

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BIG DADDY B FLOW
AERO & LIGHT is RIGHT

Cervelo SLC 5890g/12.98 lbs

You could probably even go lighter by using an Easton MTB 99g bar with the brakes installed in the ends of the bar. So you would have a total bar weight of 215 and run them inline with the bar and they would be super aero as well.

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BIG DADDY B FLOW
AERO & LIGHT is RIGHT

Cervelo SLC 5890g/12.98 lbs

I can see giving up drops on a Road Bike, but not the traditional hand position on the hoods which my solutions replicate.

I think you are on to something with the cutoff road bar, mostly because aero carbon basebars are a quite a bit heavier than they have to be due to the lack of strength of the aero wing section as compared with a wide diameter tube.

I have considered this bar/shifter combo for a cyclocross frame I have.

But I think it will be difficult to mount the shifters in a cut-down roadbar, because you need at least 2-3cm of straight tube at the end, and I haven't found any that meets this criteria.

I may try the following:

Ax Poseidon mtb bar, 460mm, ca. 70g
Mfck bar ends, ca 35g
Di2 TT brakelevers, ca. 116g

but then I need to use a lot of bartape to smooth out the transition between the bar/bar-ends.

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www.sykkelplaneten.no

I saw a custom Schmolke TLO bar with 8 cm longer drops....so ask them if they can make you a custom bar

@LAN....nice setup!!

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BIKE DESIGN AND +

http://cds-0.blogspot.com/

Schmolke just got back to me, they will do customs, could easily put a straight piece on in lieu of a bend.

That would be cool to have a straight bar with straight pieces made to your specs to mount the levers to.

So you are trying to reduce the overall weight of the bike by doing this but what is the weight penalty for the Di2 battery, heavier rear derailleur and heavier front derailleur needed to make this set up work?

What would the difference be with a set of drop bars (with drops cut off), Sram Red levers and Red front and rear derailleur.

My feeling is that the RED setup with drops cut off the bars would be a lighter set up.

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BIG DADDY B FLOW
AERO & LIGHT is RIGHT

Cervelo SLC 5890g/12.98 lbs

Red may be lighter, but I want Di2.

I think the problem with cutting off the drops with regular road shifters is that if you really need to stop you may not have enough leverage.

The advantage of something like the Profile Design Bar and TT Brake levers is that you can really get some good leverage, and as most of us ride the hoods anyways we would probably be better/safer with this setup as the brake lever is closer at hand.

If you want a straight base bar instead of a bend you could also get a Syntace Stratos CX instead:
http://www.syntace.com/index.cfm?pid=3&pk=1547

Syntace Stratos CX:


Profile Design Cobra Wing:

Hi

I am trying this setup on my MTB build now. It works with a normal roadbar that is cut down, but the brake housing is internal so you have to drill a hole to get it out.

That's why I only have a alu bar at the moment, don't want to ruin an expensive carbon bar if I don't like the setup.

Disregard the different bartape colours.

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www.sykkelplaneten.no

That looks great, it's exactly what I was thinking. What bar is it? Did you flip it upside down?

It's a Bontrager Race X Lite bar, but not the new VR models, just something I had laying around.

It's flipped upside down, there is a slight upturn where the brakelevers are mounted, you can see this by the angle the levers have.

I have not tried it yet, but it feels very comfortable, but for better weight savings, you would have to do it with a lighter carbon bar.

My setup weighs:

Bontrager Race X Lite, modified: 123g
Shimano Di2 TT levers, modified: 108g

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www.sykkelplaneten.no