Handlebar suitable for aero hood position.

[Hexsense]

Hello ww,
I am looking for a road handlebar that is very suitable to aero road position as shown in the picture below where the arms are parallel to the ground and wrist or forearm rest on the bar top.


Obviously, there is Speeco Aero Breakaway Handlebar made totally for this purpose. However, the design is too extreme that it interfere its usage on other positions (stand up climb, sprint etc. where knee will hit the bar top)


So, I narrow down my preference to the list below:
1) 38cm wide on the hood, or narrower.
2) Flat top only. Round bar's curve dig into my forearms.
3) Have long bar reach, with usable real estate behind the hood. This then exclude bars with long reach because of forward sweep, as those doesn't provide more rearward support for my forearms.
4) Bonus, not required but have wide stem clamp area is preferred.

I struggle to find many bars that fit these requirements.
Most modern bars have short reach so it support just behind my wrist which require me too much tricep effort to hold my arm parallel to the ground. I experience this on my Aerofly II size 38 (75mm reach). So, I think a bar with 90mm+ reach might put the bar top back far enough that it ease my tricep some effort.

A candidate is Bontrager XXX VR-CF Aero bar at 93mm reach. But I don't see much user feedback on this one.
Anything you can recommend?

[Kazyole]

Maybe an integrated option?

The black inc integrated bar stem looks pretty flat at the transition to the hoods and has a ~92mm reach. At least based on the images looks flatter/wider than the bontrager so probably a pretty solid base for that position.

https://blackinc.cc/product/black-inc-i ... d-barstem/

Comes in a 38 in a wide variety of stem lengths. I haven't run one so can't personally recommend it but have a buddy that uses one and likes it.

[HenryH]

92mm to the outside. 80mm to the center. I guess many are 75mm to the center these days, but unfortunately the Black Inc one isn´t that much better than others. If I remember correctly the Vision Metron integrated is also 80mm to the center.

I don´t really understand if you are making a aero bar why you wouldn´t offer longer reach? For most people the most aero somewhat normal riding position would be riding exactly the way you see in the picture. For me probably the position I find myself the most often in - even when I´m just riding at a relaxed pace by myself. With a proper bar it is comfortable and fast.

I´m kind of in the same position myself - looking for a new setup. I need a longer stem so I was thinking I would go integrated, but I don´t think the perfect bar is out there.

[BigBoyND]

Bonti RSL VR-C has flat top, 100mm reach c-c, and comes in 38cm. Added bonus, it weighs just ~280g, which is the lightest aero bar/stem combo I've seen. Lighter than most integrated round options.

[Hexsense]

Unfortunately, Bontrager RSL VR-C doesn't work for me. Ideally I need -17 degree stem. -12 is tolerable. But just -7 like the Bontrager RSL VR-C is not usable.
I can't really downsize the frame much either. I'm already on frame size 48cm. So, a bar that is not integrated with the stem is preferred.

[ehlpitel]

Hmm, I'm actually rocking 3T Aeronova clones on my Cervelo P3 right now and frequently ride in that kind of position and the reach is like 103mm so it's pretty long compared to a lot of other bars on the market right now. Let me know if you'd like some pics!

[Hexsense]

The real aeronova weren't offered narrower than 40cm, isn't it?
I'd be curious to see if the clone come in 38cm size.

[GS100]

Honestly, it sounds like you need tri bars! I can see some of the options you've identified which seem to cater for a full-time aero hoods position have other compromises. I've always been able to get my wrists resting before the the hoods, with flat-ish forearms on 'normal' bar offerings, but only for short periods as on a road bike it's expected that you'd switch positions quite frequently according to terrain, pace etc, so road bars need to be a 'jack of all trades'

[spud]

The real aeronova weren't offered narrower than 40cm, isn't it?
I'd be curious to see if the clone come in 38cm size.

note that hoods are 2 sm narrower than stated width. Personally, I wouldn't be too hung up on 38cm since you need the bars to do lots of different things, including riding out the of the saddle. I can verify that the long reach and dropped section behind the hoods offer a very comfortable spot for your wrists/foreams to rest.

[jlok]

The real aeronova weren't offered narrower than 40cm, isn't it?
I'd be curious to see if the clone come in 38cm size.

The narrowest Aeronova is 38cm at the hood and 40cm at the drop. If my memory is correct, at the later stage 3T stated 40cm as the smallest size but it indicates the drop.

I love this bar for the long reach and relatively light weight. The Ltd version is soft like noodle tho.

[scapewalker]

Did anyone end up buying the Speeco breakaway cockpit yet?

I'm close to pulling to trigger as my main goal for the next season is to do tts on the roadbike.

I don't care about compromising my sprint or climbing tbh. Are they any other downsides i'm overlooking?

[maxim809]

Hexsense, are you leaning towards any of the options? I see what you're after but I'm coming up dry. 3T Aeronovas fits your requirements if you can find one in stock.

Alternatively, the 3T Aeroflux is a flattop 38cm on hoods and 40cm in drops flared bar that are readily in stock. But the reach may be too short for your goals.

...which require me too much tricep effort to hold my arm parallel to the ground... .90mm+ reach might put the bar top back far enough that it ease my tricep some effort.

Hmm... ideally it should feel weightless in the arms 90° bent, breakaway position. Could be the stack is too low if there is lots of pressure on the hands and tricep. Tho if the steerer is cut, there isn't much you can do here without compromising the look of the front end.

Secondly, is this for your Sprint? Another thing you can try is to lower the shifters down to the bar's limits. Sometimes this can create a groove between the shifter hoods and the bars which makes for a nice cup for your hands to sit in the breakaway position. This also stretches out the total effective reach by a few mm's since the upper tip of your shifters become part of the grippable real estate in that position you are after.

Maybe you've gone down that path already. But if not, it's a knob you can play with.

[Hexsense]

Thanks

I haven't change my bar yet. Still using Specialized Aerofly II 38cm from 2-3 years ago on my Supersix Evo. The bar is carried over from my Allez Sprint.
Bontrager XXX VR-CF Aero is still the prime candidate at 93mm reach 38cm and kinda obtainable. 3T Aeronova looks to fit too.

90 degree elbow bent is light-weighted if I push hard enough, at or over threshold. But it's not weightless for my sub FTP effort yet. Maybe I should just raise my power so that power required to unweight my upper body is under my FTP. I can't be totally weightless on my arms at easy effort unless I move my saddle nearly a cm back. But that compromise my aero position. I aim to experiment with almost TT style fitting on road bike. Saddle forward, rest weight on the bar flat top (not as extreme as real TT rig though).

Move shifter down is an interesting idea. I might try that next time I retape the bar.

[maxim809]

Got it I see what you're trying to do.

I spent the last couple years slowly adapting a TT-style fit on my road bike. I've had good results optimizing my training & fit for this break position.

I roughly went down the same path as you:

1. Slammed the saddle forward.
2. Short cranks.
3. Experimented thru dozens of road saddles for the forward-TT position.
4. Experimented with bar-widths, shifter placement, stem length, stack height. 2 piece setup is a must.
5. Found a frame with steep STA (75°) and good Stack/Reach numbers (for me), to address the aesthetics of a slammed saddle without going zero-offset

I've made sure not to compromise handling along the way.

The most time consuming part was finding a saddle that could work for all nominal use-cases, including the new forward-TT position. It's like testing a mattress, where you don't really know if it's perfect until you've spent considerable time on it.

Similar experience as you. Upper body is weightless under heavy load. In the early days, the position was hard to maintain below threshold and soft pedaling. But this gets easier to maintain and also becomes weightless by training in the position (no surprise). I find it's core strength keeping things stable. Everything falls apart once the core gives out, but hey, endurance can be trained.

Anyway, it's a fun experiment. It's a constant WIP.

[maxim809]

Hey Hexsense. I just realized I have the Bont IsoZone bars (the People's bar) which have identical reach as the Bontrager XXX VR-CF Aero. Put it side by side next to standard Deda bars which have the same reach as Aerofly II's.

There are caveats with the shifters, but maybe the visuals below will be helpful.