Ditto. My wrists are not bent at all on my T2s. Very comfortable as far as I am concerned. My wife is also very comfortable using her s-bends as well, though I have no idea what they are comparable to: they are some random aluminum extensions we got from HED that she's running on a Carbon-X basebar.

And someone at analyticcyling did a frontal area analysis to show they presented more wind resistance, which your xRay confirms.

It would be nice to have "regular" bends with shorter "up" sections since many people don't need all the "grip" area.

The wrist relief bend of the Blackwell aerobar has some promise:

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Holy crap. So I can just have an x-ray taken instead of going to the wind tunnel? Think of all the money I could save!

The x-rays look cool and all, but I fail to see how they prove your "confort" point. Confort is an individually perceived concept, not proven by the x-rays. But they look cool though.

Your analysis is not complete and doesn't prove anything.

I am 5'9" and use the Oval Conepts A900 with S-bends. I have the bars machined down one inch to better fit me.

The way that your x-rays and photos do not show the correct way to hold the bars. The wrists are more rotated into a more natural position and they ride more on top of the bars than on the side.

When I had the ski-style bars, I found myself moving my hands into a more s-bend style position.

I rode an IM and tons of training on my current s-bars. No pain, no issues whatsoever.

I also have read somewhere that the s-bend allows, somehow, your lungs to expand a little easier.

I am going to go against the grain:

First off: I do ride them as shorty bars and find them way more usefull than upturned extensions I had before.
For that use (and in general):

Why do you need to put a firm grip on the extensions?
I never do that. You use the bars to steer the bike. A firm grip is not necessary. I normally just rest the palms of my hands against the extensions from the outside. My wrist is also way lower than depicted on the photo.
I rarely use the position depicted. If I use it I will really pull on them. And this is only happening when I need additional power and use the arms for leverage. You can't do that with the grip pictured on the right.

Nice spin of things, so. I could distort things a similar way and make the argument why riding aero-position is bad for your lower back. In that case I just would take a pic with the pelvis tilted incorrectly. I still say it all boils down to proper positioning.

Since you are talking only about "most triathletes", I am happy to report that I am different.

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___________________________________________
Ego numquam pronuncio mendacium,
sed sum homo salvaticus

It also depends on the pad placement. My r-bends have three different stack heights to them and after a few miles on them the first time I went to the intermediate height ones and it made a difference.

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_____________________________________________
Rick, "Retired" hobbyist athlete
Trying to come back slowly from acute A-Fib

Holy crap! I'm no expert, but with that many spacers, wrist position looks like it is the least of his problems.

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If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went. - Will Rogers

Emery's Third Coast Triathlon | Tri Wisconsin Triathlon Team | Push Endurance | GLWR

Yup.

Anyway. Interesting aerobars.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I have never had any wrist pain using my Vision TriMax R bends at all. My hands just lay on the bar with my wrist fairly straight unless I need to steer or change gears.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

I do use them as shorties also, and I pull up on them usually in that posture.

Remember, this is not a convenient, blanket condemantion. It is not. It is an assertion that "S" bends may not be optimal for most triathletes.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Good article, Tom. I agree with you. I've tried S-bends on two different occasions (two different bars), and ended up going back to 'ski bend' bars both times. I tried to give them the best shot I could, going on short rides, long rides, hard rides, easy rides... never could get comfortable. They certainly look cool, but aren't worth the compromise in comfort. I'm also glad you pointed out the poor shifting ergonomics- this is the biggest knock against s-bends for me. They just don't work well within the confines of today's bar-end shifters. It is very difficult to operate the shifters while in the small ring or smaller cogs (i.e. when the shifters are pointing down... waaaay down in the case of s-bends). No thanks!

See, that's funny because I find the shifting very easy, especially when the levers are pointed down. My index finger is right behind them and I just can push up to go up in gear. Again, that's just been my experience.

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-Of course it's 'effing hard, it's IRONMAN!
Team ZOOT
ZOOT, QR, Garmin, HED Wheels, Zealios, FormSwim, Precision Hydration, Rudy Project

not to mention:

http://biketechreview.com/...ance/ruleofthumb.htm

g

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greg
www.wattagetraining.com

i do exactly the same thing. i don't believe that the s-bends i have are quite perfect for where i'd like my hands to be, but i certainly use them more as intended than the old style. actually, by turning them inwards you hand position becomes flatter - as if you're preparing to dog-paddle. ...

Yeah but I don't think the majority of riders who like the S bends are riding them like that. If I look at how I ride ski bends vs S bends my thumb forms about the same angle to my wrist. It's more of a rotation from up and down to a more flat position and won't really change the frontal area.

Carpal Tunnel? Your kidding me right? Now my S-bends are going to give me Carpal Tunnel..

Carpal Tunnel Sydrome is caused by repetitive motion.

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I just put these on my bike and I like them a lot. A good in between position.

I'm mostly curious about who posed for all those X-rays. While I admire your dedication to finding ultimate fit, and the pictures are cool, that seems like a fair amount of exposure for something that is somewhat readily apparent to the naked eye. How many shots were taken all in?

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<If you're gonna be dumb, you gotta be tough>
Get Fitter!
Proud member of the Smartasscrew, MONSTER CLUB
Get your FIX today?

Ummmm...yeah.

I wasn't gonna give you a hard time 'cause you get enough of that around here, and I figured it was only the three films hanging on the view boxes....but a whole folder-full? No more casual x-ray exposure for you, and that's an order! And frankly your Dr. friend should know better, with all due respect.

You've no doubt had enough exposure to ionizing radiation during all of your Indiana Jones impersonations.....no more playing with the x-ray machine......okey-dokey??

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Dan DeMaio
---------------------------------------------------------
Life is like riding a bicycle.
To keep your balance you must keep moving.
- Albert Einstein

Tom,

Interesting stuff...

I had an adaption phase last summer; the key for me was not death gripping them, and turning the wrists slightly out... I do think the S-Bends offer more options(e.g. hand postions) for athletes doing short and long-course distance events.

Ski-Bends are likely the *most* comfortable option for athletes (meaning, I don't think they would cause wrist tension and require adapting), and given that you run a business, prolly the best to suggest to customers.

Ultimately though, the sport of triathlon itself isn't very comfortable when you get right down to it. :)

I agree. I switched from tradition aero bars to "S" bend (T2+) a couple of years ago and absolutely love the range of positions I can now hold with my hands. The traditional bars just never felt right and I was always moving my wrist down to the flat section. I didn’t identify with any of the info provided on the article at all…

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Jorge Martinez
Head Coach - Sports Science
E3 Training Solutions, LLC
@CoachJorgeM

Nice article.
Place your wrist in the Sbend position with the elbow only slightly bent and then gradually flex the elbow. Notice how the position becomes more comfortable as the elbow angle becomes more acute.
I think for those who are otherwise comfortable with a near 90 degree elbow bend while in the aerobars, the Sbend may be quite comfortable.
As the elbow angle increases, the Sbend wrist position becomes less comfortable.
As someone else posted, the Landis aerobar position (aerobars tilted up) is one way to reduce this elbow angle and make the wrist more comfortable.
Now I am beginning to wonder how pressing against the elbow pads might influence the forces applied to the pedals through the 6 o'clock thru 8 o'clock position.

I was wondering why all my hair was falling out.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com