Nah, I like 'em. I could never get comfortable on my old "normal" bends, but I love my s-bends. I think it's a completely personal thing.

-C

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Any run that doesn't include pooping in someone's front yard is a win.

Now I am quote curious. I am going to borrow a set of carbon bars and shoot my left hand from a couple views to see how the bones in the area of my collapsed Ulnar look....I may be your first lab rat Tom....I know a few folks with digital X-Rays...

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Chip, post the outcome if you can My Friend. That would be interesting.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I need to hit my LBS and borrow some carbon ones, mine are Ti and will kill the image. If I look at your films it is kind of obvious that the area I have issues with is quite compressed...now take that for about 5-6 hours and you get the same potential results as one would with DVT on a long flight...maybe.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

For more info on Carpal Tunnel......

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/..._tunnel.htm#82233049

We used carbon fiber bars in our X-rays for that reason- to make the imaging easier. Part of the reason I got nuked so bad with the X-ray machne was we shot a lot of images getting the thing set up right. I mean, I am really not at risk of anything here am I....?!?

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Exactly my situation. only, i've got deda bars that are pretty much a pistol grip, and i attempt to lay my hands flat across them.

didn't read the article.... but those x rays are gorgeous. Bright and shiny pretty bones!!!


(I want to go into radiology :P)

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maybe she's born with it, maybe it's chlorine
If you're injured and need some sympathy, PM me and I'm very happy to write back.
disclaimer: PhD not MD

I thought they were cool too. The doctor looked at them and said, "How many times have you broken your right wrist?"

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

I seem to get much more carpal tunnel when out of the aero position simply because so much more weight is applied to the palms. I think x-rays of standard road bar positioning would have been more interesting because of this weight factor. At least in the aero position you can shift some of the weight to the pads, an option you don't have in other positions.

Agreed. Given the rads I've soaked up already I might send another rat over to the good doctor's office next time though.

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Tom Demerly
The Tri Shop.com

Maybe x-ray isn't the best tool for this application. I'm thinking that a glove with pressure sensors would be more revealing. Something like what they use for shoes that will display a color map of the pressure areas.

Chip, Tom, et al. I may not know much about triathlon, but as a radiologist I do know something about x-rays. Enough that I never whould have allowed Tom to have his hand exposed 20 or more times. The x-rays Tom had taken show and prove absolutely nothing other than the appearance of the wrist in adduction, which is part of the normal range of motion for the wrist. If Tom has any medical basis for his thesis on S-bends putting the wrist in an unnatural position, I would think his interest should be in strain on various tendons and ligaments. And you can't even see these individual soft tissue structures on plain x-rays. Chip would likewise get no usable information from taking plain x-rays in these positions.

Tom, I know you mean well, but your use of ionizing radiation to help give some believability and credibility to your biased views on aerobars was irresponsible. And now you're encouraging others along the same path.

Rant over.

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Coach at KonaCoach Multisport

bottom line:

Have wind tunnel tests show S-bars to be faster than Vision ski ends?

I thought they did and was JUST about to order some tonight. If not I will stick with the Vision ski ends they feel fine to me.

Point taken. Thank you. I was kinda thinking that maybe I would find a cause to my ulnar issues and potentially prevent others from having it as well.

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

Thank you.

I would also be interested in having others avoid what you've experienced. And it's not unreasonable to wonder if such a position might contribute to some effect on the ulnar artery. It's just not something you can tell on a 2 dimensional x-ray.

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Coach at KonaCoach Multisport

Say I had access to an MRI? (I do)

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What if the Hokey Pokey is what it is all about?

those pics are still interesting, as you pointed out in your article, I often ride with just my little fingers hooked under the s-bend bars in order to keep my wrist straight, not the best for control but a whole lot more comfy.

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I reject your reality and substitute my own!
Adam Savage

This is certainly an interesting post, and the varied opinions are typical of slowtwitch. I used the original Scott DH bars, then moved to Profile bars in my tri career. Quit for many years (>10), then came back when Syntace was the thing. I never liked them as well as the Profiles. Last year, I switched to Vision Tech normal bend and liked them better, but there was still something wrong. I've now cut down the upward length of the extension by about 1 cm and they are comfortable so I'm happy again.

My younger son used to use my old Profile clip-ons for road and track. Last year, he got a P3SL and installed VT R bends. He also put them on his track bike. I thought they would be extremely uncomfortable but have tried them for a few minutes. Although I couldn't image doing a long race on them, they seemed like they would be OK for a short distance. I would probably rotate my wrist so that I was holding the bar from the top most of the time (not resting per Tom's piece, but holding). This does represent a second position, something that's hard to get with ski bends.

On the other hand, my son loves them. He's a road and track rider so is not doing anything longer than an hour. He has a lot of power and wants to be able to pull up on the bars, which the R bends help. They obviously worked for him. He repeated as national junior champion in kilo and pursuit and set new national records in both events. He also moved up from 12th to 1st in the national road TT championship, beating four guys who had finished ahead of him the previous year, including the previous year's winner.

Yes, we're also both tall at 6'2", if that is one of the things that makes R bends work.

I think it's a bit like the whole high/low position. You're better off with something comfortable. I also was interested in the biketechreview piece since I also wonder whether the S and R bends are any better aerodynamically. Floyd's position is more like what wind tunnel studies of the ealry 90s suggested was the best position since you form a more continuous shape with the high extensions he used.

I agree w/Paulo.

It's funny how you're willing to take "concrete proof" like these x-rays, Tom...but then willing disregard mountains of concrete data from powermeter users on their efficacy.

PM'ed you.

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Coach at KonaCoach Multisport

I'm no radiologist, but something tells me that unnecessarly x-raying a pair of arms is pretty stupid.

Other than that, good article.

not sure if linked already:

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

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Want: 58cm Cervelo Soloist. PM me if you have one to sell

Vintage Cervelo: A Resource

To each his own, just like saddle tilt or other adjustable settings on your bike.
I like s-bends after years of using regular aerobars. It wasn't a natural feeling in the beginning but my wrists have adjusted.
With the standard aerobar, my grab & arm position is fixed because the upturn stops you.
With s-bends I find that I have more room sliding my grab up & down the horizontal portion of the s-bend.I move my grab forward & back in relation to where I sit on the saddle due to terrain.
On long fast flats, I find myself on the saddle nose and as far forward on the s-bends. On slight climbs in the aero position, I am grabbing just around the bend for added pull.
Just a bit harder to shift the bar ends specially when its pointing all the way down.Don't know if its the same with others.