Three questions about aerobar width.
Does more narrow generally mean faster? I know the tunnel is the only way to know for sure, but for the most part is narrow more aero.
Does moving the aerobars in, automatically mean other parts of your bike fit will need to be adjusted as well.
I have 2cm on either side of my aerobars before they would touch my BTA bottle. This gives my 4cm of room to move them in. Is this far enough to make a difference?
Thanks in advance for any answers.
Narrower is generally slightly faster from an aerodynamic perspective, but if it puts you in an uncomfortable position where it’s harder to breathe, then it wouldn’t. That gets to your second question: yes, it can affect other parts of fit, but not by much. The speed you’ll gain from coming in 1 cm on each side is pretty minimal. It can also make handling slightly tougher if your elbows are closer together.
Photos might help people give you some pointers.
1.) often, but not always. I haven’t seen many times it’s worse though, usually just “not better,” so if you can go narrower without any other negatives, it’s probably a good bet.
2.) not exactly, but it can be pretty uncomfortable for some people.
3.) maybe, maybe not.
I read long ago that as long as your elbow aren’t wider than the position of your knees there was not a lot of benefit in getting narrower. Don’t know if this is still considered valid.
I suspect as with many things there is a lot of individual variation. I would not force myself into a constricted or otherwise uncomfortable position unless I could accurately test and determine it was faster.