How does one determine the proper aerobar length/pad position? You see guys in the tour with pads that hit them right below their elbow to Jan Ulrich who has his pads positioned almost at the wrist, what is correct?
What is correct is to first determine where you want your hands to end up. Meaning – do you want your arms stretched out in front of you, so that your elbows are, say, forward of your ears? Or – do you want your arms more tucked in close, with your elbows even with or aft of the ears?
Once that is decided, then you buy aerobars (or finalize the length adjustment) so that your hands hit the ends of the bars at the right arm extension. Where the pads end up is a function of your stem length and what brand of bars you bought. No right or wrong answer, although most triathletes prefer a short stem so that the pads are closer to the elbow.
Thank you for the information! I like my hands more tucked in, which I guess would make the bars shorter. In terms of handling, is handling better with the pads backwards towards the elbows and a short stem? I would think the shorter stem would make the handling more slippery. Also, do you have any opinion on the base bar width?
Another bigred on this forum? Where’s bigred2??
I dunno. I am new to forum. I am a big Nebraska football fan.