I had some 10 year old vison tech bars which a bracket broke and FSA, ebay, and lbs’s did not have the part I needed. I ended up buying some off brand performance bike aero bars for cheap. But does not have the adjustments that come with more expensive ones.
I went to home depot and picked up some spacers and longer bolts. And it seems sturdy but I am not sure I need some grease or/or missing something really obvious.
Besides the aesthetics of non-black mismatch color, silver and black, do you see a safety issue?
Looks pretty solid from what I can see. Just as long as there is enough surface area that the pad is well supported (i.e. the spacers are reasonably thick walled…if not, add washers).
Use grease for the bolts. The reason is to keep them from binding or corroding (bi metal contact), and so that they can be torqued properly during assembly.
I’m not sure but in the photo it looks like the clamp from the arm pad to the base bar now would see an additional moment force due to the spacers you added. You know that old leverage thing of force times distance. The force ( your body weight ) is the same but you increased the distance from the application of the force down to that clamp at the base bar. The screws and spacers are a straight down force so I wouldn’t worry to much about those, it is the clamp that is offset and down to the base bars. It looks like you went out as far as you could , creating the highest leverage at that joint and then you went up ( added spacers ) which created more leverage.
But wouldn’t the force be the same concern for other bars that have risers? If I moved the spacers/bad to the next set of holes (closer to the stem), are you saying that the force would be less and thus, safer?
Assuming that the screw/ bolt is steel, I would think that even if your spacer failed, the screw/ bolt would bend. I would not expect the failure to be catastrophic.
I had one of the old aluminum Profile armrests crack at the bolt hole and it just gradually dropped to a lower position. As you are also holding on to the front of the aero-bar, a failure at the pad is not the same as say, a drop bar failing. YMMV.
But wouldn’t the force be the same concern for other bars that have risers? If I moved the spacers/bad to the next set of holes (closer to the stem), are you saying that the force would be less and thus, safer?
Moving the pads in/out changes the bending force on the mounting beam (but it’s designed for that). The force on the pad is unchanged.
I think moving the pads up ( spacers ) changes the force at the base bar when side forces ( not straight down forces on the spacers ) are applied to the pads ( ie pushing out with your arms out not down ). Think of it this way if the spacers are 24 inches tall and you apply a force sideways to them it creates a larger moment force at the base bar clamp than if the spacer distance is zero. As the distance from pad to base bar increases with same sideways force applied the moment goes up. The distance from pad to base bar goes up by either moving the pads out sideways or up vertically. In the photo they are moved to their design limit and then moved up.
I think moving the pads up ( spacers ) changes the force at the base bar when side forces ( not straight down forces on the spacers ) are applied to the pads ( ie pushing out with your arms out not down ). Think of it this way if the spacers are 24 inches tall and you apply a force sideways to them it creates a larger moment force at the base bar clamp than if the spacer distance is zero. As the distance from pad to base bar increases with same sideways force applied the moment goes up. The distance from pad to base bar goes up by either moving the pads out sideways or up vertically. In the photo they are moved to their design limit and then moved up.
I’m assuming that the sideways forces here are insignificant compared to the downward forces. Even a couple lbs of sideways force would pull someone’s forearms off the pads, and far less would lead to uncomfortable fatigue on a long ride.
Forces that tend to break stuff are dynamic impact forces, yes fatigue as well but in this case impact would be my concern.
You can apply a good sidewise force when you hit a bump or something off center. Think anytime one of your arms is fully weighted and the other is unloaded. It would be difficult for the fully weighted arm to carry the load straight down.
