Base bar question

Triathlon Forum
1

Hi. I’m new to this forum and new to the triathlon world so bear with me on this basic question. I am a pretty decent distance runner, with minimal swim/bike training who just signed up for my first IM in ~ 1 year.

I bought a used trek hilo 2000 about a year ago, and have been riding on this for training (and will likely race on this bike). When purchased it had an al road base bar with flight deck shifters. I added clip on profile aerobars, and am pretty comfortable on my training rides. I have been thinking of switching my base bar to a straight bar, and putting the shifters on the aerobars. Does this make a big difference in positioning or weight, or am i better off just keeping the configuration the way it is for now?

If you think a straight base bar with aerobar shifters is better, any good places to purchase bar, brakes, and shifters? Thanks for your help with this.

2

It won’t make any difference to your positioning or weight distribution. The biggest benefit to a full tri setup is:
a) installing the shifters on the bars ends means you can stay aero while shifting and
b) there is some aero improvement by replacing the road bars with an aero/tri base bar.

If you are happy with your aero bars then just buy a base bar and bar end shifters.