This is a question my brother in law asked me and I wanted to know your thoughts on this… He’s doing Ironman CDA with me.
“My bike is basically a road bike with an aero clip on bar. I am considering taking off the road bar and putting on a “bull horn bar.” I do not want the expense but I could use my brake levers and perhaps put shifters on my aeroclip on bar ends. Do you think this is really necessary for a middle of the packer? The wind can really be brutal and I just want some relief.”
The question really isn’t whether it is worth it for a MOPer. That question is yes, if the bike REQUIRES that set up. A road bike with road angles probably should not have bull horns. A steep angled bike does require that set up. Read some of Dan’s articles for an in depth explanation…and good luck to you and your BIL.
I’m a big fan of drop bars on a road bike and bull horns only on a tri bike. Dan gives a very good rational why this is so based on the different geometries. You should be able to find the article in the slowtwitch archives under the technical section. Dan is re-writing his bike articles, so if it’s not there it soon will be back up.
Drop bars are actually more versatile. The reason they don’t put them on tri geometry bikes is because they would be too low because of the geometry. If you go on the Vision Tech site under the aerodynamics section it shows that bull horns are really no more aero than drop bars. It’s only the expensve one piece units that are more aero.
I had the same internal debate. Road bike, drops with clip-on. I decided not to change my set-up mainly because of CdA course: hills and more importantly technical downhills.
"hills and more importantly technical downhills. "
Exactly. Bullhorns are great if riding a solo on a steep geometry tri frame on a flat surface. For anything else give me a shallow geometry road bike with drops/clip-ons.
Just got back from our group ride tonight on the TCR. Wouldn’t even consider riding the P2K in this type of a ride.