Deda aerobars

Has anyone ridden the Deda (dedaelementi.com) aerobars? The 1 piece tri version or the TT version. (not the clip-ons, though they look pretty cool for clips.)

Yeah. The areoblue bars look very cool. Are they heavy? The carbon bars look pretty dreamy as well, but I think they may have just been debuted at Interbike this year. I’m guessing. Anyone know the scoop on the carbon Deda’s?

Deda isn’t very well known in the tri community but they are awesome bars. I got the Deda Aeroblue bars along with my P3 and love the setup! They are very comfortable and you can adjust them to fit anyone. I think they are the coolest looking too. I can’t wait for the carbon.

Yeah. I think they’re pretty nice too. Deda seems quite prevalent among the pro cycling teams and their TT set-ups. Seems like they are putting out some pretty good product.

If you’re into “shortie” bars, Deda showed a new integrated drop bar and shortie aerobar combo in the Sept Eurobike show. I have the magazine, but can I post pics on this thread?

I hear you, Francois. Overzealous press are problem when it comes to this stuff, but Kraig makes a good point. Sometimes face to face conversations can say a lot about what stands behind a product or service. I think there may have been some aerobar problems in the final stage of the Vuelta this year as well. The shorty/pursuit combination bar from Deda looks cool, but I’m not sure when I’d use it.

Francois:

While I agree that sometimes journalists may stretch the truth for a juicy story, in the case of breaking stems and bars the story is actually worse than reported. There are many more cases of breaking stems and bars than are reported in the media, and especially the heat-treating processes of some companies are laughable. The stuff that these companies get away with is shocking, In the past few weeks I’ve heard several first-hand accounts of these failures, and none of them were ever mentioned in the press as far as I know. It’s high time the UCI introduces some serious test protocols for these parts for companies wishing to have their products in UCI sanctioned races.

Gerard

Ahh, for want of a accepted safety standard that cannot be purchased instead of tested.

-SD

Hey SuperDave, what’s up?

Does your competitive analysis include searching for and reading my three year old posts?

Ahh, for want of a accepted safety standard that cannot be purchased instead of tested

what does this mean exactly, in more simple english? and whose words are they…?

In my favorites tab on IE, I have the search function on Slowtwitched saved with all posts made by you Gerard.

I hang on your every word.

But mostly your insight, which had previously been lost on me was recently shown to be very insightful as I was shocked at how easy it is to get an unsafe product to market.

Happy Thanksgiving,
-SD

jees, even people within the industry are unpleasant with one another… !

I was being serious. Gerard is one of the most accessible people in the bike industry for a person of his stature and place in it. Even peons like me can ask him candid questions and expect and honest reply.

I appreaciate him and his ability to make time for us.

Did you read my comment as sarcastic?

-SD

i did.

if it was not, my mistake…

I had the aeroblue on my old Cannondale; I sold the bike last year. They are fairly adjustable and very stiff. I found them to be more comfortable than my new Hed aerobar. I would hold the bottom section of the “U”, it was great for leverage. I use to run them with a European set-up, that is…one side STI shifter, one side bar-end shifter. The shape of the horns accommodates STI shifters very well. The only con I can think of is that there are two tiny screws on the top portion of the aerobar that slides onto the stem; be very careful when adjusting them, I lost both. Oh yeah, they scuff very easily.

Dave in VA

Gerard, good job pointing out the ‘unreported truth’. I had a bad experience some time ago with a Vision Tech Tri-Max bar, where the 4mm bolts securing the armrests pulled out of the threads in the bar. Fortunately this happened in a parking lot, when a friend was trying the feel of the bars, not going downhill fast and hitting a rut in the road or whatever. That could have been very nasty…

I sent a letter to Vision Tech telling them I thought that their design might have a problem, showing photographs and I even supplied a bolt pull-out load calc - which showed that with the moment on the bolt threads, there was scary little margin with downforce of rider due to hitting a bump/pothole/RR track etc. I couldn’t believe their lack of concern!

I’m stll running those Tri Max bars, but with my own design enhancement. I deleted the ‘spring’ armrests in favor of the lower composite rests (which are a shorter effective lever), and I drilled and tapped to 5mm bolt size, with nearly twice the thread engagement. (the stock 4mm bolts had @ 4mm engagement… not enough!)