Well, actually I have only recieved the clip on aero bar extensions thus far (bolt ons) since I had ordered the new Vision Tech base bars/clip on aero bars and brake levers for my wifes birthday next month from Colorado Cyclist on 4/15 (inventory status - backordered until 4/15). Well, on the fifteenth they got the clip ons in and shipped this item right out but apparently either the base bars did not come in, or they did not recieve enough to meet outstanding orders. After the 15th, I had been calling every couple of days to check when they expected to recieve them! ** - apparently vendors are not nice enough to provide the fine folks at CC with tracking numbers for products shipped via Fed Ex or UPS because not once was one of the customer service rep able give me anything other than we expect that any day now as a response when questioned about exactly when those items would arrive! **
Well now the mystery has been solved because when I called yesterday to check, I was told the status had been updated and they did not expect the base bars until 5/20 - argh. Slightly frustrated, I told them to go ahead and ship the brake levers and then proceeded with a quick websearch and found that Excel Sports was now listing the bars on their website. Apparently Excel got in a shipment of base bars, brake leverls, and clip ons (including XS which CC was not offering) last Friday. They did not have images of the products on the web page, but a quick call confirmed that this was the new stuff so I ordered the base bars from Excel and then cancelled my backorder at CC. Happy dance - the wife gets her new complete aerobar setup before her borthday. So, for anyone who has been waiting for these to hit the streets and does not live within driving distance of Tom D’s store, Excel Sports has them for the same price as CC and offers USPS Prioity mail shipping for less than CC ground rates!
As for the clip ons, could not help myself and mounted them in place of the wifes old Profile Carbon Strikes (circa 2002) that I had to southern engineer after stripping out a tension bolt for one of the extensions. We had a complete rain out over the weekend here in Houston so her first ride on the new extensions will be today after work, but initial impressions are that these things are really well designed/manufactured. Bars allow for internal cable routing such that you can run the bar ends with the cable exit above or below the bars and the point where they mount to the base bars is very nicely done but it would be nice to have a lower stack riser for the forearm rests as it comes with 2 different height risers - 25mm and 40mm, but a 12mm would be nice. VisionTech recommends measuring distance from elbow to fist to determine fit which I did before ordering but when I mounted them, with the bike in the stationary trainer it seemed obvious to me that I needed to take about 1.5 cent. off the ends in order to make the reach a little more comfy - probably means wife should use the XS but who knew! Should have the rest of the hardware by Thursday/Friday - plenty of time before wife’s birthday and her first bike leg in a tri relay on the 8th!
Michael
