Revisiting this thread a year later.
I’ve read Dan’s solution on his bikepacking bike article. He used a Diamondback aerobar with a interesting hack (maybe a bodge) to get a new hand position on shorten ski bend extensions.
Diamondback found that the HED Cobras were too high quality to be used as an original equipment bar. Cost too much. So, they made a bar of their own, based on the Cobra design. That’s what this bar is. If a bar is good for road racers, it’s going to be good for gravel racers, because road and gravel offer pretty much the same use, same fit and clearance issues. Now, for sure, I couldn’t just leave it here. I had to do some tinkering. The extensions are just straight ski bends. I cut off most of the ski bend part, then I took an old ski bend extension from another bar, and cut the end off so that I just has a length of extension with the ski bend in the middle.
I took a set of old Dura Ace bar-end shifters, I drilled out the part that holds the shifter proper, because I really only needed the wedge mechanism. I bolted the ski bend to the end of each extension.
I fear I must have committed some sins with the extension end, but this is what I wanted. I’m still playing around with it, but it’s pretty close. I may come back in a future installment with something different, that is, with a different extension end.
Beyond that, I find the pads position quite narrow. It’s fine for road racers because if you’ve ever made a study of Pro Tour time trial bikes, they are unique in the narrowness of the armrests. But I’m bikepacking, and if I do go 30mph it’s not on the flats, like these time trial specialists. I don’t need the armrests that narrow. I may experiment with an adapter that moves the pads out, but, when I do so will the cradle system handle that cantilever? I don’t know. Better that I try it and report back, rather than you try it and we read about you in our Forum.
It seems part of his “problem” with the narrow pads and the need to bodge up a dura-ace shifter and a piece of an extension to make wider palm down hand position was due in part to the Profile DVR GMR bar with a raised top section beyond the stem clamp area. This “problem” and desire for an adapter to move the pad out could have been avoided with a normal handlebar that allowed the clip on to be clamped wider. (I’m not sure I “get” this handlebar unless you have already cut your steerer too low and need a higher handlebar position. But maybe I am missing something.)
I tried to improve upon Dan’s solution. I’ve spent some time tinkering with my HED Clip Lites after being frustrated with the Ride Farr short length. I run a Salsa CowBell bar as I prefer a normal top, aluminum handlebar and the slight flare that they have. With a normal handlebar top I was able to space out my pad and then extension to a bit more comfortable width. I cut down the tips of a set of ski bends and it was close, I could ride palms down, but I needed something a bit more substantial to hang on to. I lacked to willingness to piece together a solution like Dan’s and came across this bridge from Conquer that ties the ends of the extensions together. It is more flexible in the positioning than the comparable Profile bridge. The part the fits into the extension is on a ball joint. That ball join allows me to adjust with the width and angle of the tips of the extensions in more ways than the Profile bridge. And with it I can get a bar that looks similar to Dan’s with wider pads and extensions and no dura-ace shifters sacrificed.
This seems to be the best gravel aero bar solution for me so far.
