Need to sell my Carbon X to swap for something that allows for more stem adjustment . (Not to get into details, but last year I didn’t care where my “hood” placement was, but this year it will be important). Net result, I need a flat bar with little/no rise to the elbow pads.
Seems like the Hed (or Ovals) might be a good option.
Who can chime in regarding the pad comfort factor? Also…it appears there was a change in pads within the lifecycle…can anyone explain that? They look fairly “rigid” to me… Anybody use aftermarket pads for theirs?
Since I live in Funkytown, I could probably drive over and ask Steve, but wanted the virtual opinion first.
I have used the HED’s with the standard pads for a season (>3000 miles, 3 IM’s and 10 other races) and I find them to be fine. I know a lot of people talk about swapping into more comfy pads but I couldn’t imagine that it would make any difference, other than to make the steering a bit “squisher” perhaps. The standard pads are fine and I would use them for a while to see for yourself before changing them.
I agree. Standard pads are fine. Did two IM’s and many centuries on them. I took the standard extensions and cut the first straight section completely off resulting in a much shorter extension with much less of an upcurve. Combined with a longish stem resulted in a comfy very aero position. No extreme wrist bending like the s bends either.
If you want wait 4-6 weeks, I’ll have my new Titanium 1 piece aerobar out. Fully adjustable arm rests, new “S” bend extensions with stem lengths of 95 and 100mm.
I will have an existing stem bar coming. The reason I didn’t is that the 1 piece bar with the integrated stem is lighter and a bit more aero at least from the data I have received so far.
It is a flat bar with S bends and very adjustable arm rests. It’s been a work in project since I had my store and just finally found a company that can produce it out of Ti for me. I had a few alum. ones out there and just wasn’t happy with them.
How much drop on the stem?
Put me down as very interested if you have at least 7 degrees of drop.
Of course, until we see the deerty peectures meester they don’t exist.
I think they’ve fixed the problem, but when I bought mine they came with carbon elbow cups that were extremely flimsy - it felt like I was using a lot of upper body strength to keep from rolling off the edges. I replaced them with Profile F-19s and now I’m one happy camper.
