HED--Oval aerobars

Triathlon Forum
1

I know that this subject has probably been covered before but I missed out, so please humor me.

What are the differences between the HED and Oval carbon integrated aerobars? Are there any major differences?

Is anyone in a position to compare and contrast the two, with the advantages of one over the other? for example; is one better for grips at the brakes, is one bar lower than the other (armrest wise, or otherwise), The HED bar reports 100g less, why?

Thanks for your imput,

eddie

2

i think the Oval A900 is the same thing as the HED. which wouldn’t surprise me. i understand JC and HED have worked together on a lot of things. i think they got together and built these for lance but he didn’t go with them. not sure though.

Oval also has an A700 that doesn’t come with the built in brakes and has a bit of an upturn to the hand grips, similar to the profile design and vision tech.

i’d like to hear opinions on them also.

3

I’m not exactly in a position to test, then compare and contrast. (Though if you send me $1000 I’d be a lot closer.)

From my hopeless internet wandering, catalog crunching, biek shop talk though, here are the real differences:

  1. Color. Very very important, The HED is White/Carbon, the Oval is Red/Carbon. Don’t, I repeat Don’t put the Oval on a yellow bike, and don’t even think of adding a white decaled bar to your favorite green/red bike.

  2. The handholds on the Oval are supposedly a little longer (easier to hold?) than the HED’s. The HED’s were designed to mimic road bars for riders usingh the “slam” position. The Oval is closer in geometry for a steeper bike.

  3. The Pads are a little different. I can’t really say how, they just look different. Rumor has it the pads on the Oval are a little more comfy. (Both are still far from Profile or Syntace in terms of comfort, though.

  4. The Base bar is shaped slightly differently. The HED angles back, while the Oval curves. It just depends on which looks better to you.

-It’s not how fast you are, it’s how fast you look

4

Does anybody know anything about the cable routing in either of these bars? Is it internal?

eddie

5

I have the HED, internal brakes cables, external shifter cables. Have a buddy with the carbon Oval. Not much difference, the arm rest vary a bit, along with their adjustment. So, it would come down to what name do you want on your aerobars…