Homemade HED straight extensions, $15.00

Triathlon Forum
1

After trying the S bend extensions I decided that I needed more leverage for the HED bars, however this meant going with straight “Ullrich” extensions for my HED bar, nothing like this is for sale however.

More info here:

http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/techctr/s-bend.html

"I’ll call it the S-bend, for lack of a more colorful term (sure to emerge later). The idea is to provide a variety of useful positions, and to perhaps develop the Walser idea a bit further.

http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/techctr/s-bend7.jpgThose who notice such things might have spied a specific style of bike and handlebar underneath the Bianchi team of Jan Ullrich in last year’s Tour. Karin Thurig and Lothar Leder also rode these bikes in last year’s Kona race (the photo at right is of Thurig as she approached T2).

The bar was notable for its straight extensions. No upturn. The rider’s elbow angle was therefore more obtuse than a right angle, helpful when pulling up on the extensions, resulting in downward pressure applied to the elbow pads, cantilevering the rider’s weight over the cranks. This is a power position, and is useful at times.

There are two downsides to a straight extension. While it allows for a better kinesthetic performance out of the biceps femoris, you must crook your wrist in an unnatural position. Also, there is no good restful position according to me."

So, knowing that a MTB bar has the same diameter as the extensions, and the shifters will fit, I made a trip down to the local Performance Bikes store to pick up a strong but light flat MTB bar for sacrifice to the TT gods.

At first I looked to the carbon models, however they did not look strong enough to withstand the additional Dremeling out that would be needed to fit the shifters, so I opted for a light MTB 6061 aluminum bar instead.

I measured and cut off the ends with a tubing cutter, sanded and prepared the ends, and installed them into the extension carriers.

Photos to follow, racing a TT this weekend so I will report back on how they feel. Will test ride on Friday.

**Cost: $15.00 **

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=18959&subcategory_ID=5250****#

http://www.performancebike.com/product_images/400/50_2588.jpg

Michael Rich, 2nd this year in the World TT Championships, straight extensions:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2004/worlds04/mtt/1-michaelrichgermany.jpg

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2004/worlds04/mtt/9269-michael-rich.jpg

http://www.cyclingnews.com/photos/2004/worlds04/mtt/cycling-ita-world-63.jpg

2

Riser MTB bars give the “S” bend. That’s what I use.

3

Not a big fan of the S bend, like the leverage of the lower bars, we will see how this works

I thought you would be proud of me though, making them

Next TT project: STEALTH, custom paint job modeled after a F-117A Nighthawk

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/ac/f-117-960911-F-00000-002.jpg
.

4

Very proud of you. This is a wonderful thing. Why in the f*** should we pay even $50 for somethig we can do for $15 and a tiny bit of time? If you go to the right bike shop, you can get those bars from the “take off” box for about $15 for several bends and lengths.

5

Hey Gary, what do you mean by “extension carriers?” In other words, how did you clamp the cut-off bars to the base bar? I couldn’t figure out a way to do it so I ended up using an old pair of profiles and trying to straighten them a bit.

6

Dremeling Reduction… About a year ago I ran into the problem of fitting barend shifters into my Cinelli aerobars. Used the inside of a bushing (I’ll get the precise ID later) to squeeze the three piece expansion ring together and then drilled the center hole to 3/8 (9mm). This allowed the expansion ring to sqeeze down a little more. This reduced the amount of material I had to remove from the inside diameter of the aerobars.
Jay

7

Now, how can I do this to a pair of Vision Techs…