I have been looking at this new “straight pipes” aerobar phenomenon for a few weeks. I am even thinking of building myself a pair for fun.
I see it working if you use a high arm rest height and a shorter aerobar length. I could see this working very well for the longer cockpit/shorter aerobar length that the UCI is mandating.
It would be very uncomfortable with a low armrest height. I also see that this could allow a further narrowing of the shoulders and allow a slightly wider stance with the armrests with higher armrests. I will experiment and publish the bunnyman institute findings. What I have come up with is a very unscientific process by turning my wrists downward and look at the position of my shoulders. There are a few things that I am suspecting that made Armstrong change his mind about his hand and wrist placement. Don’t do this just because Lance is doing it, but one has to think that there are very good reasons. I suspect that Lance would not answer a fan letter about why he has switched his hand position. I guaran-f***ing-tee that it is not because of Jan Ullrich. But this turned-down wrist thing has to be good if executed properly.
At one time I had tri bars on a road bike that were a bit too long. I used to grab them just before where the bars turned up into the hand grip. My hand position was just like Lance/Ulrich and felt quit comfortable. I sold them and got a smaller pair. Maybe I should have just chopped them off.
Tom, How would this affect handling? Never really thought much of it, but I choke down on my aerobars, basically holding them on the flat part right before the upturn. Sometimes I migrate back and forth on very long rides just for the change up, but I really feel quite comfortable with the handling. Actually, I’m more comfortable choking down on them. I kind of like the idea I am hearing about cutting the tips off. I have syntace aeros. Will this work?
if you look at LA’s hand position from last year you will see that he has basically gripped the straight position of the bar anyway, leaving the upturn portion exposed.
what he has done this year is to remove the upturn section