I know that the rule is the aero bars have to have a middle crossbar and that they have to be shorter than how far your brake levers stick out, but I was looking at some of these on trisports and some say they are ITU approved and some don’t say that. I assumed that if the bar stuck out further than is legal, I could just cut them. Is this not true?
There are two important elements to the ITU aerobar rule: 1) the cannot extend past the brake levers and they must be factory bridged at the end. The factory bridge is the important part - just a few years ago, folks were taping a popsicle stick (or some such item) across the ends and calling it “bridged” but that’s not case any longer. There are several brands out there - profile makes a nice one called the T2+ DL.
Just as a side note - if you watch any ITU race you’ll find that fewer and fewer athletes are running any aerobar at all. There’s even been some discussion of ruling those out in the future.
Ian
Profile Design T2+ DL
Profile Design ZBS TT DL
Controltech aero cockpit (popular among the HK triathlon team here) - Al and Carbon versions
http://www.controltechbikes.com/english/examples/Aero%20Cockpit%20AL.php
Vision TT Mini clip ons
http://www.visiontechusa.com/products/609/MINI-TT-CLIP-ON-BARS
Of all those above the T2+ is the most adjustable…but the most bulky compared to the others.