When setting up shorty bars on a road bike for ITU drafting events, do you keep the bike fit the same as the road bike fit and just put the shorty bars on? Or do you specifically set up the bike to be in the perfect position for being on the aero bars? Considering I’d be drafting around 80% of the bike, I’d prefer to keep in in the same road bike position but wanting to know from others who have their road bike set up with shorty bars.
Set the bike up for pack riding (road fit). You don’t use the clipons very much (it’s rare to solo off the front, and if chasing from the back it’s better to be part of a group). They are good to have for taking pulls, or for bridging, but that’s not a lot of time.
The nature of shorty bars also leads to a choked up grip (“big slam” per John Cobb) that works best with a road position.
Set the bike up for pack riding (road fit). You don’t use the clipons very much (it’s rare to solo off the front, and if chasing from the back it’s better to be part of a group). They are good to have for taking pulls, or for bridging, but that’s not a lot of time.
The nature of shorty bars also leads to a choked up grip (“big slam” per John Cobb) that works best with a road position.
I don’t quite understand that last part but thanks for clarifying the road bike set up.
I used my road bike set up normally but my saddle position was nearly the same as my tri bikes. My road bike saddle is about 2cm behind my tri bike saddle.
I used a pair of Profile Design T2 Plus bars, bought a bridge to connect the ends and pulled them back so the ends didn’t go past the front of the brake levers.
I then put the pads in a comfortable position which was just behind the handlebar tops, that way I wasn’t too choked up on them. The excess bar was cut off just behind the pads.
I can get a picture for you when I get home if you’d like.
Set the bike up for pack riding (road fit). You don’t use the clipons very much (it’s rare to solo off the front, and if chasing from the back it’s better to be part of a group). They are good to have for taking pulls, or for bridging, but that’s not a lot of time.
The nature of shorty bars also leads to a choked up grip (“big slam” per John Cobb) that works best with a road position.
I don’t quite understand that last part but thanks for clarifying the road bike set up.
Because the rules specify that the aerobar extensions can’t be further forward than your brake/shift levers, this dictates where your hands/arms end up, which dictates where your torso ends up, which turns out to be not terribly different from the normal road riding position with your hands in the drops (or not different enough to sacrifice the fit for the position you’ll be in 80%+ of the time).