You know, I’m glad that these people are out on their bikes and stuff enjoying the sunshine and doing something that keeps them healthy. But I always get a crack out of the people on the mountain bikes with aerobars. You would think that these people have slicks on their wheels as well to make it easy. I can understand trying to have one bike to do it all. Most of the time though, these people still have knobby tires. And don’t get me started on their positioning. I always look at these people like they have grown a third head every time I seem them.
Do you have any of these MTB’ers with areobars in your town?
I had profiles on my MTB when I was in college in '91-'93. Living in Davis, I needed something to stay low and out of the wind. Also had some Fatboys. Back then I had no interest in triathlon, unless it involved pizza, beer and weed…
back in 00 or 01 there was a pro MTB racer, maybe Weins? Anyway, he mounted a set of long bar ends near his stem for a stage to use as aerobars, for an aero advantage
My Commuter bike still has the Scott mt bike aero bars on it (one piece oval bars connected by the plastic bridge piece.) They actually work great for both those fire trail speed sections and for riding on the road to allow a tri guy to keep his back in form (which is definitely part of the training).
I think Paul Hinton who use to ride for Raliegh in the UK used aerobars in some races. I have done an offroad duathlon where I have thought about it - it is close to the sea an one section invovlves cyling along the sea wall where it is always very windy.
Back in 1993 I was using Scott AT4 MTB bars (remember those ?) they were straight mTB bars that curved round like a coat hanger and had an aerbar section on the front. I loved them and would have them now if they were still available. Their use was very course dependant though !
The thing that really concerns me about this is that most MTB’s have a 25.4mm diameter hendelbar. The minimum diameter for clamping aerobars on is 26.0mm. That means they probably have an aerobar intended for 26.0 clamped on a 25.4 bar and it isn’t tight. That is super dangerous.
Also there is a trans-Australia MTB race that basically runs through the outback for a few hundred miles. Most of the participants use aerobars and knobby tires. I’m guessing that the aerobars are primarily used for a comfort aid.