My Shiv is being built as I speak. The article below discusses an aero bar trend called “pedestaling”. I’m wondering if anyone has tried it and what has been their experience. I’m not able to get extremely low on my bike. As a result, I need to use the spacers that come with the bike. My thought is that I may be able to eliminate the spacer by “pedestaling” my aero bars". A side effect is that it puts you in are more aggressive position when you are out of aero position (not that I want to spend much time out of aero).
In cases of round spacers, it’s definitely faster to pedestal the pads/extensions. The Shiv Tri has aero spacers (I think they call it the control tower) which reduce the penalty.
With the Shiv, I would first consider the relationship you want between the extensions and the basebar. Set that and then raise the whole shebang up with the control tower aero spacers. If you need the pads higher, then you pedestal.
I’ve never been a fan of them. There’s not a lot of surface area for them to sit on top of one another, or when agains the basebar and aerobar so they tend to shift around even when torqued at the right spec.
Pedestaling makes sense if you’re going to spend 99% of the time on the aerobars in my opinion. That’s why it’s not a huge deal when you see the 40K or prologue guys doing it. If you’re climbing or descending (but climbing in particular) the height difference can be quite drastic and it can hinder your ability to get comfortable or breathe properly.
When I built my P5, I purposely built it with spacers underneath the stem rather than the high V for that particular reason. I wanted the basebar to be in a position that would allow me to climb well since I was planning on riding my bike on hillier courses.
Maybe I’m coming at it the wrong way, but here’s my “knee jerk” response to “why would you space the pads/extensions like that?”:
So you go through the fit, and determine where your pads/extensions should be. Great. The dude in the pic at the top of that article has his elbows below his hips, looks pretty aero, yet comfortable.
But in a traditional cockpit, with the extensions sitting on the basebar, if I leave the pads, that means sitting up, sacrificing my aero position, sitting me back on the saddle more, etc. I.e. negative consequences. For many of us (myself), that also means a bit of a break for comfort, but not everyone necessarily needs a position to escape to.
So instead of having the extensions and bullhorns in the same plane, why not drop the bull horns lower so you could maintain the same saddle comfort (relatively speaking) and same aero profile.
Let alone they’re saying that the HARDWARE offers less drag than an elevating stem (not that I’m aero enough, nor fast nor fit enough to notice such small scale benefits yet), so less drag on the bike, less drag on my chest while on the bullhorns, win win.
But that’s just my uneducated SWAG about the benefits, could be WAY off…
pedestaling is the way to go, the wave of the future. actually, an update of the past.
if you look at the old school one piece aerobars (vision, 3T, oval, deda) they had sloping base bars. even some cow horns came with slope. the designers knew that you didn’t want the base bars flat because the position on them was terrible for aero, power and control. so, the base bars put you in a position similar to drops on a road bike. if the set up was correct then there was no problem riding on the pads or the base bar. you could use the base bar for climbs and descents, difficult situations, resting the back - whenever - for better control and minimal aero penalty.
but then things changed and aero trumped. bars got flat and age groupers suffered. go to an IM and look at the cockpits of age groupers. too many spacers and/or very upward sloped stems. The partial fix to this was risers for the pads. but still the extensions were on the base bar so they had to curve up to meet the hands. J bend, S bend, lazy S bend, ski bend… But that ruined the aero and required a lot of different styles.
so, next iteration is pedestal. more aero than the sloped and height adjustable so manufactures can keep the HTs short for the aggressive bunch.
Certain Pro triathletes and road racers trying to fit on certain bikes?
. . and then everyone else trying to ape this?
I agree with Andres - it’s been my experience that the bull horns should be postioned in such a manner as to roughly replicate the same hand and body position, as when riding on the hoods on a road bike. This will be optimal for climbing on the TT/Tri bike and general handling as well when out of the aero bars.
**1. Certain Pro triathletes and road racers trying to fit on certain bikes? **
. . and then everyone else trying to ape this?
I agree with Andres - it’s been my experience that the bull horns should be postioned in such a manner as to roughly replicate the same hand and body position, as when riding on the hoods on a road bike. This will be optimal for climbing on the TT/Tri bike and general handling as well when out of the aero bars.
Yup, I think especially in the pro peloton, where riders have to keep the tip of the saddle no less than 5cm behind the bottom bracket you see a lot of them size down. Pro riders also don’t have a choice of frame, they have to ride the bike of their sponsor. A 6’0 rider with long legs and a short torso on a long and low geometry will probably be pedestaled quite a bit more than someone with more even body proportions.
Finally, aerodynamics. Through wind-tunnel and aerodynamic testing you may find that having your arms/hands closer to your body is faster. For example, it appears that Kienle has pedestaled his aerobars a bit higher in 2013 as compared to 2012. His back position doesn’t look much different, but having his arms closer to his torso and face could be faster, and therefore it makes sense.
What’s the impact of pedestaling on handling when in aero? When up on the bullhorns? I train and race in Texas so there’s not much climbing. IMTX has some hills but nothing compared to what I’m sure much of the country is accustomed to.
It was mentioned that body position while on the bullhorns should be similar to when riding on the hoods. Would it make sense to use that as the starting point with the base bar then pedestal to get my aero bars to a comfortable position? I’m inflexible and am unable to get very low. I would like to remove the spacers on the stem of my Shiv is possible.
Put each bar position where you need it (ie where you are functionally optimised) for when you use it…
Find the most aero way to achieve those positions…
It’s no more complicated than that even if some may try and make it so…
Just a reminder to all - simply replacing X mm of stem spacers with X mm of aerobar risers will not give you exactly the same position as your fork is not angled in the same “direction” as the risers - the former is at ~72.5 degrees whilst you would be adding risers at 90 degrees by definition (unless you rotate your bar towards you a little). You can use trigonometry to check the difference this makes before you buy anything.
Also note that you may need to recable your brakes - you might be left with too much or too little cable.
there’s no impact on handling other than the usual issues when on the aero bars. the location of the base bar doesn’t matter and there’s no loss of control from the pads thru the steerer fork. Also, no issues when on the bullhorns. You want to put them at a ‘useable’ height. that’s close to the drop or hoods position on your road bike, whatever your are comfortable with. base bars what sweep forward a bit or have slightly longer hand extensions are usually better since you are more forward on the bike your cockpit will be shorter than the road bike.
Would it make sense to use that as the starting point with the base bar then pedestal to get my aero bars to a comfortable position?
yes, that makes sense. where you are comfortable between the hoods and drops. if you are inflexible then you probably spend most of your time on the hoods so that seems best. as i said above, you might find the cockpit a bit short so you want bars the sweep forward or have longer hand areas.
another benefit for the inflexible is that by using a series of spacers to pedestal you can later gradually lower the pads a 1/2 cm at a time - possibly - as comfort improves over time.
