Aside from my unnatural lust for things carbon, and -100g but +$80, is there any other reason why I should get the carbon (CGT) aerobars instead of the non-carbon Jammer GT bars?
Anyone tried both? My main criteria is adjustability & comfort, then price, then sexiness.
Thx,
AP
I put some CGT bars on my Kestrel and could never get comfortable on them. After only a couple minutes in the bars my forearms started aching so badly that I would have to keep switching to the hoods and back. I tried rotating them, lengthening and shortening, mounting them under the base bars, but nothing worked. I used Profile Airstrike on my previous bike and had none of these issues. I ended up putting some Visiontech Aluminum TT bars on and love em.I guess they were just too short for me. Its too bad cause the CGTs are pretty sweet looking.
This carbon thing is getting stupid.
There are some components such as frames that will improve ride quality over aluminium. But aero bars???
Guarantee they won’t make you any faster.
I’ve found my Jammer GT’s to be great on my road bike for sprint tris, pulling at the front of the group or trying to catch the pack if I’ve been dropped, but I wouldn’t recommend them for a long tri or ride when you’ll be in the aero position for a long time.
I found that small size Syntace C2’s were the most comfy bars I ever had on a road bike. You might also want to look at the new Syntace shorties. I believe they use the same pads as the C2’s.
I’m so sold on my Visiontech shorties I really haven’t thought of anything else.
Tom - how long can you ride comfortably on them?
Maybe about 4-5 minutes then I would have to bail to another hand position. They are definately not about all-day comfort- just for short jams or to close a gap. I do love them though.
I would say 4-5 minutes is about as long as your would want to ride in them as shipped. However, the nice thing about them is you can put the bigger pads on them, then they would be much, much more comfortable. It is those little elbow pads that put some limitations on their comfort.
Wow - that’s disappointing. I was looking for shorty aerobars for my road bike (my only bike) that I could do a 1/2 IM on. Am I dreaming? IIRC, you road your 2.5 with the VT minis at IM Nice, right? Did you ride on the hoods and drops most of the way?
I used some very nice prototype Hed aerobars at Nice and they were fantastic. I had to be creative with the elbow pads but I got is done. They weighed, like, nothing. It was amazing. I had them cut down to about 215 millimeters. I didn’t use them too much in the race since there were two hefty climbs in , so I was climbing for a grand total of nearly 2 hours.
However, going back into Nice we were on the flats with a tail wind and I was on them full time. They were comfortable enough.
I think if I were doing a 1/2 IM I would get the Hed Cliplite or the 230 mm Visiontech aerobar and cut to appropriate length.
I’m just not a super big fan of those Profile since they are kind of gadgety and have lots of bolts and threads in them. They’re heavy compared to Hed also, but then again, everything is.
Thanks, Tom. Guess my memory is bad. I’ve got C2s, but they stretch me out too much. Would like to switch to something with the pads behind the bars.
“I was looking for shorty aerobars for my road bike (my only bike) that I could do a 1/2 IM on.”
I’ll repeat it again - Syntace C2’s size small. I could ride all day on them. The Jammers and the other shorties are designed for fast duration sprints like you see in ITU racing.
“I’ve got C2s, but they stretch me out too much”
What size are they? Normally I would use a medium C2 on a tri bike but went one size smaller (small) on the road bike and had no problems. I tried the mediums on my road bike and found myself too stretched out.
I can’t remember what size my C2s are, but it seems to me that if you just size down, your hands will be in the right place, but the pads will hit the middle of your forearm, meaning that your skeleton is not really supporting your weight the way it should be. Seems like this would get tiring pretty quickly. From pictures, it looks like the Oval A700 Slam solve this by putting the pads behind the bars. I can’t tell from the pictures whether the Syntace XXS are like that, but it appears not.
Crud. If some of you recall my bike fit pix I posted previously, I had a pair of older (2002?) P-D Aerolite bars on my bike. Everyone said I was too high up and stretched too far out. I happen to agree with the “too stretched out” part at least. So my options are as follows:
I never really found my aerolites to be too bad, handling was ok, I could ride in them comfortably for better part of a 1/2IM. Maybe I should try the shorty stem trick.
I’ve got a set of the Vision mini’s if you want to check them out… I’ll lend them to you if you like, so you can get a feel for them while riding (as opposed to just bent over someone else’s bike… uh… hold on a sec… 
)
Yeah maybe. I’m going to put my shorty stem on and take a pic, see how it looks. I’ll get back to you… I’m hoping to have something in place for the Race the Ridge TT on the 9th (just renewed my race license today hee hee!!)
I would say 4-5 minutes is about as long as your would want to ride in them as shipped. However, the nice thing about them is you can put the bigger pads on them, then they would be much, much more comfortable. It is those little elbow pads that put some limitations on their comfort.
Tom, do you mean that you can replace the pads with a longer bracket/pad, or just stick a longer pad on top of the short-ish metal plate? If you know how to get more support on those things, I’m extremely interested. 
Andy,
Khai was down here in Phoenix complaining that he always trains alone on the bike, why don’t you let him ride with your girls?! ;-)))
I could probably do that. I also have a buddy (good guy, strong rider) who usually rides alone or with a smaller group (mostly guys)… I can hook him up.
Khai, I’ll be riding Sat with the Chicks if you want to link up for coffee at 9ish in Kits area. If you pass the cool test (SAC could vouch for you, ha ha), then I could let you tag along. Oh yeah, and I like dark chocolate (hint hint) …
Andy, be nice to Khai! You might just win a free SmAC voucher 
I’m generally not allowed to stop for coffee mid-ride, but I think the SAC will make an exception here. Besides, this is a pre-ride coffee, right?
Hey Simon - I’m ditching you for a bunch of girls.