I just read Slowman’s article on using the new oval concept face plate to put shorty bars on. It seems to describe quite well something that I have wanted for a while. I am just curious if anybody else is using this setup and if they are happy with it?
I have pretty much decided that I will race on my roadbikes instead of my tri bike, mostly due to the fact that I live in a hilly region and training on my Tri bike is no fun here and I found out that training on your road bike and racing on your tri bike is not really a good idea for longer distance Tris.
Another question is that I ride shallow drops handlebars on my road bikes, is there any “flat top” drop bars with shallow drops? In his review Dan is using an Anatomic bar from Oval.
Thanks for looking. I did not see this one before. But the pb with this one for me is the same as the oval concepts one, it is an anatomic bend. I am looking for one with regular shallow drops.
You want to measure twice before you buy.
To get a shorty bar working you might need a toptube that is a little bit on the short side for you. So in all likelihood you will have a sizable saddle to handlebar drop. To keep the hip-angle reasonable, you might have to angle up the stem (and in that case the OVAL system won’t work).
Lot’s of cash for the extension with limited adjustability and it isn’t that much lighter than some clamps with CF extensions, especially if you still have some old-style armrests from Scott or Profile that clamp directly to the handlebar…
Wicked light, but with my extensions the faceplate actually flexes if I pull up on them. Significantly more than with the Profile brackets I used before, although those brackets were tanks.
If I were to run longer extensions on them protruding beyond the plane of the shifters, I would be worried about the structural integrity of the clamp in case of a crash.
In case you were wondering:
The extensions come from an older Model Profile Jammer and the armrests are from some mid-80s “triangle” bar (Profile? Scott?)
So far I am pretty happy with my setup, but because of the upturned stem I had to tinker a little with the extensions to get it comfortable.
bump up. I am still looking for a flat top road bar with shallow drops. Does not seem to exist!
How about the FSA Wing Pro Compact? Flat top only 125mm drop.
Zipp Contour. It’s not exactly flat, but it has a wider shape. It’s actually got, I think, the perfect shape for the Oval bars. It has a nice “contour” (pun intended). It also comes in three different drop/reach combinations.
I think that if you are going to run armrests you might as well just get the HED Flip-lites and run a shorter extension. I think you could just cut down the Jammer extensions and put them in. I have both and they do work with a bit of work.
I think Dan’s article suggests running a bar like the Oval so that you can get away without having to use armrests as it is built into the bars.
I am very curious about this set up as I am thinking of going with this but with a few modifications. I want to use a single s-bend extension that is tilted to the side so that the single extension sits dead center infront of the stem and then mount a piece of round stock at a 90 degree off of the s-bend extension to grab onto so that your hands sit flat (palms down) and your fingers wrapped around the pipe. I have the parts to do it now but just can not make the jump to buy the Oval stem, aero cap/clamping mech and bars as it is a big jump for trying this out. I might just do it with other parts I have here to see how it works out. I have some flat black delrin from work to fabricate armrests for the round handlebars and the clamps and such and a very cool way to mount the round stock to the s-bend. Just need to get the dremel out and tap a few holes.
EDIT: I just read Dan’s article again and I think I have a solution for your wing. Thank god I have a day off from work tomorrow, a long weekend and a 2.5 year old son that naps for 3 hours in the afternoon.
Damn I wish I lived around the corner from Dan. I would be over there all the time in the garage with Dan. So many ideas. I am however just across the Straight from Rapp so if he has access to some of Dan’s toys, maybe I can jump on the ferry and come visit. Have a coffee, tinker for a while and hanging out with my parents.
It is the OVAL stem (don’t think another manufacturers stem will work).
Sorry, no side shot…
Regarding bars:
I have tried some of the flat top bars and even with rolls of bar tape couldn’t stand the rather smallish surface area that was digging into my tender forearms after a couple of minutes “in the aero”.
Since I am not a a masochist, I went back to regular armrests and can comfortably ride this setup for a prolonged period of time (as is evident from the well used armrest pads, which are actually cut from neoprene-backed mouse pads).
I was never a fan of “flip-up” armrests… too much attention required to get them pushed down in a race situation requiring full attention to your surroundings… and in most races I use the top of the bar sparesly. Mostly drops, hoods or aero…
We will see how the OVAL setup will hold up for the rest of the season… it better do, since I am in no way affilated with them and payed full retail for the product ;-))
Sorry, I know it is an Oval stem which is pretty obvious but which stem from Oval did you use. It is my understanding that they have a couple of different stems with different angles. I should have been more clear about this.
I think I might just try to get a cheap Oval stem in the 84 degree angle which is a 6 degree right? I never understand how one company calls a stem 84 degree and the other company calls it a 6 degree.
So pick up the cheap aluminum stem and the new face plate and I still have some of the parts to do the behind them bars, raise the elbowpads, Profile set up that I can mount the pads just behind the handlebars which it looks like you did here.
Zipp Contour. It’s not exactly flat, but it has a wider shape. It’s actually got, I think, the perfect shape for the Oval bars. It has a nice “contour” (pun intended). It also comes in three different drop/reach combinations.
"]http://www.zipp.com/...Default.aspx ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Good call Rappstar. I really like the look of the new Contour (especially since it now comes in the traditional round bend) I ordered one the other day specifically so I could use it with the Oval set-up. But then I was told by a guy at Zipp that the new Contour is still in testing and won’t be available until later in August. Soooo, I ended up buying the new SLC2 so I could get it right away and have the flexibility to use any clip on bar I wanted.
I just set up some shorty’s on my road bike this week. Now, thinking about ditching the tri bike all together…forever!
I got all the junk from my used/old parts bin…all Profile junk. I used a short set of aluminum T2 extensions, but used the bar mounts that come with their road shorty extensions. I mounted the aero bar under the road bar and the armrest is level with the top of the handlebar, directly behind it on either side of the stem. …sorry no pics.
I put on a straight seatpost, but didn’t slam the seat entirely foward, so I could maintain a hint of roadie-ishness’ I have almost the exact stack and reach as my tri bike. The arm-rests are close to the exact same position with only my saddle a hair back from the tri bike setup.
This setup still allows full use of the handlebar tops with my only worry being hitting my knees on the arm-rests during sprinting/standing. I had that same problem on the tri bike, so have learned to keep my body towards the rear of the bike while standing. I haven’t put much time on the bike since installation, but plan on jumping into a roadie group ride tomorrow morning.
I had an hour to kill this morning before everyone woke up but in hindsight, I most likely woke them up while working in the garage but this is what I was talking about earlier. I decided to cobble together my single extenions wing design shorty bar set-up which I think is close to what Dan was discussing other than he was using two extensions. Take a look. Now if I can use the Oval stem and front plate with a flat top bar, life would be so good. I am going to be playing with this a lot more.
The wing is cut to 10" wide as per Dan’s suggestiong in his shorty article but for me I think I could cut it down a bit more but it is surprising comfortable while riding the bike on the trainer for a bit. The round bars sucked on my forearms but hey that is all I had. I also found that droping the wind down below the top of the bar was more comfortable as my hand hell into the position which I think Dan mentions as well.
I had tried a setup similar to yours… WAY too flexy and the horizontal grip didn’t work for me (couldn’t bring the ellbows in).
Yes, I am using the +84/-6 degree stem in the +84 position.
My armrests are actually mounted/clamped on the bar.
For me the extensions mounted at bar height work the best, depends on your bike setup (drop and reach), I guess.
And we all should know by now that angled down extensions are BAD from an aerodynamic point of view, right?
I actually really like the hand position where it is as this is naturally where my hands fall when riding on the top of the bars and this would be even better with a flat top. As for the flex issue are you talking about the extension or the wing. The wing that I designed in like 5 minutes is the only stock that I had and if I was going to do it correctly (which I might be the guys in the shot to do, it would be thicker for sure and would not be flexy at all.
The other issue is that I am only using one extension and if I was using two then the flex would for sure not be an issue.
I think the whole point in going with this set-up is to get ride of the pads all together which would make total sense since the bracket that you are using is designed for that application. You might as well just bought the over/under setup and bolted on a set of armrest. I do think however that the armrests would most likely be too high at this point.
I really like what Dan had done and think that further tinkering would be a great asset and maybe a double extenion with a wing would be the perfect way to go.
