Does anyone know how tight you should / can tighten John’s wrist relief clip ons?
I went for my first ride with some on the weekend and they slipped a few times. I used carbon paste but obviously my “do it by feel” tightening method wasn’t up to scratch.
I’ve ordered a torque wrench so now all I need to know is how tight I can go without cracking the extensions.
Also, I read on a thread that someone resorted to using gorilla glue to solve this problem.
Any comments on this idea? Or any other solutions?
I had the same problem. Are your aerobars carbon or alloy? Mine were carbon and wouldn’t hold but I didn’t try any of the pastes out there. I simply replaced them with alloy bars and haven’t had any problems since. Good luck.
the clip ons are just tubes. they’re 22.2 O.D. tubes. you’re asking the wrong question. you should be asking why the brackets in which the tubes are affixed are not holding the tubes. the problem is not with the tubes, but the brackets. since i don’t know what brackets you’re using, i can’t offer an opinion or a solution.
but i will hazard a guess. if you’re using wrist reliefs in a blackwell clip on, then i’d like to know are the wrist relief extensions slipping? or is the armrest bracket slipping? if the latter, then i’m going to guess the problem is that your wrist relief carbon extension is cracked. i think the blackwell clip on design had a flaw, that the bracket compressed down on an unsupported tube, and if that tube is aluminum, no problem, but if that was a carbon tube, the tube does not have a lot of crush strength, and will not bear up under the tightening. it’s like tightening a stem onto a steer column that does not have a wedge bolt inside.
if the tube cracks, then you won’t be able to ever get your armrest bracket tight enough so that it won’t slide, unless perhaps you can stick something inside the tube to support it, such thing being exactly the inside diameter of the tube (maybe a wooden dowel you can glue in as a plug).
but i’m just guessing. does this sound like your problem?
That was probably me (gorilla glue).
I have a set of the blackwell extensions, and I mounted them on a vision aluminum base bar. The clearances machined into the aluminum bracketry is just a bit over sized, and there is really NO way to effectively torque down the bars. Since the brackets themselves use the same 2 bolts to clamp both the bracket to the basebar as well as the bracket to the extensions…trying to crank down on the bolts to get the whole setup “tight” is futile. PLUS, once it slips…the whole thing slips.
Use the gorilla glue once you have your setup dialed in. Once you are done, or you wish to remove the bars, just remove the bolts and the whole assembly comes apart easily.
And please keep in mind, you apply a dot of glue to each interface point, NOT to any fastener. (just to make sure nobody gets confused).
Thanks very much to the 3 of you for your responses.
I should have been more specific. The first couple of times the extension slipped (rotating to the side by the force exerted on the armrest). Then after I had obviously tighened that point sufficiently, just the arrm rest slipped. I didn’t have any problem with where the clip ons attached to the base bar.
It’s obvious from looking at the wrist relief clip ons that there could be problems with slippage. As Slowman pointed out, the arm rest attachhed directly to the 22mm tubing rather than to thee bracket attached to the base bar as with most designs).
That’s why I asked the torque question. I assumed that there must be a magic tightness where the design works without slipping but the carbon doesn’t crack. If there is not then how has the design lasted andd why is it popular? Or am I confusinng the popularity of the extensions (which people seem to like) with that of the clip ons (which perhaps people don’t like for the very reason I’m describing)?
“am I confusinng the popularity of the extensions (which people seem to like) with that of the clip ons (which perhaps people don’t like for the very reason I’m describing)?”
no the aluminium extensions have the same problem. the aluminium extensions have a very polished surface finish, making it very difficult to get grip even with carbon paste.
Does anyone know how tight you should / can tighten John’s wrist relief clip ons? TRUST ME: just use gorilla glue on your set up and your good to go. For that matter…DONT trust me, just try it and you’ll see.
I went for my first ride with some on the weekend and they slipped a few times. I used carbon paste but obviously my “do it by feel” tightening method wasn’t up to scratch. (IF your going to play with carbon, invest in a small torque wrench, then there is no more guessing involved).
I’ve ordered a torque wrench so now all I need to know is how tight I can go without cracking the extensions. Again, torqueing the bolts down isnt going to solve the problem with these particular extensions. but if you insist, then know that the aluminum threads will tear out of the brackets at 25ft.lbs+ …so have fun with that.
Also, I read on a thread that someone resorted to using gorilla glue to solve this problem. Yep, and it worked too. i set up my bars, signed up for the state TT championships, rode the hell out of the setup and finished with a 35mph sprint in the last mile. Bars held perfectly, and broke down easily when I removed them for cleaning.
Any comments on this idea? Or any other solutions? Just use the glue…I know that i should recommend that you go buy more bike parts, because if you dont then the whole internet/website/forum cum salespoint “thing” goes to shite…but IM sure some lackey will post up shortly that glue is stupid, and that the best solution is to guy pay $$ for product XX.
or…perhaps a glue manuf. will begin advertising here…
Thanks very much, hey…you are welcome…now go TRY it.
