tri bars or road bars

[bob]

Hi all,

I am planning to upgrade from road bike to triathlon bike. I have a question about the bars. I currently ride road bike with short clip on aerobars. And I really like the drops and normal shifters as where I live the road quality is sometimes bad (potholes and cobblestones!). I like it that I can ride in the drops and also that I can shift there with the hands tight to the bars. Is it possible to ride a good aero position on triathlon bike with normal drops? Or do the drops get so low that you can not ride it anyways? In that case I can much better move to a full tri bar in front I guess.

I could train a few loops on full aerobar quality roads, but to only ride there would be boring, and I would miss a lot of nice uphills and technical downhills that improve power and bike handle skills so much. And I think that training on two bikes is not very helpfull as well, besides that I can not store those bikes.

[nicola]

Hi Bob, I'm in a similar situation than you, was riding road bike with a clip on until now and changed to a time trial bike with a full aerobar two weeks ago to do some flat non drafting races. So you are getting advice from an unexperienced "short distance athlete" here, not a real Ironman I think the potholes and cubblestones and all that are no problem with the aerobars, they are quite comfortable and secure, too. But what is bothering me a bit is the shifting gears. I agree with you that it is way better to be able to shift gears at the same time than holding your brakes. In my case even more important: I often stand up going up the hills, and I was used to change gears while I was standing. Now I have to sit down every time I want to shift gears, and it breaks my rhythm. So, I think the aerobars are great for flat races or training rides, perfect. you will lie on the tt bars all the time anyway, having a good aeroposition and being able to shift easily. But for hilly, technical races, I prefer the road bars, as you are often on the brakes or in upright position uphill and its way more flexible to shift gears with road bars in that case.

[Matthieu O’Halloran - "M@"]

Hey bob! One thing I can add in is that when one has the drop bar and clip on set up, an athete tends to shift less often because the gears are not right at their fingers tips.

I know it sounds silly, but there many many athetes out there who "over shift" with bar end shifters for various reasons like hills/wind/overtaking, ect.

Often, commiting to a certain gear or two, for different sections of a bike course will give you a more even/stable rythum and effort level...Versus going "gear happy" 

[rebekahkeat]

Hey bob I had a right durace rear shifter on my tt bar set up for Port Mac Ironman as its a hilly course...it looked silly but was actually awesome... as Nic said I didnt need to sit down to change gears i agree, i do like the gear shifting on the break levers better than at the end of the bars!But we are all different so depends what you like?

[doc]

bob
your not getting advice from an inexperienced long course person , your getting it from the european champion and she rides like bloody contadore up hills and descends only a touch slower
my man
bek is no  dummy when it comes to the tech side either .
listen hard ,
they both got it nailed

[bob]

thanks for all advice,
Most races I would do can easily be done on aerobar set up. It is more the training, and I would really like one bike for racing and training.
I am sure I like shifter on the brakes better then on the end of the aerobars. Right now I shift way more if I am climbing or standing or descending bad quality roads etc then that I want to shift on the aerobars. And shifting on the brakes is very easy, even when I ride aerobars. My main "fear" however is that road bar with clip on aerobar on a steep tt frame is a bad combination because the drop gets too much to ride it anyway. So therefore I might be better of with a tt bar. Except for the shifters then.

Hi rebekah,
what kind of set up is that? What shifter/brake/bar can be installed that way? Is that a normal tt bar with a normal road bike brake/shifter? I don't mind riding a silly looking bike that functions awesome . I think riding in the road bar drops is difficult on a steep set up with big drop from saddle to bars, so I would end up riding on the brake only, so a tt bar with shifter on the brakes sounds very silly, but I think will work for me.
And I wanna see the faces of my bike club friends with a set up like that

[rebekahkeat]

hey yep sounds weird but Jason HSortis AustraLian Ironman told me to do it and it worked it was actually on my old set up so not new Oval tt bars but they were Vision bars with a right STI lever with the changer on it!Worked better than anything else i have tried Ill try find a PIc of it..I won Australian Ironman 2007 with this set up !!