Aero Bars on a city bike???



bilion

New Member
Mar 25, 2011
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Hello, i am just about to do my first Triathlon and i am wondering if my Scott Sub 30 can take aero bars? Will it make a difference indeed or because it is a city bike, i will not benefit a lot?

if yes, would you recommend smth?
 
You could clip aero bars onto the 31.8 mm handlebars of that bike, and yes it should help your aerodynamics especially compared to the upright position of that bike. But I wouldn't recommend it if the event is coming up soon. It takes some time to get comfortable and to feel safe riding in aero bars away from your brakes and steering with your elbows. If you don't have a few weeks to find a comfortable and safe position then I'd just run the bike as is. A crash in your first tri isn't going to do anything for your confidence for future races.

-Dave
 
My bad, by "just" i meant in mid June so there is plenty of time to practice in between. Any recommendations on specific aero bars for this model?
 
Profile makes a number of good clip on aero bars. I like both the T2+ and Viper T1+ bars as they're both highly adjustable which is important to help you find the best fit. According to on line info your bike has 31.8mm oversized bars which is more or less standard on newer bikes, any of the newer clip on aero bars including the Profile bars listed above will fit onto your 31.8 bars.

Personally I'd just pick up a set of used clip ons off of ebay. You should improve your aerodynamics substantially over the very upright position of your bike but it won't turn it into a dedicated TT machine with its slack seat and head angles and comfort oriented geometry. So don't go crazy on ultra expensive clip on aero bars, just get something to help you lower your front end and to help you achieve a good fairly fast yet comfortable position since the key in tris is hitting the run in a reasonable time but still able to do well on the running leg.

-Dave
 
Aero bars can be made to fit. I used to have a set of clip on aerobars for years on my mountain bike when that was my only ride. They were primarily for comfort, to rest my back and arms during a long ride but were nice to help tame headwinds.

If you do mount clip ons, look into other adjustments, like flipping the handlebar stem and sliding your seat forward or even rotating the seatpost 180 degress.

You will benefit by getting lower, I imagine that you will see a significant speedup with aerobars and some other tweaks to get the fit right. As mentioned previously, you need to get some hours in with the new setup to be both comfortable maintaining the position and getting used to the handling before a race. Your hands will not be close to the brake or shift levers for most of the race.

For your bike, you probably want the areobar types which are not bridged so that you can make the spacing work with your brake, shift levers. Models like the profile design century are more or less fixed in spacing and may not be compatible. I used the profile design "Jammer" areobars on my mountain bike.