Pro peloton handlebar drama

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by saab2000

That said, people’s rage over this storm in a teacup is amusing. No reasonable person thinks those bars would have been allowed. They’re essentially Tri or TT bars in a different form.

The question really is why are aerobara banned? I believe the original justifications included that the bars would become spears in a crash, so only bars with rearward facing termination were allowed. And also the rider can't access the brakes from traditional aerobara.

Here you have a bars with the same front impact shape as regular road bars, and with your forearms down, you have your hands on the brakes.

These solve the functional risks for aerobara. UCI's objection is aesthetic.

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by prototoast

The question really is why are aerobara banned? I believe the original justifications included that the bars would become spears in a crash, so only bars with rearward facing termination were allowed. And also the rider can't access the brakes from traditional aerobara.

Here you have a bars with the same front impact shape as regular road bars, and with your forearms down, you have your hands on the brakes.

These solve the functional risks for aerobara. UCI's objection is aesthetic.

Because there’s no way anyone can convince me a rider has as much control with a bar like that with the weight on arm rests as when being steered “normally”. I’ve ridden in groups where riders have used aero bars. They have no place in mass start rides or races. It’s about control of the bike, which is reduced in an aero bar situation.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by saab2000

Because there’s no way anyone can convince me a rider has as much control with a bar like that with the weight on arm rests as when being steered “normally”. I’ve ridden in groups where riders have used aero bars. They have no place in mass start rides or races. It’s about control of the bike, which is reduced in an aero bar situation.

As noted earlier, riding no-handed is allowed. And riders are already riding shorter bars like this, where they are resting their wrists on the bars--is this more dangerous than that? If your hand is still on brake lever, you can pop right off your forearms at any time.

[Tandem Rider]

The UCI rule as it is written, was to stop riders from riding with their forearms resting on their road bars. If you have ever tried this position, it's mildly sketchy. It gets bad when theirs a group around you surging, dodging wheels, road debris, and potholes. When it was written it was solving a safety issue. These bars don't appear to be as unsafe, but I haven't tried them either. The bars themselves don't violate the rule, the instant he put his forearms on the bars, HE broke the UCI rule as it is written, not the bars. Any other rider in the peloton could also break the rules with the equipment on their bike.

The flip side is that the UCI HAD to know how the bars were going to be used. Van Schip looks to be about 6'5'' or so and the stem appears to be around a 60mm, the bars have a reach that looks to be around 160-200 mm with a big groove how would anyone familiar with racing expect them to be used?

They had to know it was going to come to this.

[MikeD]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

YGBSM..I was being facetious. I guess my decision to not waste my time with anything "UCI" this year was a good one.


Yup...UCI has their heads where the sun don't shine. I guess the company didn't have the $ to bribe the UCI..like Cinelli didn't with Spinachis.

Wonder what the bike manufacturers did to get the UCI to allow "slice and dice" disc brakes?

[pasadena]

Originally Posted by prototoast

UCI's objection is aesthetic.

The UCI is not interested in innovation (unless the wider industry pushes for it, like disc brakes).
It may largely solve the problem, but the clever workaround is banned, so it's really a moot point.

Originally Posted by trener1

This has actually been fantastic marketing for the company.
Every single cycling website and forum is now talking about them and posing photos of their product.
Serious question, how many of you have heard of this before this controversy?

Agree. Speeco will probably show up in triathlons, sprint tri's (where drafting and pack riding is allowed) and all the strava "competitors"
Since they are made-to-fit, I can see this in gravel racing too.
Anything outside of UCI/USAC.

I'm sure Speeco is full up with orders.

[unterhausen]

This will be much safer than tri bars in group rides, so that's one advantage.

I think any weirdness in handlebar design is going to be banned by the UCI fairly quickly. Have they banned the super-narrow bars yet?

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by unterhausen

This will be much safer than tri bars in group rides, so that's one advantage.

I think any weirdness in handlebar design is going to be banned by the UCI fairly quickly. Have they banned the super-narrow bars yet?

These were ridden by the same guy who brought the super narrow bars into the peloton. He’s a track rider primarily from what I understand and probably puts down huge power and is blazing fast. They’re probably safer than real TT bars but I’m still not surprised by the ban. They’re clearly in violation of an existing rule. Whether that rule is stupid or not can be debated, but the forearm thing is a rule. The super narrow bars probably wouldn’t be banned because you don’t end up resting your weight on your forearms.

The Yates pic is cool and clearly shows how this comes to be a thing.

[MikeD]

I don't think these handlebars help much with aerodynamics anyway. Real aerobars work by putting the forearms together. Getting on the drops is probably more aero than these bars. Unless there's some wind tunnel testing that refutes this, these bars are bogus anyway.

[pasadena]

Originally Posted by MikeD

I don't think these handlebars help much with aerodynamics anyway. Real aerobars work by putting the forearms together. Getting on the drops is probably more aero than these bars. Unless there's some wind tunnel testing that refutes this, these bars are bogus anyway.

Speeco type of position is faster and more aero for many.
The illegal position is more aero because it mimics aerobars. It's been wind tunnel tested many times.

[Mark McM]

Amateur racing in the US has its own rulebook (separate from UCI), and forearm rests for anything but TTs have been forbidden for years. The rules specifically say:

No additional padding, shapes, or supports designed to facility resting the rider's forearms on the bars are allowed in mass start road events.

The Speeco bars violate this rule, as they are obviously shaped to support the forearms.

Curiously, this means products like the Cane Creek Speed Bars are still allowed, because they have no forearm support.

[reuben]

Originally Posted by Tandem Rider

The UCI rule as it is written, was to stop riders from riding with their forearms resting on their road bars.

Well, watching the Tour de Suisse today, at one point the two lead riders in the break were in exactly this position. Granted, they were riding "normal" road bars, but the UCI is now in the untenable position of splitting hairs - is it the position or the bars? They claim it's the position, but enforcement, or lack thereof, is making them a two faced laughingstock.

[pasadena]

Mark,
I actually have those CC aero bars!
I used them a long time ago but they are 26.0 only and kind of heavy...

Originally Posted by Mark McM

Curiously, this means products like the Cane Creek Speed Bars are still allowed, because they have no forearm support.

[JMacII]

Bump. Has anyone here tried these bars? For a non racer….they look interesting. Basically you have the same hood reach/position and drops but an added position to get low. The biggest downside to me would be losing the tops with the short reach, but if you could have a standard stem length and then “trays” that extend back from the normal beginning of the forward curve of the bars you’d have maybe the best of both worlds? Lots of rondo riders like clip on bars just for the variety of positions they offer. This would be like clip ons, but where you could still reach the brakes. I’m not paying $1500 for bars to solve this problem personally, but it’s too bad that we don’t see more innovation and experimentation.