As the title really, I've a 35 mile round trip commute for which I sometimes use my geared road bike and sometimes my fixed.
Does anyone here use clip-on tri bars on their road bike or fixie and how much of a difference, if any, do they make?

Thanks,

Pie.

Unless you have a really low position they make almost no difference at all. Once you've got the massive saddle-to-bars drop and totally flat back, then bringing the arms in on tri bars gives you a bit extra, but not nearly as much as the low position.

I'd guess that if you're commuting you have some sort of luggage and wet weather gear – tidying up the details of that would make more difference.

Only use if you are fast enough not to be passed by proper mountain bikes. 😉

As a tester friend of mine says, "Tri bars only make a difference if you're doing over 25mph". Given that he's also a physicist and a god botherer, I have little inclination to doubt him.

Frankly, I think it will make you uncomfotable without any discernible performance benefit. And, unless you're actually testing, you'll look like a triathlete preparing to crash at the next available bend…. 😉

HTH

I've found them good for comfort and they "feel" faster – you can relax certain muscles and use others. Try it and see – but it's not going to add 20m to your day or anything.

I don't have tri bars but I put some old bar ends in the middle of my mtb commuter bars, mainly because I usually have a strong headwind in one direction along an open coast route, and I find these definately make a difference, doesn't get me low but gets my arms out of the wind – actaully makes a few mph difference, but I don't do it for the speed but to make it easier, an hour into a strong headwind isn't much fun at the end of the working day!

only any use over 25-30mph aerodynamically and then you'd still have to get them in a proper low position to do any good. I wouldn't bother myself.

Tri Bars for commuting 😆

only any use over 25-30mph aerodynamically

Any evidence for this? I don't see how it can be effective at 25mph but not at 22mph.

It will make a very very small difference at 10mph but the faster you go, the more wind resistance there is so as a percentage the achtual speed difference will be noticeable.

Kojaklollipop – Member
I don't have tri bars but I put some old bar ends in the middle of my mtb commuter bars

That wouldn't be on a Specialized? Please tell me it wasn't you that overtook me on a right turn a few weeks ago!

They will make a difference at any speed, but the drag factor is exponential so the difference is more evident at a higher speed.

The much more important point though is that the degree of difference will always be very small. A much bigger improvement can be had by riding much lower, but most people (myself included) can't physically do that.

theres a study showing that width has more effect than height, i.e. gettign lower can be counter productive if your elbows are pushed out.

Clip on tri bars are wayy to high though, unless someones figured out how to mount them under the bars?

I reckon there can't be any harm to this if you're on open roads, but if I noticed someone faffing about on tri-bars around me in central London I'd give them a very wide berth. 🙂

It will make a very very small difference at 10mph but the faster you go, the more wind resistance there is so as a percentage the achtual speed difference will be noticeable

I understand that…a figure I had in my head was that 80% of effort at 20mph was wind resistance though.

I've got a good position by point tri bars up. Certainly felt good but I did not time myself.

Kojaklollipop – Member
I don't have tri bars but I put some old bar ends in the middle of my mtb commuter bars

That wouldn't be on a Specialized? Please tell me it wasn't you that overtook me on a right turn a few weeks ago!

No, not me DezB, I'm on a Rock Lobster 🙂 … so I'm not the only one then, I've had quite a few 'oh, that's a good idea' comments

Well I'm no racer but ran tri bars on my commuter for a while – I reckon 1 gear higher for the same effort even at my modest pace and into headwinds more than that difference

Has anyone pointed out that you will, without any shadow of a doubt, look like a cock?

Has anyone pointed out that you will, without any shadow of a doubt, look like a cock?

I refer my honourable friend to the coment I made some hours ago.

My apologies.
An inadvertant omission on my behalf, and one which shames me.

TandemJeremy – Member

Well I'm no racer but ran tri bars on my commuter for a while – I reckon 1 gear higher for the same effort even at my modest pace and into headwinds more than that difference

Was that when how you managed to increase your commute speed from 7 to 20 mph?

I generally use clip on tri bars for….triathlon and training and they make a difference of 1-2mph at about 16mph. It is achieved by the lower and narrower position. The lower position could be achieved by riding on your drops but this puts alot of pressure on your wrists for a long period, therefore, better to spread the weight on your arms. The lower position compromises your force output and breathing so this can negate any aero benefit. You can get tri bars that clip above, below and level with the bars.

It is disk rear wheels that only become effective at 23mph. (Don't put one of them on for commuting!!!)

It is disk rear wheels that only become effective at 23mph.

I think you're getting confused with aero helmets which only become effective at 24.39mph.

1. You will look a cock so don't bother, and I'm a confirmed lycra clad roadie/ triathlete so my cockometer is set pretty high. At best you'll look like a newbie triathlete getting ready for London Triathlon and as triathletes have the worst rep in cycle for crap skills (& I'm one of them) no one wants to do that to themselves.

2. All those that state aero bits and bobs (tribars, disks etc) only take effect or save more time at a particular speed are talking out of their arses! Yes, wind resistance is exponential but the time saving is actually greater, the slower you go due to the fact that it will take you longer to travel the same distance and therefore the aero benefit will apply for a great amount of time. Your time %age saved might be higher (might, because other factors come into play here) at higher speeds but the actual time saved is less. Those that talk about disks etc only working after a certain speed are normally refering to the fact that below a certain speed you would expect a decent athlete to have to be climbing and then the weight/aero advantage relationship comes into play.

If you don't believe me and your maths isn't up to much, download the powercalc software and see for yourself (http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/bike/power/bicycle_power_calculator.html)

Thanks for all the comments received so far, a fair few of them had me laughing my ass off.

It's more of a comfort issue than a speed issue. I was hoping that it would take a lot of the strain out of my wrists. I spend on average 2 hours per day on a bike and quite often by the end of the week I can really feel it in my wrists. 'Resting' my arms on tri bars sounded like an attractive option to help alleviate this.

Anyhoo,
thanks to all who replied.

Pie.

have you considdered sportive/touring bars? Shorter and shallower drops so you can move your wrists arroud without altering the position of the rest fo your body too much.

Do you have your elbows bent and arms relaxed, shouldnt be enough load to hurt your writs, i used to do 2 hours commuting followed by some evenig run rides?