Working out how these might be for me would require quite a bit if testing, hence my question.
I've done a few time trials and road tris, absolutely loved "proper" tri bars mainly for resting your weight on the pads.
The welded on thing is way shorter and no proper rests. My guess it's another hand position but only 20% of a proper tri bar?
I have used the small( cinelli)clip on sets (with armrests) for some long tours.They were good for mixing up hand positions ,and if you did an 'Obree' elbows in and head down,they got you out of the wind.For my grovel bike I have been looking at some Farr bars with a wee welded section off the front.It might also double as a packing area to hang stuff off >>>if you can get past the name 'Aero Gravel'<<< 😉🤣
Too short to be much use for aero ime, too narrow to be a decent grip position. Good for hanging bags or mounting lights on though. Makes the bars stiffer / potentially too stiff.
I've played around with a few options for bikepacking trips. Tri-bars on an MTB were pretty effective on long headwind sections of straighter tarmac or forest road, though there aren't too many of those where I tend to ride.
Inboard bar-ends give another hand position without the weight penalty but, again, tend to be of little use as soon as the route gets at all twisty.
I thought about something like the Farr bar for my new gravel bike but, based on my two examples above, came down in favour of a more standard flared bar.
Having something that can be bolted on when required, and removed when not, seems to be the better option.
I bought a pair of cheap clip-on bars last year, thought I'd ease myself into the idea of using them for the first time in ~25 years by using them on the turbo, but hassles like switching turbo setup from being ready for the q/r 9-speed hybrid to thru-axle 11-speed road bike go out the window with long covid.
And besides, I'm still not sure I'd be comfortable using a TT bar outdoors these days unless there was a second set of hydraulic brake levers on the bar ends, elf & safety gets a higher priority as you get older, especially after having an RTA almost ten years ago.
I've got surly moloko bars on my MTB (like a jones loop with horns). I got them for the extra hand position, but can get a pretty good* aero position on them that's also quite comfy. Was more by accident than design though.
*Good for an MTB. Haven't done a wind tunnel test.
I've gone with a pair of Redshift Kitchen sink bars with the loop on my recent gravel bike build. Not done enough miles to have an opinion to be honest. I'm probably more predisposed to using that kind of position having been a tester/triathlete in my younger days - we'll see. To me it's more about adding to the range of hand positions than it is aero benefits. On my commute bike I had a pair of mini tt bars to combat the relentless wind on the way home, quite like them. IMO a lot of clip ons are way too long when put on good fitting road bikes making for pretty dreadful body positions.
IMO a lot of clip ons are way too long when put on good fitting road bikes making for pretty dreadful body positions.
You can thank the UCI for that. If they were positioned correctly on a correctly fitting road bike you would most likely be outside of uci regs..... It effects precisely 3 folk in the world as few folks using clip ons are bothering UCI sanctioned event key results.
Asside - I have a Fred bar for bringing them back where I want them to be for good position . It's only 30 or so mm just makes a huge odds
If they were positioned correctly on a correctly fitting road bike you would most likely be outside of uci regs…
Interested in this! Puppy paws are still a guilty habit of mine but I'd quite like to try it with proper clip-ons, do they just need to be shorter? I tried on the turbo briefly but however I had them set up I could feel in hamstrings and Achilles pretty quickly
I had the FARR ones on my Tempest. The loop was too short for me and I didn’t really use it. Fitted an On-One Brian (simple flared drop bar) and much prefer that.
When I use my XC bike as a gravel bike I use them or something similar. Good for extra hand positions and deffo more aero for me but YMMV.
Initial revelation was during 'no gnar' lockdown when I got some Jones bars, liked the loop but not the standard hand position, so then got On One Mickeys (now called https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/HBSELAD/selcof-expedition-handlebar and often on sale, I think they were 20 quid last week).
More recently also put these on my standard bars (mounted inboard if that isn't obvs) which you can rotate on the clamp giving a pretty flexible setup.