My homemade aero bar

I recently sold my old Scott aero bars on Ebay. Though I no longer used them, there was a time when I installed them on my bike every Wednesday afternoon for the weekly local time trial. Of course, as soon as the time trial ended, they came off to sit on my workbench until the middle of the following week. With all of that use, the Allan bolts rounded out a bit. Also, each week I had to take care to make sure that the bars were positioned at the same angle to which I was accustomed. Back then (around 1989) I had the idea to make an aero bar with a three point attachment to the bike. It had an enclosed shape and featured a threaded angle adjustment knob under the stem. That way, the bars could never slip and the angle was always exactly the same. The picture shows the prototype bars that I made (I was in school and obviously had a lot of free time). I used these a few times before coming to the realization that riding at max speed while perched over quickly constructed homemade aero bars might not be the world’s best idea. I had completely forgotten about this idea until I dug those old Scott Lemond bars out of my parts bin. The aesthetics could use some refinement, but I still think this 3-point idea has some merit. Now where did I put that old prototype?


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4 responses to “My homemade aero bar”

  1. Peter Avatar
    Peter

    Diggin’ this one up from the archives!

    But interestingly, i’ve come up with exactly the same idea (3-point attachment, that is). Made sense to me – much much stronger than trying to clamp the thing to the handlebars only. Fingers crossed that strength lasts…

  2. Dylan Curtis Avatar
    Dylan Curtis

    I have a question either can i buy a pair from one of you or can you tell me how you made them?

    1. James Thomas Avatar

      Dylan, that was just a rough prototype that I made 20+ years ago. You could make your own with a tube bender, saw, and drill press, but there are some pretty good aerobars on the market now. Personally, I like the Profile Design T2, but there are many other good options these days.

  3. Dylan Curtis Avatar
    Dylan Curtis

    ok well thanks i will look into that; my main problem for aer bars are the prices!!
    I’m 15 and starting to do tours and races and i really want a pair but i cant afford 140 dollars spent on them!

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