What was Cannondale thinking when they put these bars on this bike? I can only imagine it was a decision heavily influenced by bean counters. Surely no self respecting bicycle engineer approved that as the technically preferred option!
I looked up the specs and they are Oversized Triathlon Bars! I am intrigued to know how these ended up chosen for the smallest bike in the range. Its clear from the nice bright white bar tape that the 50mm between the brake lever and the bend has never been used. We did a bit of experimenting with Nat riding on the wind trainer and as we expected she rides with her hands well back from the brake levers then shuffles her hand back and forth to use the brakes which is not practical at all!
So lots of things wrong with the current setup, what do we want to get out of this upgrade?
STEM ANGLE
We have had a play with the existing setup previously and we've got Nat into a fairly aggressive aero position already which she is trialling and adjusting to over the next few weeks.
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| Nat adjusting to her more aggressive aero position |
- Minimum frontal area for improved aerodynamics
- Lowest possible stack height
- More base bar options as top mounted aerobars can be considered
- It is easier to use the lowest stem then space back up if required
- We can use stem spacers and arm pad spacers to raise up for the best fit
- It just looks right (See image below of the 2015 Felt B2)
I will hold off on ordering the stem for now because I will still need to determine the ideal length and that will need the shape of the new base bar taken into account.
BASE BAR HEIGHT AND WIDTH
The current 30mm drop in the bars is probably going to be too much. The base bar positions should be comfortable as I discussed in an earlier post. I don't want to have to run a very low base bar just to get the arm pad stack low enough.
I have some experience with this on my Shiv TT where the base bar is very low and there is no facility to change it.
So a flat base bar seems to be the best choice.
Width is pretty simple, the current bars are 400mm wide which is narrow ans ideal for a smaller rider. We will maintain this width on the new bars.
Width is pretty simple, the current bars are 400mm wide which is narrow ans ideal for a smaller rider. We will maintain this width on the new bars.
BASE BAR REACH
Ones thing is for sure the reach will be a lot less than Cannondale had in mind when they released this bike! The current bars (left) have 200mm horns and our trials suggest 150mm long will position the brakes within reach of Nat's normal riding postiton.
There is also the issue of knee clearance especially when riding up out of the saddle which can be reduced by using tapered bars. The current base bar shown on the left is very square where the one on the right is preferred for that extra knee clearance.
There is also the issue of knee clearance especially when riding up out of the saddle which can be reduced by using tapered bars. The current base bar shown on the left is very square where the one on the right is preferred for that extra knee clearance.
TT PURSUIT BARS
The TT bars on the current setup were the Profile design T2 which are a fantastic entry level bar set. Plenty of adjustment and with a few extra arm pad spacers the brackets can be flipped to run under the base bar as we have them in the picture above.
The latest pro bike fits all seem to be going back to ski ramp style bars with their hands higher than their elbows which yield proven gains in wind tunnel testing but in my experience is less comfortable and gave me a feeling of less control. So in this case we are going to stick with the S - Bend extensions she is used to.
The position Nat's is currently trialling is looking reasonably aggressive and we've still got 15mm lower with the flat steam. So I'm expecting we will be spacing the arm pads back up some amount when we are all done.
So at this stage I will consider top mounted pursuit bars which put the arm pads around 20mm above the base bar with more spacers available from there. This keeps the options open to start with.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
There will be other features that become evident when we start shopping around. We want something sleek, aero with a short reach and tapered base bar similar to the Profile Design model.
Ultimately we'd like to just go out and buy the Pro Missile cockpit that most of the pro cycle teams have fitted to their speed machines but we need to keep the budget in perspective.
The latest pro bike fits all seem to be going back to ski ramp style bars with their hands higher than their elbows which yield proven gains in wind tunnel testing but in my experience is less comfortable and gave me a feeling of less control. So in this case we are going to stick with the S - Bend extensions she is used to.
The position Nat's is currently trialling is looking reasonably aggressive and we've still got 15mm lower with the flat steam. So I'm expecting we will be spacing the arm pads back up some amount when we are all done.
So at this stage I will consider top mounted pursuit bars which put the arm pads around 20mm above the base bar with more spacers available from there. This keeps the options open to start with.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
There will be other features that become evident when we start shopping around. We want something sleek, aero with a short reach and tapered base bar similar to the Profile Design model.
Ultimately we'd like to just go out and buy the Pro Missile cockpit that most of the pro cycle teams have fitted to their speed machines but we need to keep the budget in perspective.
- Flat 17 Degree stem - Length TBA
- Flat base 400mm wide base bar
- Approx 150mm base bar reach (Reduced from 200mm)
- Preferably aero profiled base bar
- Preferably direct mount pursuit bars (Rather than clip on)
- Preferably carbon
- S-Bend Pursuit bars
- Under slug or top mounted TT bars TBA
- Budget conscious
So with that in mind my spare time for the next few days is to find what's available!
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