Don’t go to all that trouble. A tri bike has different geometry than a road bike, with a more vertical seat post. This is specifically designed to enable you to spend time in aero while keeping your hip angles as relaxed as a road bike in road position. You can’t fake it enough with a road bike frame.
Aero bars are enough. I did my first Ironman on a road bike with aero bars. You don’t need more. Save the rest of your money to buy a tri bike when you outgrow your road bike with aero bars.
I might be wrong but I think this is very common.
I just put clip on: aero bars on, a handlebar hydration system, moved my seat forward as far as I could, angles the seat nose down slightly, lowered my drops a bit, yep that was it. Very happy. I guess a wheelset would be a next greatest improvement I could do, but shifters on the aeros sounds viable too. Could also get a new seat post with no setback to bring saddle further forward.
I did that exact thing for a while. It mostly works especially with a forward shifted seat post. BUT your bike will handle like a big old pile of ass. It’s not fun to ride at all, not that a real TT bike is fun but it’s miles ahead of a frankenbike.
Installing clip-on bars on my road bike did help me to get more aero. I also brought my saddle position forwards and slammed the stem. These are all reversible adjustments that made a big difference to my efficiency in a 40km time trial. I don't see any value in going any further than that to modify a road bike.
I recently bought a TT bike. Compared with my old clip-on bars setup, my position on the TT bike is a little more horizontal and I am also more comfortable holding that position, just because the bike was designed to be ridden that way, so the whole geometry and setup is optimised.
There's no point in putting up with a compromised riding position unless you value the flexibility of converting back to a road bike when needed so that you can do draft-legal racing or group rides. If you replace the whole handlebar then you won't be able to switch back, so you might as well sell up and go for the easier, cheaper, and better option of buying a TT bike, at a potential cost of $0 if you go for one with a similar spec to your roadie.
Is shifting on the aerobars really so valuable? At that point I'd just buy a cheap TT bike - the cost of a TT cockpit and the time and effort spent rerouting the cables to have something that's still not a TT bike is probably not worth it. I ride a road bike with clip-ons and it really doesn't handle that badly and is surprisingly aero, although it took a year of trial-and error culminating in a 110mm -30 degree stem.
– Bullhorn base bar with brakes
– arrow extensions with shifters
– forward tilt seat post to make the apparent seat post angle closer to that of a tri bike
Unless it’s a really short course, i.e. a sprint, or an extremely hilly course, you’re not going to be near the front of the pack on a modified road bike.
Clip-on Tri-bars (whether you move the shifters too or not) + a dog-leg seat-post are the way to go. Moving that seat post forward helps the angle of your legs for when you get off the bike and have to go run. Plus it’s more comfortable for riding with Aero Bars.
Don’t go to all that trouble. A tri bike has different geometry than a road bike, with a more vertical seat post. This is specifically designed to enable you to spend time in aero while keeping your hip angles as relaxed as a road bike in road position. You can’t fake it enough with a road bike frame. Aero bars are enough. I did my first Ironman on a road bike with aero bars. You don’t need more. Save the rest of your money to buy a tri bike when you outgrow your road bike with aero bars.
I might be wrong but I think this is very common. I just put clip on: aero bars on, a handlebar hydration system, moved my seat forward as far as I could, angles the seat nose down slightly, lowered my drops a bit, yep that was it. Very happy. I guess a wheelset would be a next greatest improvement I could do, but shifters on the aeros sounds viable too. Could also get a new seat post with no setback to bring saddle further forward.
I did that exact thing for a while. It mostly works especially with a forward shifted seat post. BUT your bike will handle like a big old pile of ass. It’s not fun to ride at all, not that a real TT bike is fun but it’s miles ahead of a frankenbike.
I have completed 3x IronMan this way and just keep thinking of my broke friends with fancy bikes that can’t catch me. I spend my $ on running shoes.
Installing clip-on bars on my road bike did help me to get more aero. I also brought my saddle position forwards and slammed the stem. These are all reversible adjustments that made a big difference to my efficiency in a 40km time trial. I don't see any value in going any further than that to modify a road bike. I recently bought a TT bike. Compared with my old clip-on bars setup, my position on the TT bike is a little more horizontal and I am also more comfortable holding that position, just because the bike was designed to be ridden that way, so the whole geometry and setup is optimised. There's no point in putting up with a compromised riding position unless you value the flexibility of converting back to a road bike when needed so that you can do draft-legal racing or group rides. If you replace the whole handlebar then you won't be able to switch back, so you might as well sell up and go for the easier, cheaper, and better option of buying a TT bike, at a potential cost of $0 if you go for one with a similar spec to your roadie.
Is shifting on the aerobars really so valuable? At that point I'd just buy a cheap TT bike - the cost of a TT cockpit and the time and effort spent rerouting the cables to have something that's still not a TT bike is probably not worth it. I ride a road bike with clip-ons and it really doesn't handle that badly and is surprisingly aero, although it took a year of trial-and error culminating in a 110mm -30 degree stem.
Once you turn your seat mast cap around no turning back. 2017 emonda and I am faster than my Tri bike friends. 🤫
Don’t risk your health by pushing it. Jumping back into it too quickly can hurt you very long term.
– Bullhorn base bar with brakes – arrow extensions with shifters – forward tilt seat post to make the apparent seat post angle closer to that of a tri bike Unless it’s a really short course, i.e. a sprint, or an extremely hilly course, you’re not going to be near the front of the pack on a modified road bike.
Clip-on Tri-bars (whether you move the shifters too or not) + a dog-leg seat-post are the way to go. Moving that seat post forward helps the angle of your legs for when you get off the bike and have to go run. Plus it’s more comfortable for riding with Aero Bars.