Profile Design Century ZB Aerobars

Price Paid:  $30.00 at e Bay

Favorite Ride:
Texas Hill Country or Bershire Mtns.

Bike Setup:
2002 Bianchi Eros, stock except for Selle Italia ProLink Gel saddle, TIME Equipe Pro pedals, 700 X 23 Hutchinson Excels

Summary:
Wanted something light, inexpensive, and of good quality for those charity rides such as the MS 150 from San Antonio to Corpus Christi or from Houston to Austin. Either way, if I don"t have a team around me, going solo with this aero bar is a nice alternative!!!!

Strengths:
Price, weight and simplicity. Also very well made.

Weaknesses:
Lack of adjustability, but hey, I knew I did NOT need that since these bars fit me to a "T".

Similar Products Used:
Scott Aerobars that were WAY to wide and clunky-looking

Price Paid:  $0.00 at gift from a friend

Favorite Ride:
Anywhere with few cars, beautiful scenery, and blue skies

Bike Setup:
2001 Litespeed Tuscany, Deda Magic oversized handlebars, Deda Newton stem, Syncros carbon seatpost w/zero setback.

Summary:
It's been a challenge finding aeros to fit my oversized 31.7mm handlbars. Profile is starting to offer products that fit, and a friend spotted these at an LBS and grabbed them for me (what a pal!)

With a few tweaks after installation, I'm able to ride comfortably for extended periods in the aero tuck. Mine don't slip at all and I think it has something to do with the larger clamped surface area, plus they fit perfectly around my handlebars. No shimming required.

True, you can't adjust the length of the bars themselves but I found that by swinging the elbow pad bridges forward or backwards you can make up for some of that. If they're swung forward, it also frees up a little more handlebar grip area.

Aero bars gave me an excuse to purchase another goodie - a new carbon seat post. Why? My old seat post was set back and you want to be positioned a bit more forward when using aero bars. Here are a couple of good articles to read on this: http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/bikes/difference.shtml, http://www.bikesportmichigan.com/bikes/karma.shtml.

Strengths:
Designed for oversized or regular diameter handlebars, easy installation, and work well when adjusted properly. These are probably better for riders with short to medium length forearms.

Weaknesses:
The armrest pads do not have the "air channeling" that the Airstryke model has, so the forearms get a bit sweaty when wearing short sleeve jerseys. Limited fore/aft adjustablility.

Similar Products Used:
none

Price Paid:  $100.00 at Cycle Science Mitcha

Bike Setup:
1996 Giant Option Hybrid.

Summary:
Good quality, on my old hybrid it gets me into a half decent aero position. Difficult to fit onto narrow handlebars though, had to shim it out with bits of steel, and it tends to rotate around the muonting clamps unless done up very tightly.

Strengths:
cheap, light, comfortable

Weaknesses:
rotates around clamps, a little too narrow for my chest

Price Paid:  $45.00

Favorite Ride:
saanich peninsula

Bike Setup:
Marinoni Leggero

Summary:
Cheap, easy and lightweight aero-bar. The price makes it worth a try. You lose some handlebar area while climbing, but by hack-sawing off part of the pad mount you can gain back at least 1 inch of room. Overall, the price is a bargain for a basic aero-bar

Strengths:
price, weight

Weaknesses:
lack of adjustability

Similar Products Used:
profile breeze

Price Paid:  $45.00 at Gravity Warehouse (www.gravitywarehouse.com)

Bike Setup:
2000 Kona Haole

Summary:
This product retails for $60 and for $20 more you can get the profile airstryke which solves all the weaknesses mentioned... it even has spring loaded arm pads so you can still use the bar top hand position. It is however a good product and does what it is supposed to do, i would reccomend it for triathletes, but not for touring.

Strengths:
inexpensive, pads for forearms to rest on, weight is competitve (a little over 1 pound), adds comfort and speed on long rides

Weaknesses:
too short, non adjustable length, blocks access to tops of handlebars, when installing it must be tightened so much that it may mar the handlebar

Similar Products Used:
None