[image] UCI to ban forearms time-trial position on road bikes First the super tuck, and now the popular breakaway position get the ax from the UCI, starting April 1. The UCI is ridiculous. The narrow handlebar and ultra-long stem and bike frame market ju…

It was only partially in jest. I really, really liked my Drop-Ins and the narrow hand position it gave me. Being on the smaller side, when I used the drop-in position, I gave minimal draft to those behind me, and it felt much more aero. I would love to see someone take it into the wind tunnel, and …

[image] AlphaDogCycling: what the drag is of the drop-ins to see what the trade-off is and if it is worth it. My gut reaction is that the drag on those bars is pretty horrific. You have twin horizontal round bars perpendicular to the airflow. That can’t be good…and it is a constant vs. the …

I get the negative drag, but the question would really be: when you are in a group, how bad is the drag vs. the benefit when you are on the front / off the front?

That’s an interesting question. While I don’t know the answer, it’d be nice if teams could try it out. I think the UCI should make room for more experimentation, especially if it could make the sport safer and more interesting at the same time.

[image] AlphaDogCycling: how bad is the drag vs. the benefit when you are on the front / off the front? Fair question, but I’m not sure how you can reliably measure that…one is a constant (exta drag) and another is extremely variable and changes from race to race.

[image] Un-QuittingBikes: I’ve been resting my armpits on the handlebars. Way lower and more aero. Next they’ll be banning the “grab your fork stanchions and get aero” position in XCO. Is nothing sacred to these people? [image] (Certified badass Annika Langvad)

Yeah, as a rule for myself, I’m not even trying to get downhill KOMs. It’s just not worth it for me.

[image] Un-QuittingBikes: I’ve been resting my armpits on the handlebars. Way lower and more aero. How is that even anatomically possible?!? :exploding_head:

First off, I think the safe and reliable use case for both ‘super-tuck’ and ‘virtual aero bars’ is not in high speed descents, but at more moderate speeds (perhaps below about 35mph). I never use the super-tuck, but do the virtual aero bars quite often - most frequently when at the front of a pace …

Virtual Aero Bars Banned, Give Me a Break!

Racing

rbonick February 12, 2021, 2:21am 87

they do allow flagging of unsafe KOMs, though I don’t think it’s on by default for descents. I’ve flagged a few bike path segments that really shouldn’t have people trying for speed on.

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Virtual Aero Bars Banned, Give Me a Break!

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Virtual Aero Bars Banned, Give Me a Break!

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