Profile Design Carbon X 1.5 Aerobars

UPDATE: See below

Toward the end of last year, I began to ride more than comfortably in my aero position, and decided this year it was time to make my bike position more aggressive. My set up last year was the stock bars on my Felt S25, a set of Profile Aerolites. Earlier in the 2007 racing season I had switched out all the stem rings so I was in the lowest possible spot, and also hacksawed off the arm rest support screws to remove the spacer arm and get me another half inch lower. Even after these modifications, I felt I could go even lower and still be able to crank out good watts.

The first thing I tried was to get a lower angle stem. I had the stock Felt stem at 6 degrees negative angle and 100mm. When I swapped in a 10 degree down angle stem, it only made a few millimeters of difference. So, I took that back to the shop and decided I needed an integrated "all-in-one" set up. After persistent campaigning for a month or so, Becca gave in and let me get my new bars, a set of Profile Design Carbon X 1.5.

These bars have an integrated negative angle stem, and the arm rests are at base bar height (as opposed to mounting them on top of the base bar), so right away you get a lot lower. The install was a bit challenging, since that's the first time I've ever had the whole front end of my bike apart. In re-cabling the shifters and brakes I discovered that tri bikes actually have mtb brake lines, that's weird. Anyway, it was only in pieces about a week, and then everything was back to normal...well except that I irreversibly broke the rear shifter so its stuck in "friction" mode. No problem, I prefer friction shifting anyway.

Here's my dazzling slow motion animation of the change it made:


In terms of weight, I estimate this change made my bike about 200-250 grams lighter. This is probably inconsequential. But, I think the big difference is in aero. I'm about 3 inches lower now, and see no difference in power output. I did have to put the stem rings back in so I am in the highest stem position, since in the lowest there was some weird cantilever effect with my elbows/wrists that kept pushing my hands off the shifters.

For Pros, I'd say they are nice looking, light weight, and very low (if that's something you've been limited by in the past).

For Cons, my only issue is there isn't much adjust-ability to them. For one, the stem is part of the unit, so be sure to know how long you want it (I think they sell 100, 90, and 80mm), I got the 100. And also, knowing you've got room to play in the negative direction with your hip/pelvis/back flexibility is good, since you can't "flip the stem" the way you can on a regular setup. Another lack of adjust-ability is in the arm rests. I found that I wanted them back as far toward the rear wheel as I could get them, but they were very unstable in this position, and tended to make my forearms point upwards. So, I had to use the middle or front most position instead, which was acceptable once I got used to it. Also, you can't move the bars to make them wider/narrower on the base bar, they are locked in place. I like to ride with my hands together like I'm praying, and it was tough to get this to work at first. I eventually rotated the bars so the bend pointed up and in, and it approximated my old bars. I highly recommend trying these on somebody else's bike or in a store before you buy them since they are not so adjustable. But, if you're lucky, they'll fit just right and you'll be good to go.

So, do they work? Well, I took 7 minutes off my bike time since last year at the White Lake Half. But, I also put in 500 more miles in training since Jan 1 versus last year, so who knows. What I can say for sure is that I feel faster, I'm lower, and they look hot. And that's good enough for me!

UPDATE: July 16, 2008
While racing in the Triangle Triathlon, going downhill at 40mph I hit a bump in the road and the armrest support for the right aerobar snapped. Fortunately I did not lose control of the bike, but I did have to race lopsided for the remainder. These supports were made of metal on the Aerolite model I owned previously, so after the race I swapped both sides out in favor of the metal support over the plastic one that came with the Carbon X 1.5. They feel much more solid. I highly recommend doing this if you have the option available to you.