Tokyo Nitto
Deda Element Vrono Nero 6061 T6 - wing down
Deda Element Vrono Nero 6061 T6 - wing up
Profile Design T2 wing
Zipp Clone CF
Origin 8 530 Gary Bar
Now to be fair, my stubby bars where the only set that actually had brifters on them, and Garmin sticking up in the wind too so a little less aero.
I just did not have time to take off and put on brakes 15 times.
To brake I just ran a brake wire up under my seat, I simply reached down, grabbed it and and yanked it hard when I wanted to stop. Worked pretty well!
I am a little ticked at myself for not taking more notes as to how each bar felt as I was riding.
I made tiny little notes on a pad that I can barely read now
I was gone for a total of 6 1/2 hours on a day that I needed to spend more time working on the house, so I rushed through the note taking.
I was so darn windy the whole day!
The wind was constantly over 20mph, but it was gusting a lot as well. I could actually hear the flag whipping over 100 yards away.
It was so windy it blew my Allen wrenches off the bleachers if they were not in their holder, and it constantly blew the bike over when I tried to take each photo.
I don't think I have ever ridden in windier conditions - it was pretty incredible!
Turning the 180 degree turn to go down the back stretch of the track against the wind was so scary.
And to keep the speed as constant as I could I was really laying into the power starting in that corner until the next, so my day was really 400 x 20sec sprint into the wind intervals.
I was coming back down the front straight doing 25-26mph with not even a hint of wind in my face - It was weird!
There times that it nearly blew me off the track or clewan over. It was a fight every time and a white knuckle experience.
It probably would not have been so back, had I not ridden front and rear disc and with the lower part of bike still filled in from Sebring.
Anyway, I don't really know if the average speeds correctly identify which bar setup is more aero dynamic than the others.
I say this partly because of the extreme windy conditions and gusts, but also I think I actually got better at averaging a faster speed by applying more power against the wind and less power with it.
If I would have tried to keep constant power the whole time I would have been accelerating to over 30 with the wind and having way too much speed to make the tight turn into the wind.
Here is my Strava file:
https://www.strava.com/activities/923843842/overview
I have just about come to the conclusion that you could you make your life's work just testing handlebars, and all the data and "how it felt" to you, and it would be about 95% worthless to anyone else.
It is just such an individual thing.
Most of us end up with something we like, but it might not be the best, or the most aero.
Most of us just do not have that much time.
I think we find something that doesn't hurt, maybe a recommendation from someone else, maybe an add, then make adjustments from there.
Notes:
I only ran one of the regular drop inverted - and liked it pretty well. It was the Syntace Racelite 420. It rubbed my leg the regular way, but did not rub inverted and I liked the hand hold better too.
The only thing I did not like: was the first turn on the tube as it goes into the drop pressed against my wrist. It would have been a lot more comfortable with a tiny flair
I wished I would have tried a few more inverted, especially the Origin 8 - with the flare on it. Test for another day and time I guess.
Here is a short video of the windy condition and the flag whipping from a distance.
