Aero bars and Audax bikes

[Helen Lew Ton]

Hi all

Following on from Phill’s last posting

 

The Audax Australia Ride Rules are silent on the use of aero bars, but the ACP’s rules for Paris-Brest-Paris explicitly ban their use. So if you aim to ride PBP you'll have to learn to live without them.

 

I leave it to those with longer Audax memories than mine to outline any reasoning that the ACP may have given when this interdiction was first announced, though Risk Management is an obvious answer.

 

Successful completion of the longer Audax events requires a rider to manage fatigue. The obvious causes are lack of sleep and physical exhaustion. Manifestations of fatigue are:

1.       Inability  to hold a consistent line which may result in

·         Riding off  the road into a gutter

·         Veering into the path of following or oncoming traffic

·         Running into bikes in the bunch

2.       Slow reactions which may result in

·         Hitting potholes and other road hazards

·         Running into the back of a bike in the bunch

3.       Falling asleep on the bike

Now compound these by riding in bad weather, on dark roads and in the middle of the night when the body is crying out for sleep.

Areo bars are designed for time triallists who ride solo along closed courses with minimal hazards. Contrast this to a typical Audax parcours: rough country roads, poor line marking, no street lighting, navigational challenges. Then add the fatigue factor...

 

These are my thoughts as to why you don’t see aero bars on Audax bikes

 

Helen

[Phill]

Helen,
Your post makes a lot of sense given how relaxing it is to get down on the aeros when everything is aching.
 Falling asleep would be a problem.
Dissallowed or not here, if not allowed in PBP I expect  that would influence how they are viewed.

Are recumbents allowed in PBP? I've not ridden a recumbent but it looks like  falling alseep in one of those would be pretty easy too.

  I'd probably ride a recumbent if we didn't have to share the roads with cars.    How do recumbents go in peleton riding?

[DaveM]

Unfortunately Helen's post is mostly incorrect.

PBP doesn't allow aerobars for the same reason that cyclosportives don't allow aerobars. Aerobars are not allowed in events with group riding. The ban is part of the French road regulations, not specifically an ACP rule.

Before the French rule came in during the 1990s, aerobars were very popular with long distance riders, including Aussie Audaxers.

Aerobars were not just created for time triallists. The inventor used them in road races and criteriums during development in the 1980s, until they were banned from bunch riding.

RAAM racers have used aerobars since the 1980s and their level of fatigue is as great as anybody's. It is quite possible to fall asleep while riding fixed, so assuming that people are more likely to fall asleep on aerobars would need to be backed up by some evidence.

Regards

Dave

[DaveM]

Of course recumbents are allowed to ride PBP, along with other more-improbable machines. Alpo rode PBP03 on a kickbike/ scooter.

Regards

Dave

[Peter Mathews]

G'day Dave

It was my understanding too that aero bars were banned by racing rules
in france and that the same rules were adopted for ACP.

I think after '03 the rules changed so that the machine had to have a
chain drive or transmission - effectively eliminating kick bikes.

Vale A.M. I know someone who has a bike he signed!

PeterM

--
Peter Mathews
pmat...@alphalink.com.au
m: 0439992130 p: +61398906089 w: +61399052192

[DaveM]

The PBP rules changes so that any machines that do not have chain drive are subject to approval by the ACP before starting. Non-chain driven machines are not actually banned.

The rumour is that the rule change was to prevent roller skaters taking part. I suspect there will be some folk with belt drives starting the next PBP.

[Russell Noble]

So I should rethink my inline-skate plans?

I'm sure I have time to work chains into their design before 2015.I'm
sticking with steel though, none of this carbon garbage.

Merry xmas all.

Quoting DaveM <davidj...@gmail.com>:

>
> The rumour is that the rule change was to prevent roller skaters
> taking part. I suspect there will be some folk with belt drives
> starting the next PBP.
>
>

--

Russell Noble
Canberra ACT AUSTRALIA

"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today."
--James Dean

[Howard Dove]

Spotted this guy out training for PBP 2015 this morning.

Said he's pretty annoyed about having to take off the aero bars, but glad to hear that the French will negotiate on the drive chain issue.

[Dino and Lisa Morgante]

Hey,

A kneeling kick-bike with mini-spynergy wheels - the must have xmas gift for
the rider that has everything.
Howard, does that come in fixed as well as free-wheel. I think a set of
drop-bars would go well to compensate for the non-aero ruling.
Mind you, taking corners at speed may be a bit scary - does it also come
with LSD (limited slip diff).

Dino

[Howard Dove]

As you can see, a recent injury has not held back training.

When he's fully recovered he'll be able to complete with the return leg from Brest.

He's confident about the wheels, but will carry (in his jersey pocket) a spare.

Cheers
Howard

[Simon Naunton]

Damn it!!!

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[Dino and Lisa Morgante]

I think my next door neighbour’s daughter would just love that one.

A fully-spec’d out trike.

 

Dino