The decision to ban the use of aero bars and extensions among the elite men’s and women’s racers at Unbound Gravel 2023 has led riders to look for other ways to add comfort when adopting a more aero riding position.
Over the 200-mile course of the elite event, aerodynamics play an important role and, in previous years, aero bars or extensions have been de rigueur among the top racers, with last year’s winner Ivar Slik equipping his Wilier Rave SLR with extensions custom 3D printed to fit the bike.
Dylan Johnson has headed to the wind tunnel to quantify the advantages that aero bars can provide and came away with a 41-watt saving from getting long and low on the bike. That’s a big gain that won’t be available to elite riders in this year’s race.
But pack racing has largely replaced solo efforts at the pointy end of gravel races, so Slik, for example, says that he spent around 15 per cent of his time on his bar extensions at last year’s race.
The ban means that riders are looking for different ways to reduce their frontal profile and so improve their aerodynamics when riding the Flint Hills.
That’s led to several bikes that we’ve spotted in the run-up to tomorrow’s race being adapted so that riders can adopt the “puppy paws” position more comfortably, with their forearms resting on the bar tops.
Although the UCI banned the ride position last year, gravel racing is still outside the UCI’s reach, so that riders are not subject to the UCI’s ban.
Here are three adaptations to the tops that caught our attention.
Innokenty Zavyalov’s Lauf Seigla
Innokenty Zavyalov has adapted his Vision Metron 4D bars with extra tape and padding towards the stem. Interestingly, as is now common with aero profile bars, the outer section of the tops is untaped, despite the extra vibration that will be transmitted from the gravel when riding with his hands on the bar tops.
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Dylan Johnson’s Factor Ostro Gravel
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Dylan Johnson has gone further, with the Black Inc one-piece bar/stem on his Factor Ostro Gravel fully taped despite the likely loss of efficiency for his aero profile tops. The central section has been heavily over-taped though, to provide some extra padding when resting his…
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