Adrian Brewster wrote:Hey Ian, that looks soo comfy and generally brilliant, sod the weight. Shame Siren don't make them anymore. Is there a man in a barn, cottage whatever making them out there somewhere or is there another way of mounting tri-bars on Jones loop, does anyone know? If you get bored with them I'll have em.

Maybe I'm missing something...

There are lots of tri-bars that fit "above" the bars. Any of these would work with a Loop bar. Some even have extensions to allow the tri-bars to be fitted a little higher than normal.

(I must cobble something up this afternoon by way of illustration.....)

Maybe I'm missing something...

There are lots of tri-bars that fit "above" the bars. Any of these would work with a Loop bar. Some even have extensions to allow the tri-bars to be fitted a little higher than normal.

(I must cobble something up this afternoon by way of illustration.....)

I think the whole idea of the Fred bar was to get the aero bars into a workable position on a mountain bike. Even with 'normal' extensions they usually sit quite low and far forward.

Makes sense. It's just that the photo above seems to have them mounted directly above the Jones bar. Maybe it's just the angle the photo was taken at.

Makes sense. It's just that the photo above seems to have them mounted directly above the Jones bar. Maybe it's just the angle the photo was taken at.

I think you're right.

The Fred bar was meant to be mounted above the stem and spaced out so it sat quite a bit higher than the normal bars ... trouble is you need quite a bit of spare steerer to do this which as a retro-fit item most people won't have.

These would be a cheap option at £4.99 if you've got standard bars :

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HB3TTIRA/3t ... extensions

These would be a cheap option at £4.99 if you've got standard bars :

http://www.on-one.co.uk/i/q/HB3TTIRA/3t ... extensions

I've played about with them before. The concept is great but they're not very secure ... always had concerns about removing my front teeth

They would make a cheap drybag harness too I guess?

Big attraction of the fred bar is it only weighs 170ish grams, and is really really adjustable as long as you haven't cut down your steerer tube yet, (I haven't) plus you can deduct the price and weight of a full-on harness. You can do some wacky uncool things with it like http://sirenbicycles.files.wordpress.co ... rsetup.jpg and looking at the engineering skills used, orthodontic surgery may not be necessary.
Would be interesting to hear what BRP and Ian think of it.

s8tannorm wrote:

Makes sense. It's just that the photo above seems to have them mounted directly above the Jones bar. Maybe it's just the angle the photo was taken at.

I think you're right.

The Fred bar was meant to be mounted above the stem and spaced out so it sat quite a bit higher than the normal bars ... trouble is you need quite a bit of spare steerer to do this which as a retro-fit item most people won't have.

Does this help?


Fred by ianbarrington, on Flickr

The Fred bar has minimal forward reach, it mounts on top of the stem. Tri bars fit either side of the mount, so making the riding position much less stretched out than if mounted to the bar itself. I had to invert the stem and fit a 5mm spacer between the Fred and the stem. Normally I have 20mm of spacers on the steerer with a Hope stem.

I originally ordered them in the custom length, as in that picture, but I found the extra 'straight' position just got in the way really...plus you can rest your hands on the pads if you want a really upright position.
The freds were good for me...not so much for the height gain, more for the closer reach it offers.
for me, aerobars on mtb's offer more benefit for upper body support than aerodynamics...so having them closer really helps.

What I designed for the English is my perfect setup though.

What Ian said! :D