A few years ago while working for the AIS as national women's team mechanic at our base in Germany I was preparing the bicycles for the Commonwealth Games I was very unhappy with the so called HIGH TECHNOLEGY carbon fibre Time Trial handle bars that we were using. Problems such as the aerodynamic shape compromised for manufacturing reasons, high weight, problems with rigidity and terrible compromises to affix gear and brake levers reliably. These problems had been an ongoing issue for some four years. I was hearing things and coming up against things like the PERCEPTION that "It's carbon fibre and carbon fibre is high tech so it must be good".

Now carbon fibre is good when used the correct way and in appropriate situations but not for the sake of its reputation. I cracked when on the final days training in Germany before the team flew to Malaysia for the Commonwealth games the handlebars on Australia's number one Female time trialist fractured. I didn't even have time to change them before the team flew to Malaysia, as they had to pack and fly that afternoon, they had to be changed when the team arrived in Malaysia. After that I decided I would approach the problem myself over the summer back in Australia. Surely I can do better than this I thought. Why use carbon or titanium? Maybe aluminium, maybe steel would be better.

I started with a fresh mind and set on design criteria required with real on the job experience for the bars. After many hours of notes and thought I was getting somewhere.

1. AERODYNAMICS First and foremost, lower drag than commercially available T/T bars. The front of the bicycle is extremely important as the structure strikes clean air and significant drag reductions can be realised.

2. LIGHT WEIGTHT. Most of the bars are terrible and the best are barely adequate.

3. FUNCTION WELL, brakes, gears and handling must be perfect.

4. MEET THE NEW U.C.I. REGULATIONS {the frame and T/T bars are designed together}

With many hours of research and considering different approaches, designs and calculations on material volumes and frontal area, steel offered the best aerodynamics through its much higher strength, hence much lower frontal area needed. But steel is a denser material so it will be heavy one would ask. But by using a denser but higher strength material and with careful construction I am able to use less material.

The lower frontal area alone negates this if it was a problem. With aluminium and carbon you have to use more material to obtain the same strength and rigidity with a loss of fulfilling the most important design objective of lower frontal area and slippery shapes.

Steel also has much greater freedom to be able to construct and join that is impossible in other materials. It is also works well in tension and compression and has high impact and fatigue resistance. Also the bars have to be reliable in competition and suffer travel abuse.

I figured that I could build the bars to weigh under 1kg. The STD model ended up under 900grams and some special ones built and used for the Sydney Olympics weighed less than 800 grams.

I built a prototype and tested the cable routing etc and came up with improvements and then I presented the prototype to the A.I.S biomechanist Dr Brian Mclean. He liked them, so the first two were built and race tested in Europe in 1999 and passed with flying colours (a couple of wins).

The following year 2000 I built as many as I could for the national team during my time in Australia before the Olympic campaign. With all things considered, the saving was around 75 to 100% in weight and with considerably improved aerodynamics compared to commercial mass production bars and fittings. But the bars are custom built specially to go with the custom designed frame with special brake levers and adaptations to the gear lever, labour intensive so this of course cannot happen in the main stream commercial world.

The bars are race proven and with many international successes. Lighter, more aero and reliable. The handlebars have started many enquires of interest here and from overseas.

Achieved by disregarding preconceived ideas and with the ability to access custom requirements.

DO YOU WANT TO GO FASTER IN TIME TRIALS?

Handle bars built for track pursuit competitions. This handle bar is built for a female A.I.S athlete.

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