The trend in aero bars is for Syntace and Profile to have less of the market in the aggregate than they've had in the past—not by much, but certainly more than a blip.
In both 2001 and 2002 these companies combined to have 88% of the total market share in Kona. In 2003 that has dropped to 83%.
Which companies are the recipients? They are legion. It appears that either Scott isn't enforcing its patent or these other companies aren't afraid of it. There were eight aero bar companies that had at least 15 of their aero bar products represented in the race. Of them all, Hed was the winner by a nose, pretty impressive considering it has one model, it's in its first year, it's not really an aero bar company, and its product costs $500.
The rest of the field included one company with product in the race only because these bars are a vestige of the products they used to make, and that's Scott. The other seven are definitely in the business. They include Vision Tech, which has perennially been the number-5 company but by next year very probably will rank higher, based on their very strong product showing at Interbike.
The Europeans keep creeping up, with 110 in the race. That's just among these five companies listed, and doesn't include smaller Euro bar manufacturers like Walser and Cheetah (by European companies I'm of couse omitting Syntace, which is as much an American company as a European one in many ways). The problem with these (mainly Italian) companies is they don't have any sort of robust U.S. distribution. Also, for as much as they spend sponsoring pro cycling teams, they are curiously uninterested in having their bars on the bikes of pro triathletes in Kona.
Back to the big powerhouses. Syntace still holds the number-one spot, but Profile is clawing and scratching its way up. The differential is now 5 points, 44% to 39%. This actually represents a drop for both companies of the overall market share, but the differential between the two narrows every year.
The landscape has changed quite dramatically in the past four years, when there were only five companies to speak of in the race. Now there is at least double that. Scott ranked as the top aero bar company in 1987 and was a strong force for many years. It was still in third place 12 years after it first burst on the scene. That was 4 years ago. Now it has fallen to number eight.
What has become apparent is that Profile and Syntace were technologically ahead of the pack, but they're starting to be seriously pressured by competitors. By next year we'll see how they're able to respond.
One last note: We took a year off from polling one-piece bars versus pursuit bars and clip-ons. Perhaps we'll poll that again next year.
