The clear winner in the aerobar category went to Laura Zimmermann, according to my subjective eye. I counted all the aerobars on all the bikes of all the pros in Kona and with an honorable mention to the set-up on Magnus Ditlev’s bike nothing compared to what I saw on the front end of Zimmermann’s bike.
Her Scott Plasma had a wild aerobar that I could not place but I tracked it down to a gentleman named Markus Weiss, who 3D prints aerobars for various bikes. It’s not his day job – Weiss is an industrial engineer by trade – but @prints4watts, his brand, is clearly a mixture of talent and passion. The process started 3 years ago, after he purchased a Cube Aerium for his own riding. “I also bought a [midrange] home 3D printer because there was no storage box available on the market. I had plenty of time because of COVID lockdown and so I designed and printed some boxes for myself and some friends.
“Over time the projects got more and more complex,” Weiss wrote me, and “the next challenge were some custom aerobars. The development started in early 2021 with some cover for original 22mm extensions like Daniela Ryf’s aero cover. But my solution wasn't very pretty, it looked too bulky, like Daniela’s current version.” (Ryf rides a SwissSide aerobar.)
“The next step was to figure out how to integrate a sleeker internal structure. The main focus was always a 100 percent safe-to-ride solution. Just the 3D print from a home 3D printer won't be stiff enough and it will fail at some point because of vibrations. So, I developed a quite unique concept compared to other manufacturers which have access to industrial grade 3D printers. My 3D prints … are mounted onto two carbon fiber or stainless steel tubes which are installed inside the original clamps of the bikes.”
Weiss knows his bars are in demand and is prepared to expand, at a reasonable pace. “I got so many requests from many more Kona professionals but there was no time to finish more than two aerobars for this year’s race. I'm pretty sure next year you will see some more of my bars in the pro field.” Weiss works on one superbike design at a time, creating bars that adapt to Scott Plasma, CUBE Aerium and others. “The adaption for Trek Speed Concept SLR and Canyon Speedmax CFR/CF SLX is at the finish line. And for example some bike record holder is using the Trek,” a tongue-in-cheek allusion to Sam Laidlow. Sam, are you listening?
I stood with Jimmy Riccitello, head of IRONMAN's officials, and he looked hard at that aerobar in the pro racks the evening before the race. Zimmermann's bars came the closest to the line of what's a fairing, if I understood Riccitello correctly. But I felt Ryf's SwissSide aerobar was a violator if this bar was. That said, I side with Riccitello's decision, that both aerobars were legal. When I think of the best examples of technologies triathlon offers to the sport of cycling these bars squarely hit the bullseye.
The first 3 images here are of Laura Zimmermann and her bars. The last 2 are of Elena Illeditsch and the bars Weiss made for her CUBE Aerium. Both women competed in and finished the pro race in Kona. Here is Markus Weiss’s Instagram page for Prints4Watts.
PHOTOS of Zimmermann: Marcel Hilger
PHOTOS of Illeditsch: Nancy Otto
