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Tri-Spoon (3rd generation tri-bars or Cinelli Spinaci with pads)
Image by timtak
From the side you can see that the bars and the wrist pads are sloping down towards the front. When I am using them, my weight is supported partly by the wrist pads and partly by the bars at the front. Since the V shape of the bars and handle look a bit like it could hold water, I call them a tri-spoon.
In this configuration, I find them very comfortable. I have put some handle bar tape on the handles like here to make them even more comfortable.
They are a lot more like normal drop (racing/road bike) handlebars except a little further forward, and in the centre. Bringing the arms to the centre improves aerodynamics at the loss of controllability. The fact that they are extended in the left-right direction too (at about 45%) and not just forward back, like "modern tribars" makes them quite controllable.
At a triathlon yesterday I had a look at all the tribars that other competitors were using. Short low angle modern 2nd Generation tri-bars proliferated, including some from profile design.
However, there was one bike (a really old bike) with bars almost exactly as shown above except without wrist pads. They were made by Cinelli.
A search tells me that they were an adaptation of the "Cinelli Spinaci" which were in fact the first bar extensions originally used by road racers in the 90’s until they were outlawed by the UCI on 8th October 1997
www.cinelli.it/EN/spinaci/storia
The bars I saw on the other bike were actually "Cinelli Spinacissimi".
I think that Cinelli may have stopped manufacturing these types of bars, sort of tri-bars for road racers, some time after the UCI outlawed them.
It seems to me that there are lots of triathathetes on road bikes, the rules against drafting are blurry (due to course widths for instance), and there is a need for road bike like tri-bars.
I might try and get some spinachi’s but I like having wrist support so I will stick with my home-made jobbies, which are effectively CInelli spinachi with wrist pads.
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Image by lynetao
