According to Zipp, most of the attention has been on high end carbon fiber aero bars lately, but there’s a larger market in the affordable aluminum component range.
As such, they’ve introduced the Vuka Alumina, an all new alloy aero bar series. They’re based on the shapes and sizes of their higher end carbon models but have been tweaked to put you in the most neutral aero position possible. Afterall, the fastest race position is the one you can hold comfortably and put down the power.
“We made the parts fit to the rider rather than make adapters to make parts fit after the fact,” said David Ripley, Zipp’s technical PR director.
Part of the design of the Alumina series is actually based on riders not having the right size bike or, at least, not being positioned well on it. Both are common problems. They worked with a number of athletes and fit specialists to design an adjustable, flexible system that lets riders with one or both of these predicaments find a proper position on the bike.
They’ve also updated their elbow rests and tweaked the carbon parts, too…
New Vuka Race bend shape in the aero extensions moves the shifters about 30mm close to the base bar and puts them where the rider can naturally rest their hands on the shifters. In addition to comfort, it also means you don’t have to reach or move your hands out of position to shift.
Base bar is 250g in a 42cm width (outside measurement). Ski tip extensions are 185g (above) and Race shape is 175g (top).
There’s also a carbon Vuka Race extension. Weight is 145g, length is 360mm and it’s available with or without integrated mounts for either SRAM or Zipp R2C bar end shifters.
Across the line, the extension’s diameter is now 22.2mm, putting it inline with industry standards and letting it work with any standard clip/elbow pad piece. Standard Vuka Races will work with R2C and with SRAM’s TT 500 and 900 or any other bar end shifters.
The integrated shifters.
The elbow rests have been redesigned to offer more adjustability. Four mounting positions are offered. The holes are staggered round and slotted, which allows you to adjust the angle as well as the width. The bottoms are angled so that as you widen the position, the tilt changes slightly, too.
The system is entirely modular, letting you or a fit specialist pick the right parts, mounting positions, etc., to get it just right for you. Available in June.
