Hugh Januss said:
Yes, Scott Tinley invented the position and then Lance followed soon after.
And the Pro Peloton followed soon after Lance.
(Of course nobody ever said Lance invented the tri-bar / tri-position)
Scott Tinley is the "Grandfather of the Modern Euro Pro TT position",
even though he never raced as a Euro Pro.
Lance is the "Father of the Modern Euro Pro TT Postition" because he is the
first euro pro to actually use it.
Actually you are both wrong. Boone Lennon invented the tri-bar/aero bar.
Look it up.
http://www.faqs.org/sports-science/Je-Mo/Lennon-Boone.html[/QUOTE]
...Boone Lennon invented the tri-bar/aero-bar...well the story behind that is interesting....
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The aero bar -- as we know it -- was invented by Boone Lennon. It first became apparent in our sport in 1987. Yes, it is true that a lay-down apparatus did appear in long-distance racing earlier in the decade on RAAM rider Jim Elliott's bike. Both Richard Bryne -- founder of Speedplay -- and RAAM winner Pete Pensyres were involved in that project. The main difference between that bike and the handlebars Lennon introduced was the concept of narrowness. Elliott's forearms were at brake-lever width, as opposed to the mock-downhill-skier position espoused by Lennon. Indeed, the bars were "Scott DH bars:" DH for downhill. The idea behind Elliott's position was comfort; the idea behind Lennon's bars was aerodynamics: precisely the position achieved by a downhill skier while tucked.
I have read the patents, but I've never had the patent file pulled. Only with the entire patent file would one discover whether Lennon had disclosed Elliott's bike as (what is termed in patent law) "prior art." That might have a bearing on Lennon's patent validity. I take no position on whether or not the patent is or was valid. Regardless, Lennon has maintained over the years that his bars were significantly different than anything prior, as is explained above. He certainly started the craze. There is no doubt in my mind that if Lennon had not introduced the bars we'd still be riding old-style road technology. Roy Wallack wrote an excellent piece on the history of aero bar development in Triathlete Magazine about three years ago.
...from ...
http://www.slowtwitch.com/mainheadings/features/superform.html
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...having seen the original lay-down bar and the DH elbow positions it may be more accurate to say Boone Lennon patented the tri/bar but not necessarily invented it...either way its a great story and a heck of an innovation and great work by Lennon in promoting it...
...and the following bit adds a bit more meat to this wild and crazy story...
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I was watching a copy of ABC's (USA) Wide World of Sports programming of the Race Across AMerica (RAAM) from 1986 and they showed the winner of the race, Pete Penseyres using a 'prototype' triathlete's handlebar.
Then I watched a copy of the 1986 Hawaii Ironman with Dave Scott winning over Mark Allen - none of these riders were using the tri bar then.
The RAAM was competed in during June/July, whilst the ironman was completed in October ...
I never realised until recently that the "Scott" handlebars, were named after the 'ultimate' ironman Dave Scott ...
I guess the tri bars were popularised due to Greg lemond using them, and arguably winning the Tour due to the handlebars, but he was not the first to use them in professional cycling. Apparently it was the 7-Eleven team in the Tour De Trump of the 1989 season who used them first and Lemond must have liked what he saw and brought them out in the first time trial (not the prologue) in the Tour. Like I have read, Lemond was a good 'copycat' not innovator ...?
....from...
http://www.cyclingforums.com/forum/thread/193666/who-invented-the-triathlete-s-handlebars
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...sorry for this late edit but below is a link to a rather long but very interesting article on the invention of the aero-bar....its even weirder than the info posted above...
http://triathlon.competitor.com/2010/07/insidetri/was-the-first-aerobar-really-not-the-first_11039
Cheers
blutto
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