Vision’s TFE Pro Extensions On a Regular Tri Bike

February 7, 2022

Month before last Greg Kopecky wrote here on the Vision TFE Pro Extensions and I’m writing about them again, not to supersede anything Greg wrote, just to show you these extensions in a way Greg did not: as mounted on a standard pursuit bar.

I’ve got a pair of Quintana Roo tri bikes in my workshop at the moment, a PRsix and a V-PR. The single thing that most turns a tri bike a “super” bike is the way the front end of the bike smooshes into the rest of the bike and makes it look like a café racing motorcycle. There is no obvious transition from frame to stem to handlebar on a super bike. It just looks like a kind of Batmobile. So, you take these two bikes I have and they’re both super bikes.

But one is more super than the other. The PRsix is kinda-super, and that’s what we’re going to look at today, because you can get the Vision Metron TFE Pro on the V-PR in its full glory, extensions on the purpose-built pursuit bar, and that’s the bar you see reviewed by Greg. The V-PR is super-duper. It’s a super-duper bike. Here’s what the mounting of these armrest looks like on the V-PR.

The PRsix has a lot of super powers, for sure, but it’s dressed more like Clark Kent. The PRsix that I’m showing you today has been my test mule for a number of products (including the SRAM Wireless Blips you see on this bike), and this bike has on it a standard pursuit bar that’s got a 31.8mm round section to which the stem affixes. That’s the same diameter, probably, as the handlebar that goes on your road or gravel bike. The stem on the PRsix is anything but standard, but because that stem accepts a standard handlebar you have a lot of freedom. You can put pretty much anything on it you want.

That’s what makes this bike a good test mule. Look at the image below and you’ll see that these extensions go fine on a bike with a standard, 31.8mm, round pursuit bar.

This bike hosts a mixed-brand front end. It’s got a Profile Design hydration system that is, honestly, in my estimate, the most integrated of the non-integrated systems. It goes really well on this bike and on others like the Cervelo P-Series. But this aerobar I’m writing about today is the first and best of its kind, which is, an aerobar extension on which you rest your entire forearm.

I think a lot of those who ride this bar want to take advantage of its aero potential, which would mean angling these extensions up. However, I have found that I like my forearms pretty much horizontal, and I like these extensions nonetheless because I can rest my weight along my entire forearm (in theory and we’ll get to that). They’re just comfortable. They’re also pretty adjustable. If you take off the pad, you’ll see a large form-fitting rubber grommet, and you’ll need a little screw driver or pick to get it out of there (it’s easy, just, you can’t do it with your fingers).

Once the grommet is out of there you’ll see the holes exposed, and these screws take a 3mm Allen (I wish it were a 4mm Allen, or a T20 or T25 Torx). You have a lot of adjustment options, and it’s hard to imagine a situation where the width, fore/aft, rotation is unachievable.

This new breed of extension is adaptable to a mortal pursuit bar, as we see, and that gives you some freedom you don’t otherwise have. For example, in my opinion tri bike makers have painted themselves into a corner with pursuit bars that use a horizontal pursuit position – where your hands meet the bar – and that’s especially the case if there is no upturn at the end. You’ve ridden this kind of bar, right? When you place your hands on the pursuits, on a descent, or when braking, and there is nothing there to brace against, to keep you from going arse over teakettle. Sure, the pro cyclists handle those pursuits fine. But I have to work, and feed the dogs, and swim, and watch TV, and run, and I don’t have time to learn how to be comfortable with a contraption like that.

If you look at this bike, I just angle the pursuit bars up a bit, which I can do with a semi-mortal set-up like I’ve got on this PRsix. Now I have something to brace against when I’m in the pursuits. I can angle the extensions down, up, flat, whatever I want.

This bar is very fairly priced when you consider the rather exotic prices attached to bars in this category. But there is an additional cost, in my case, if you want these pedestaled. The top of the pads sit 60mm above the centerline of the pursuit bar at their lowest height, which is very standard for clips-ons and has been for decades. (You can get lower profile aerobars, but 60mm is a standard height for full-length aerobars.) In my old age my limiter is my neck. Unless I get some kind of surgery (which I’m going to look into one of these days) I can't easily crane my head up to look forward, and that means I need a higher position, and that means I needed an extra 30mm of pedestals. You must buy the aftermarket spacer kit.

It has been my experience that these extensions in their lowest position take a 30mm M6 bolt, and that means taking out the 10mm pedestal that comes with the extensions when you buy them. I believe Vision may recommend or spec a 35mm bolt for that (they sent me a 45mm bolt to use with that 10mm pedestal included). Just, myself, I had to cobble together various parts (life during a pandemic and associated supply chain issues) and my modus operandi here was bolt lengths of 30mm + pedestal height, so, if I’m adding 30mm of pedestals I’m putting a 60mm M6 bolt in there. But I would defer to whatever Vision specs.

What other issues are there, beyond the spacer it? You may find, if you’re taller, that even the longest of the 3 sizes is lot long enough. I’m 6’2” and if I angled these bars up I would probably find that this is the case. But because they’re flat, and my weight is disbursed enough along the armrest that I don’t need them protruding further back.

It’s not quite true (as I have been saying) that you're supported along the entire forearm, because the armrest pad sits proud about a centimeter above the base of the extension. The bar is plenty comfortable as is. Still, I may cut up an old wetsuit and experiment a bit with extending the pad, homestyle. If that bears any fruit I’ll write back, with pics. That’s because I’m a tinkerer, and tinkerers gotta tink.

Here are the Metron TFE Pro Extensions. These are $448 and there’s a $56 adapter kit that you may well need. I or the folks who curate our fit assistance threads could probably math it out for you if you give them enough data, and you should be able to determine whether you need that kit or not.