Long-Term Review – 3T Aeronova Dropbars and ARX II Stem

Earlier this year, 3T announced a new aero version of their ‘nova and ‘tundo drop bars lines. The Aeronova and Aerotundo bars combine a similar shape drop used Tornova/Ergonova and Rotundo/Ergotundo, with a flat, airfoil top section, providing superior aerodynamics and a wide, flat position for your hands while climbing. This all sounds great, but there are a few things you’ll need to consider before you take the aero plunge.

Straight away, the construction and finish of the Aeronova Team Stealth was typical 3T. The Stealth color way is subtle, with the typically red accents changed to black. It’s a great option for people going for a murdered out bike, or anyone with a bike color that clashes against the bold red. Unfortunately, they are not part of 3T’s custom colors…yet (hopefully). The bars are also offered in their budget aluminum Pro level in black and white, mid-level carbon Team with red accents, and top level high-mod carbon LTD and LTD Stealth with light gray or black accents respectively. For those that do an occasional TT or Tri, the Team/Team Stealth can be used with clip-on aerobars.

To make installation a little easier, the bar ships with cable sheaths running from the top of the drops to the center of the bar internally to help with routing your brake and shifter cables. This is great for mechanical, but can be a little tricky for electronic. Eventual users of SRAM’s wireless electronic groupset will install without a hitch, but if you are using a wired electronic set up, make sure you run the wiring before you mount the bar on the bike so you can spin them around as you are trying to guide them through. With that being said, it took only a few additional minutes to run the wires without Park Tool’s IR-1 internal cable routing tool. Once everything was installed, I wrapped the bars to just past the where the brake and shift lines run internally into the bar, leaving the wide top with 3T’s graphics exposed.

One of the first things I noticed about the bar when installing was the additional length from the tops to the hoods. Beyond the visual difference, the Di2 cables I had previously used with the Ergonova bars went from having a bit of extra length to being just about a perfect fit. More on this when we get to the riding impressions.

The ARX II stem is also pretty standard fare for 3T. It is available in the aluminum Pro, Team, and Team Stealth editions, but not in a carbon LTD like the original ARX is. These also are unfortunately not part of the custom color program. Visually, you will notice the bolt placement on the face plate and the steerer clamp to be the main differences. More subtly, it has a little more of a flattened shape on the sides when compared to the round ARX. Up front, the ARX II puts both sets of top and bottom face plate bolts together in the center, instead of the four corners. This gives it a smaller clamping area, providing more space to mount a computer, light, aero bars, or other accessory. Intuitively, you would think a smaller clamping area would make for a weaker hold on the bar, but with using some carbon paste and tightening the Torx bolts to the spec’d tension, I have yet to experience any slide of the bars on even some wicked pot hole hits. The steerer clamp also only uses a single Torx bolt. When it is all said and done, the ARX II weighs in at the same weight as its predecessor. It really boils down to which model you like better.

One other thing to note about the ARX II is that it is compatible with the 3T Eye. The included mount replaces the face plate on the ARX II, but also fits a Barfly 2.0. From the looks of it, the included mount could also work for a Garmin computer with a quarter turn mount. The Eye is basically a small basic cycling computer that also includes data from an app on your smartphone. With the capabilities of our smartphones increasing by the minute, the Eye allows you to ditch your Garmin, and use it for all of your ride tracking, while keeping the screen on your phone turned off to save battery life. The GPS data will come from your phone through a Bluetooth 4.0 connection between 3T’s app and the Eye unit. Any ANT+ data from a HR monitor, power meter, or speed/cadence unit will go directly to the Eye. Together, the display is rather plain and simple, and there are three buttons to use to start/stop, and navigate menus. The connection to the app also allows access to review more detailed info from the ride on a larger screen, along with access to social media, training sites, and a cloud server.

Impressions on the Road

Once on the road, the next thing you need to consider comes into play. Compared to the Ergonova, the reach is where you will see the biggest difference. At 104mm vs 77mm on the Ergonova, the Aeronova is nearly 30 mm longer. Just by looking at the bars, you’ll see the difference in length comes from the transition of the flat airfoil sections to the tops of the drops, along with a slight rake forward. Correcting for the difference isn’t as easy as using a shorter stem since it brings the bars back closer to your legs when standing up to climb.  The perfect Aeronova rider will be one that likes a long, aggressive position, which makes sense, since they are made to be aero.

It took me a little while to get used to them, but once I did, I actually appreciate the extra length. It provides a second hand hold just behind the hoods to help change things up. On the drops, I found a little bit of flex when pulling on them hard in a sprint, or blasting over some rough roads. If you need a super rigid bar, I’d say go for the LTD, but for most, the Team/Team Stealth will be fine. The flex was actually appreciated when riding through some gravel sections on my local ride. Up on the hoods, the flex was a little less noticeable, and undetectable when holding on to the tops. Speaking of the hoods, depending on the tape you are using, you might want to throw a strip of gel padding over the cables and back to where they enter the bar. With a thinner Fizik microfiber tape, it was noticeable, and a bit annoying. With the gel added, they felt great. Up on the tops, the wide airfoil shape felt really comfortable to hang on to. Riders with smaller hands might find them a bit big, but there is plenty to grab on to. The untapped surface wasn’t nearly as grippy as the tapped areas, which is to be expected, but if you are riding with gloves that don’t offer much in grip, they could be pretty slippery. Also, If you use a Di2 climbing shifter, you’ll either have to mount it under the bar facing forward or backwards, or ditch it all together. I left mine off as there just didn’t seem to be a good way to mount it and still keep the aero look.

As for the ARX II stem, there isn’t much to say. It did its job, and was hardly noticeable, which is exactly what you want out of a stem. There was little to no flex, same as the ARX we reviewed back in the 3T Cross Cockpit article.

Adding the aero shape and extra reach to the bars does add a little bit of a weight penalty, but not much. 3T says the size 42cm Aeronova should be 220 grams, a 40 gram increase over the Ergonova. When weighed, I was happy to see 3T was a little generous, as my sample came in at 218 grams. The 110 mm ARX II stem on the other hand, weighed in at 125 grams, which is the claimed weight for the 100mm size. Still, about a tenth of a pound to gain some aero advantage, I’d say it is worth it.

As for how much aero advantage you get, that is debatable. With the BWN wind tunnel unavailable due to a lack of wind, we couldn’t test it. What I will say though, in a time of marginal gains being made at every part of the bike by decreasing drag and weight, and increasing power transfer and comfort, the Aeronova and ARX II combination can at least check off two of those boxes, while making your bike at least look fast. On a rather plain Cannondale CAAD10 Black Inc, the Aeronova instantly drew everyone’s attention.

At first, I wasn’t sure if I’d be keeping them on after the review, but with the long term testing completed, I think the Aeronova and ARX II combo will be staying on for a while longer.

3T Aeronova Team Dropbars – $325.00
3T Aeronova Team Stealth Dropbars – $350.00

3T ARX II Team Stem – $100.00
3T ARX II Team Stealth Stem – $110.00

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