Saturday, June 16, 2012

Cee Gees Cushy's - Aero Bar Pads

Review: Cee Gee's Cushy's

The Felt B10 is my first experience on a time trial frame and as I gain more experience I find little things that may need tweaking, but one improvement that I felt was urgent was changing the stock aerobar pads that came with the frame and bars. It is not a bad feeling pad, but during one hot sweaty ride I almost crashed when I went from a standing climb back down on the bars. My forearm slid right off the pad due to the pad surface being slick with sweat, the front end of the bike wobbled and I nearly went down. Not wanting to experience that again I started to search the web to see if others had the same experience (there were a few), but I also found others that had comfort issues and a trend of seeing the company name, Cee Gees starting to populate a number of discussions. I placed my order for the Felt Bayonet bars, which must of been popular because they were back ordered.

Upon receiving, it took about 30 minutes to remove the old pads, clean the surface and apply self-adhesive Velcro. My first test this morning was short so I will need to see how these feel after a long distance ride, but even in the short 10 mile test ride this morning I was really impressed how these pad felt compared to the stock pads. I wasn't really looking to improve comfort because it was more of the surface type (slick with sweat) on the stock pads that I was concerned about, but these pads really feel good and are huge improvement. The feel is firm and yet very comfortable. I  have not tested with sweat and cleaning yet, but based on experience with similar surface materials it looks like it will be fine.

What you might want to consider if you purchase this product is that the pad for the Felt Bayonet is twice as thick is the stock. When you are professionally fitted to a TT bike this might throw off the fit. On my fit with S-bend type bars my wrists are already bent a little, but I believe that the pad thickness will not hurt me and the comfort of the pads far exceed my wrist being bent a hair more. Another consideration for the Felt Bayonet is that the Velcro hook and loop is reversed from the stock pads. You will need to purchase and apply the hook side of the Velcro to the pad base. I purchased this from Cee Gees, but it did not stick well so I used some Industrial Strength Velcro purchased from a large department store and it seems to be sticking much better.

Summary: My opinion about the Cee Gees Cushy's?

Really good purchase for improved comfort, feel and safety as a replacement to the stock pads. Purchase the Velcro Industrial Strength locally from the large box department store.

Felt Bayonet Stock Pads - nice feel when dry, but slippery when wet
Cushy's as received in the mail
Nice!! - Like a comfy couch for your forearms
Here is a view of the pad thickness
Update: These Cee Gees Cushy may be one of the best things I have purchased for this bike.



6 comments:

Niknofx said...

I'm having the same problem, just got the Felt DA4 and hate the pads. Was looking around and saw Cee Gees seemed to be my best bet but was worried about if the shape/size would work. Thanks for posting pics, you answered my question! Can't wait to try out the Cee Gees!

The Cycling Addiction said...

Thanks for the feedback. I do hope the Cee Gees will work out for you. I am real happy that I got them.

Anonymous said...

I was curious...I just bought a Felt DA4 and was wondering what type of mount you have for your Garmin??

The Cycling Addiction said...

Ben,
I made the mount in Cee Gees post. I have a close up of how to make this simple mount at the link below. Flat plastic or vinyl if you have something laying around the house. Just couldn't bring myself to paying $40 for the real mount. :-)

http://thecyclingaddiction.blogspot.com/2012/06/brewery-80.html

or another cheap version with PVC pipe.

http://www.thecyclingaddiction.blogspot.com/2011/01/diy-aerobar-computer-mount.html

Ray S. said...

Interesting that you got industrial strength velcro/adhesive to replace the Cee Gee provided attachments - I lost my brand new Cee Gee's on a 40 mph descent because the adhesive is not adequate and when you realize they are gone it's too late. Cee Gee customer support will not stand behind their product so when you lose yours you can kiss your $35 goodbye.

Unknown said...

Raymond--

We are sorry you had that experience with losing a set of Cushys. We are not at fault for the placement or usage of your velcro. We are not able to give out a free product for every person who loses their item. Nevertheless, we are still sorry about the situation. Let us know if we can do anything else for you.

--Cee Gees Support