VISION TRIMAX CARBON SI R-BEND

Does this top-end carbon cockpit produce a top-end ride?

T he Vision Trimax Carbon SI R-Bend (there’s also a J-bend version) is definitely a hot piece of hardware. As you’d expect from a whole-carbon cockpit of this top-end level, it also has a fairly high price of £679.

The Trimax from the Kona, Hawaii-hailing Vision is designed for keen triathletes and time triallists (Vision’s riders include top pro triathlete Michelle Vesterby), and it’s also compliant with the Shimano Di2. But the cockpit’s best feature is that it’s easy to fit on your bike, at least if you take the whole internal routing procedure out of the equation. The good news, though, is that it really offers a great range of adjustability and that all the skewers are placed in hand-safe positions and are easy to reach (which is still not a rule in the industry, believe it or not). As you’d expect from an aero cockpit, the grip on the main bar and the side horns isn’t designed to be used for extended periods, but will do the job as well as its competitors. No more, no less. Yet we were hugely impressed by the self-described ‘low-profile’ armrest pads, which are really comfortable and above what’s provided by the majority of their tri-bar rivals.

The other positive news compared to older versions of Vision’s cockpits is that, if you need to change just the bend bars (from r-bend to j–bend or vice versa), you can purchase them separately at a later stage. That wasn’t the case with older models like the Vision Vector F.A.S.T.