You can ride any kind of bike you want! A tribike is just a streamlined road bike (at least mine is), and there are plenty of those on RAGBRAI!

Any bike is welcome on RAGBRAI.

That being said, my personal stance on aerobars are leave them for the training rides and triathlons. There are just too many people of widely varying levels of skill to be using aero bars. Being able to grab brake levers in an instant might just keep you out of trouble.

And just be prepared to hear, “How was the swim?” while out on the route.

The bike itself would be fine but aero bars are a big no. Aero bars have no place in group rides and this is a HUGE group ride in which anything can happen at any time.

I’ve come to defend Aero bars!!!

I have a set on my road bike. I use them all of the time and I ride in the bars as much as possible, even on RAGBRAI. However, like with most things in life, don’t be an idiot, have some common sense. Yes RAGBRAI is a huge group ride but that doesn’t mean you are always riding in a tight group. It is possible to ride with plenty of space between you and anyone else. Once you get past the morning surge, the pack thins out really well.

I say bring the tribike. RAGBRAI brings out everyone, of all types and all types of bikes. No one other than you should care about what kind of bike you ride.

Thanx fo the comments. It is not possible to remove the aerobars, as the shifters are mounted at the ends of the aerobars. As this is the only bike that I have right now, I plan I riding ragbrai on the tribike with aerobars. If in a pack and necessary to be on the brakes it is no problem to ride on the horns, just not possible to shift at the same time. It also does not take a split second to come off the bars and get to the horns. I have even ridden with one hand on the aerobar, and one hand on the brake when going down steep inclines knowing i would have to slow down to make a corner.

Any bike is welcome on RAGBRAI. There will be times when the traffic is very dense and you will have to be alert and prepared to react to just about anything you can imagine happening and pretty much everything you would think would never happen. You will be among many riders who do not have any concept of proper group ride procedures and behaviors. You will have to watch out for them, they do not even conceive of the need to be watching out for you. So be prepared mentally to stop much more quickly and unexpectedly than your bike is built to do. I don’t think your bike is particularly dangerous as long as you don’t carry the triathlon mentality into this ride. It is about as far from a triathlon as you can get, culture wise….

Thank you for your input, I am looking forward to this being far from a triathlon. I am very excited about taking a long leisurely social ride and taking in all of the sites and atmosphere that ragbrai has to offer.

You’ll have a blast whatever you ride. Also, don’t worry about the bars. I’ve been on many trips across the state, all but one of them with aero bars. Common sense goes a long ways. I use the bars to change up my riding position. Helps my back and my butt. That being said, they’re not used very much the first half of the day. Hope you have a great ride!