Originally Posted by seely
You grip the bottom ends and your hands are right next to the headtube.
Doesn't that make you unable to brake though? I cant reach the levers from that far back on the drops on my roadie. Kind of a dicey way to descend a hill off-road. Some people I have seen using drop bars for serious off-road use a second set of brake levers so they can ride on the bar-tops while braking. It's more of a cross thing, but fairly rare since those guys are usually trying to save weight.