I also remember a quote by tomac (couldn't place it or even give a source so it is strictly from memory) but he wouldnt do dh again using drops as they were tooo dangerous. He did it for a very short time for reasons stated above, not because it was the BEST choice but because it made sense at the time.

This is also from the guy who makes comments about current dh riders not being up to par to race on the old kamikazi race (no one in the upper echelon entered the race if I remember right). Easy reasoning, no one does that kind of riding. Kamikazi died years ago, dh racing is now both intense skill going as fast as possible, not fire roads going as fast as possible. I would love to see how tomac does in a real dh race by todays standards. (curious observation, I still respect what he did 10-14 years ago, I also have respect for palmer, but I doubt many xc guys knows his dominations of the dh, fr, x-games circuit, bmx and mx)...

I use wide risers, I tried narrow flats, didn't work for me, can we please let this drop and just leave it to individual riders. Not everyone (no one I know really including the WC xc winner from the past few years) likes 17in bars let alone more technical riders who use 26 to 28in bars. Its personal like a seat. If I had a spare frame for ***** and giggles I might give it a try, but I don't So I stick to my 26" 6" travel front end and love riding the way I ride