Originally Posted by
Brian Ratliff
If you've got good glutes, lowering the bars will close the hip angle and engage those muscles and give you more power. It's a different riding style. Going from an open hip angle where you are mostly using your quads to a closed hip angle where you are using your glutes might lower your power output until you start developing the proper muscles. On the other hand, the glutes have the potential to be far more powerful than your quads, and you'll never get there until you just bite the bullet and lower your bars.
While closing the hip angle develops power without question...there is a point of diminishing return. This point of diminshing return for the average rider even occurs when going from hoods to the drops. Many don't generate as much power in the drops...but they are of course more aero.
It depends how closed the hip angle is to begin with. Further closing the hip angle by slamming the stem will many times lower power output.
Pros want to ride aero. If a typical pro rides with 100mm of drop, he may be more aero with 120-140mm of drop. But...he might not generate as much power. So there is a balance between aero position and power generation depending on hip angle.
Brian, if your thesis was correct all TT bikes would have a laid back road bike sta to further close the hip angle when riding aero. They don't. TT bikes have a more upright seat tube than road bikes in an effort to open hip angle to allow getting into a lower position...a balance between aero profile and power.