Originally Posted by
rawklobster
If efficiency and wind are not variables, is there anything wrong with building a custom touring bike with geometry that leads to a more upright position? And I don't mean more upright than a road bike, but more upright than maybe a standard tour bike.
One of my bikes is set up to ride fully upright by using carbon bar ends as palm rests connected at the lower junction of trekking bars. (If you choose to drop your hands to the brake position on the bars your shoulders drop a couple of inches, if you move to the front of the bars, maybe 3, 4 inches.) Riding fully upright is a joy for sightseeing and weaving through traffic. Riding century distances the negatives of being fully upright continuously get fairly obvious, the pressures on the spine and tailbone cause pain, stiffness and are cumulative- meaning every day riding can be torture. My caution is be sure you have multiple positions that allow you to change your loading on your spine and get some stretch. If you watch the TdF riders they are on the tops, hoods, drops, leaning their forearms on the tops, standing position, running position, ... they are changing things up. Any bike that gives you one option for body position is going to be a problem for back to back all day rides. You don't want to end up chronic back and shoulder problems.