Originally Posted by
lphilpot
+1
I've found I have basically five positions on drop bars: On top, at the bend, at the base of the hoods, on the hoods and in the drops. It's really nice to be able to switch around, even on shorter rides. Plus, I have interrupter brake levers on top and rarely use the brakes from the hoods. For me, the brifters are just shifters.
My old roadie and my new semi-tourer commuter both have drop bars with interrupters, which I consider esential for commuting in traffic. On the old downtube shifter roadie I'm on the tops mostly, on the new brifter bike, I'm mostly on the hoods, but I believe that's a function of how the bikes are set up. I may monkey with the roadie's positioninglater on.