Hoods too low as in bars set too low? I would think if anything bars have got lower in recent years.

Or do you mean hoods set low on the bars, as with Sean Yates here;


For some reason he always seemed to have his bars pointed down. A lot of riders back then would have the hoods set barely above the midpoint of the curve of the bar. Riding on those hoods for prolonged periods would be uncomfortable, but then, back in those days whenever someone was really hammering, they were on the drops.