Originally Posted by
nickw
If you spend 95% of time on the hoods I think you need either a) work on flexibility or b) raise your bars, but maybe you have some unique bodily limitations that don't allow for it. I think you should be comfortable on flat ground in the drops on a touring bike for an extended period of time. That is the whole point of having a drop bar after all.
The whole point of having drop bars is to have multiple positions available at any given time. In reality, you could cut my bars off past my brake levers, and I'd rarely notice the difference. Only time I am in the drops is when I get a boost of wanna-go-fast or headed into a heavy headwind. I don't even really take ability to use brakes in drops into consideration when placing controls anymore.
Now that one of my bikes have cross top brake levers as well as the regular ones, I spend more time right on the tops, too. Really convenient in cities.