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Old 05-02-18 | 11:13 AM
  #17  
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davester
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Joined: Oct 2012
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From: Berkeley CA

Bikes: 1981 Ron Cooper, 1974 Cinelli Speciale Corsa, 1975 Alex Singer, 2000 Gary Fisher Sugar 1, 1986 Miyata 710, 1982 Raleigh "International", 1985 Trek 720

Ride whatever is comfortable. Drop bars make sense for long rides or high speed or into the wind, whereas upright bars make sense for short rides at slower speeds with few into the wind stretches. Your note that you used an aggressive fit and stance suggests that it is not just the bars that you are talking about, but perhaps the fact that you had the drops set up much lower than, and/or at a much greater reach from, the saddle. This has nothing to do with the bar type. Personally, I find upright bars to be quite pleasant for very short trips. I could not tolerate the lack of hand positions or inability to reduce my wind profile for anything but around town rides though.

This actually reminds me of a conversation with my brother. He was complaining bitterly about the drop bars on his bike. I asked him why he had the stem slammed so that the bars were several inches below the saddle and why he had such a loooong stem on there. He said that the (young) guy at the LBS had told him this was the proper setup for him. We changed out his stem and he was suddenly comfortable for the first time in years.

Last edited by davester; 05-02-18 at 11:38 AM.
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