Originally Posted by
rydabent
Granted that is true. However it trickles down thru mfg to the wanna be racer boys. A huge number of people want a bike "just like" the winner of the Tour de France.
I don't know where you ride, but I see way more flat bars than I do racing bikes. "Huge" seems a great over-statement. Essentially, UCI's market influence is really limited to a small subsection of road bikes.