Originally Posted by
jefnvk
For me, my Mazama allows my arms/wrists to come in at a much more comfortable angle on the hoods. Best handlebars I've ever tried, I'd buy a case to equip all my bikes if I could find one.
Agree with @
tyrion, I vastly prefer my drops pointing at my rear axle. I spend little time in the drops, and when I do the angle is hardly bothersome.
Sorry- i think i sort of blurred my opinion and historical info on the bars together and made it sound like I personally disapprove of the setup that you and tyrion have.
I was moreso just saying that the bars were designed for the drops to be flat as that was the intended predominant riding position, which is also why bars level with the saddle is a common design feature of bikes that use those bars- it allows for the drops to be used more.
With that said, a lot of users clearly dont use the bars how they were originally intended because the hoods are more preferred by many.
My old bars were set up traditionally proper and the hoods pointed down and inward too much. I rode em for a few years and put up with it, but eventually decided to spend a bit of coin to get some bars that have a better bend for my style, and now the hoods are level and the drops are level. So much nicer.
I think with some of the bends that have come out in the last 4 years, bar brands have recognized there is a strong preference for flared drops but also hooks that allow brake levers to be placed level.
No setup is actually wrong and whatever works is best. I was really just citing why many of the bars are the way they are- what the original thinking and design was.
Its actually cool to see how something evolves due to user preference.