I’m gonna give this one a bump, was sitting around trying to make sense of the experiences I’ve had with my bikes and various bar reaches and heights. I seem to have had a consistent experience that bars need to move out a little as I move them up to a certain point, maybe somewhere around level with the saddle or a little above, then they need to start coming back. For me it felt like there was no point to drop bars once they were more than about an inch above saddle height, the position was upright enough that there was basically no weight on my hands so a flat bar was good enough and no aero benefit from being in the drops when only 3” below saddle, and horizontal reach with bars that high requires a pretty hunched over posture.
For a year, about 4K miles, I rode a bike with bars about 8cm below saddle. I switched to a different bike a month ago, 300 or so miles, same frame size with 10mm longer top tube and bars 2cm below saddle and needed a longer stem to achieve comfort with the bars higher. I’m using the bars from the old bike on the new one. I mention the mileage only to give an idea that these have been gradual changes over long periods and have taken a lot of time and fine adjustments. But I think I see a trend. My overall average speed has decreased about 2mph since switching bikes, but I’m using wider, heavier tires, the new bike is about 10 lbs heavier, there’s a loaded pannier out in the wind, and I’m spinning more than mashing. In addition to being more upright. The reach is long enough that I’m still pretty well stretched in the drops, and the drops are low enough to make a nice difference in a 15 mph headwind.
But I was wondering how that sort of handlebar arc would look, was having a hard time visualizing it. I actually took the time and used the search function, patting myself on the back. Good boy.
Maybe somebody with superior graphic arts skills would take a stab at it.
Edit - all commuting miles, around the same effort. Not scientific by any standard.