Originally Posted by
Campag4life
As a public service and as the Voice of the Industry
, please check out the video below of what bars the pros use. This has revelevance to bar width...I have switched to all narrower bars on my road bikes and vastly enjoy them more and a 40cm bar versus 44cm...I am just over 6' tall...feels so much better and more aero...but reason for posting the following video is because of all the bike handlebar setups I see with the hooks pointing down at the ground. You guys do that because you want to raise the hoods and tip them back a bit.
A suggestion and only that is...don't fall into that trap. Instead, set up your bars like the pros. They know what they are doing and the amateur less so. As a 'priority' first set your hooks level to the ground. This is 'so much' more supportive for low grip pressure in the drops and while sprinting.
Then, push your shifters up or down on the top of the bar to suit your wrist position. I would say a universal trap is to push your shifters back. I would say although not as critical as hook position, again look at the pro position. Hoods are typically more forward. If you don't have the flexibility, then use a shorter stem to place the bar more below you. Pushing the levers back aside from wrist position is compensation for lack of flexibility or running too long a stem.
Just wanted to share and point out we can all take a page out of how the pros ride and why they do what they do. Handlebars and shifters are designed by manufacturers with a given design intent. Rotating bars and positioning shifters back isn't ergonomically what the designers had in mind.
Two bikes above display the rotated handlebar syndrome which btw is more common than not in amateur ranks but 'rarely' seen in pro ranks. This is because rotating the handlebar back raises it with a given stem rise. A bandaid. Robbing peter to pay paul. Peter is the critical hook position. Better riders want to use the drops. The drops are the most comfortable and secure hand position on the bike 'provided the hook profile is correct'. Among pros, hooks are level to the ground which feels so much more supportive and hoods aren't pushed back because reach isn't a problem.
You will see it here and it makes a notable difference while out riding.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EnWifIRkO4A
The key is to not have your wrists kinked at an angle while riding. This can cause injury and nerve pain. So if your bars are tilted back, you may have your wrists kinked with your thumbs or backs of hands bent back towards your forearms, which may cause injury.
BUT if you have a more upright riding position than a pro rider, you may need a
little backward tilt to avoid a bent wrist. Anything more than ten degrees, and you should probably re-examine your stem and effective top tube length.
I would say that the position of your hoods is more critical than the horizontal angle of the drops, even for the pros. I saw an analysis recently of multiple UCI races looking at the hand position of pro riders throughout multiple events, and even pros have their hands on the hoods the vast majority of the time. The so-called "correct" set up has a smooth transition from the handlebar ramps through the brifter hood, but some vintage hoods will not allow for this because of their shape. Either way, avoid kinked wrists.