Originally Posted by
dddd
I think this deserves discussion, since older non-aero levers do make more sense when riding using DT shifters.
The current trend of riding on the hoods is because the shifting functions are there. The bike ends up being set up shorter so that the hood position isn't so far-reaching (forward).
Traditional bikes had longer reach to the handlebar, both forward and downward. The hoods were used mainly for climbing or sprinting when the rider was off of the saddle! The first rubber hoods were thus called "honking rubbers".
What today's bikes lose by having brifters is the extra forward reach that one might want to use while "honking" off of the saddle.
I think people ride on the hoods because it's more comfortable, more aerodynamic, and the bike is better balanced. I find it more comfortable on the hoods of my brifter bikes than any position on my non-aero bikes.
Also, I disagree that the bike ends up being shorter, since any loss in reach of the handlebar is more than compensated by longer stems AND the greater reach out to the brifters. For example, my two non-aero bikes have 80 cm stems and 95mm reach bars, whereas my brifter bikes have 110-130mm stems and generally 75mm reach. I also measured the location of the 'notch' where the base of your thumb falls on my non-aero bikes last night - 1cm forward of the furthest reach of the handlebars. Compare that with brifters, where it's 2.5 cm forward. So, I don't see how you're not farther forward, standing up grabbing the hoods on a brifter bike than a non-aero.
Add to that the fact that non-aero hoods are not big enough to accommodate your entire hand, so I end up with one finger in front of the lever, two fingers gripping the body of the lever and the fourth behind the bar. On brfter bikes, my whole hand fits on the lever body when riding out of the saddle, which I find much more comfortable and gives me a better, more stable and powerful grip for levering the bike side to side.
Further, the last 15 years of brifters generally include extended tops that allow even further forward extension, allowing riders a more aerodynamic position than the drops
And the "short and shallow" sort of handlebar bend that fits with the brifter approach has less total range of drop and reach that would allow both a recovery position and an aggressive aero or sprinting position. This is significant because without the big range of hand position the rider is less able to sit up and recover their abdominal and arm muscles, and the chosen stem length/height becomes more of a compromise. With use of a higher stem clamp, the deeper-drop, longer-reach handlebar gives a more comfortable recovery position than modern bars without compromising the racing position.
Again, short and shallow bars are generally paired with longer stems, so total reach is at least as great as that on non-aero bikes. And bars generally have wider, more comfortable bar tops. I'll grant that drops are not as deep as they used to be, but I'd also note that this trend emerged because the drops were being underutilized, because riders found it uncomfortable to pedal any distance while riding in the drops. Funny thing - I'm actually able to use the drops on my non-aero bikes BECAUSE I've been using the drops on my brifter bikes, which has increased my flexibility. That and losing 30#, so my thighs and belly are no longer trying to occupy the same space!
I find that I can adjust to riding both modern and vintage bikes, but I do not position my hands so often on the hoods of the older bikes.
I find the first 2-5 miles on the non-aero bikes, riding on the hoods actually hurts a bit. After that, either I get used to it or my hands unconsciously adjust their position. Brifter bikes OTOH are comfortable from the start. I also consciously work at riding on the hoods on the non-aero bikes
And I can brake hard from the hoods using Weinmann-style levers as long as the braking system is well-tuned with good pads and not too much return spring tension (why Dia-Compe centerpull calipers work better than Weinmann centerpull calipers, different springs).
Every time this topic - braking with non-aero levers from the hoods - comes up, someone will always say they have no problems doing it, then they add a series of qualifications - new housing, freshly greased cables, perhaps specific combos of lever and caliper, aftermarket pads, etc. If everything has to be JUST RIGHT for it to work properly, then it's just not as effective as a system that allows you to brake easily even when set up suboptimally.
My other, barely related observation would be that I am much more comfortable using DT shifters after thousands of miles on bikes with brifters, because I've gotten so much more comfortable on the bike that removing one hand from the bars to shift is no big deal, whereas when I was a teen on my first 'Ten Speed', back in the 1970s, I hated taking my hands off the bars. I ended up installing stem-mounted shifters for that reason.