Most roadies have a stem that is too low...then they ride all the time on the hoods, often with locked elbows. Use a higher stem, ride in the drops and bend your elbows to get low. Shallow hard climbs then are fine in the drops. Hoods for the steep stuff and rest periods. (Too-low stems is a modern fad...going on about 30 years.)
Originally Posted by
oceanfx
Here's what I don't get about drops....how can you ride them with the same stem you ride your other bars with? When you have bullhorns, the flats and the drops are pretty close together (drop distance) but drops have more...well, drop. I'm assuming people want to be comfortable riding both on the flats and in the drops, so...wouldn't that mean that if you have a good flat position, you have drops that are too low? And if you have a rise stem, your flats are too high and your drops are good (and you look like a ****** with a positive rise stem and drops). How do you guys reconcile having a good drop position with having a good position on the flats? Alike so:
The green line is the "ideal" line. Where your hands are most comfortable, and you have good power transfer and not too much back pain. This is where you'd put your bar if it was flat, and you were a hipster (joking!) If that line is at the top of your drops, then the bottom is obviously going to be really far away from ideal. If that line is in the MIDDLE of your drops, then the drops and the flats are both a little bit away from ideal, but they're each less far from ideal than your drops would be if you had a flat stem (do I make sense?)
Anyway, how do people feel about stems and drops and body position?
EDIT: sorry for the crappy pic, and...the fact that it's sideways.
EDIT2: w@nker is a cussword now?