Originally Posted by
Big M
But it was worrisome to not have the brakes instantly at my finger tips. Something I hadn't considered about many new road bikes is that you can only shift and brake from the drop. I'm used to my old Panasonic, which has multiple brake levers on the bars as well as shifters on the stem, so it doesn't really matter if I'm in the drop or not.
Actually, I ride on the brifter hoods about 90% of the time, and almost always do my shifting & braking from there. Usually, when I'm in the drops, I'm just spinning along and don't bother with the shifters or brakes. I also had a cyclocross/interrupter/inline brake lever added so that I could ride on the flats and still have brake access.
I really like being able to shift and brake without having to take a hand off the bars. I never had an older road bike with stem or downtube shifters, but that's partly because those shifters never really appealed to me.