Originally Posted by
Jake_M
I just switched my flopped and chopped bars back to road bars, and am not using hoods. I ride on the tops, occasionally in the drops and sometimes on the tops of the bends where the hoods would be. It's not that bad, I've gotten used to it. I'm using a cross lever on the tops so if I'm braking I switch there. I've gotten used to all the hand positions and don't think it's that big of a deal to ride drops without hoods. If you want, I can post pics later.
Thats what I didn't like most about riding without hoods. If your riding style incorporates use of a front brake (which is faster than riding brakeless) you have to constantly move to the top position for your lever to be within reach. A cross lever is really limiting for going fast around traffic, drafting other riders, or descending a hill fixed at 35+ mph in the drops and having to change hand positions to reach the brake lever to stop at the intersection at the bottom. With road lever/hoods your brake lever(s) are always within reach.
If your are going to have a brake and destroy the precious "fixed look" in the process, you might as well reap all the advantages of it being there.