[QUOTE=alanbikehouston]Again, how did Coppi, Bartali, Bobet, Gaul, and Merckx win so many races from 1947 to 1985 when photos show that the back of their hands were often positioned on the bars nearly as high as the nose on their saddles? You claim that it is "impossible" to ride a road bike with the bars as high as the saddle, yet these guys dominated the Tour de France while doing exactly that.

I am not interested in bikes in a museum. Nor am I interested in track bikes, world record attempts, time trials, or crits. This discussion began with YOUR allegation that the handling of ONE particular road bike, designed to be used for long distance road riding, would be "destroyed" by putting the bars as high as the saddle. So, let us talk about what the best riders in history actually DID when riding 150 miles on the road. [QUOTE]

Let me understand what you are saying. You state that Coppi, Bartali, Bobet, Gaul and Merckx all rode bikes with bars at the same height as their saddles. You base this claim on photos where you cannot see the saddle height (the cyclist was sitting on them at the time and you cannot tell the angle at which they were taken from). You then totally disavow photographic and visual evidence that shows that this is not true. Quite imaginative don't you think?