:thumb:
Beginning stages of "wisdom"
( the stuff old folks said that we never listened too when we were young.). :D

Do it their way when at work,
.........
Do it your way when not.

Set your own trends that work for you & yours
&
be ok with those who trend their way.

Note OP was not talking about the evil flat mountain bike type bars, but bars like the northroad, or nitto promenade think english 3 speed different beast all together :

Thanks for the replies, folks! Very insightful and intriguing to realize that so many have struggled with the issue. I certainly still like speed but I find myself putting along at a relaxed pace much more often now, and think I may be able to sacrifice some aerodynamics and even weight-savings for the sake of easy comfort.

I've come back and read through this several times today, and I was struck by an idea that I think may help me make a choice. I will attempt to ride my next century (scheduled for the last Sunday in May) on the Centurion roadster, to see how well I fare. Cheers!

-Gregory

https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...683d8bcc47.jpg
I rode drop bars for years. Then my neck started getting sore. I changed over to 2" riser bars and felt much better. Then my back started bothering me so I put on a Technomic stem to raise them further. I started swapping bars on my other bikes till all had riser bars. Next came Ergo grips to relieve pressure on the wrists . Then I built up an old early 80's Peugeot frame that I was gifted with North Road style bars and a Brooks B 72 saddle . This bike has light 700 c wheels and a 1x8 speed transmission with an indexing trigger shifter and weighs 26 lbs. I ride it about 6 miles to and from the YMCA 3-5 days a week and I love it. I also have a Treck800 Antelope with ape hanger bars that weighs about 50 lbs. It is a blast to ride down hill with my helmet and goggles on feeling like Easy Rider but my light weight "Gentlemans Express " is my fave. If I can score a lighter frame than the peugeot I would love to end up with a 22 lb bike. My current project, an 88 Atala , has a frame that weighs in at 4.5 lbs. It is too small for me though.

That is what worked for me, as well. At normal road bike heights, I felt like I was upside down when on the drops. I tried riding on the tops and hoods, as well as several different flat and upright bars, but my hands and wrists always got sore. Switching to a Technomic stem and back to drop bars has worked out well. I didn't even need all the available height, only about 1-1.5 inches. Now I ride in the drops most of the time and switch to the tops on occasion for a change of pace.

NO! That's insane oddjob2. Sit up straight & enjoy the scenery. It's all good. Another day in paradise.

I came full circle, went from drops to nothing but flat bars about 20 years ago because I was having problems with neck pain. A couple years ago I tried Trekking bars and really like them on my hybrids. I started riding a road bike again about the same time and didn't experience the neck pain I had 20 years ago so last Fall after seeing all the drop bar MTB's on here I did one myself. It's great, especially on gravel.

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...275fb5929a.jpg

Another approach, one that has all the advantages of drop bars plus. Easy and cheap. Add in-line CX brake levers, those levers that sit on the tops, to your drop bars. Like 'em? Go one step further, Get wider, deeper drop bars and set them higher and perhaps with a touch shorter stem. Now you have almost the same aero and hard riding positions, but sitting up is just that much more so. (One tough headwind ride home might convince you this was a very good approach!)

This will cost you ~$50 to try out. (Levers, cables, housing and bar tape. Add bars and stem if you decide to go the hog. (You were going to have to buy all of that anyway to go the upright bar approach.)

Ben

Long day rides with flat bar.... no mercy.

Though I've done in the past with wide flat bar, was move the controls and grips inward and add clip-on road drops. Sounds goofy to do but the occasional lower position in headwinds or change hand and wrist pressures -it's quite convenient. I had a set from Japan having a short loop, nice and light but interfered when I wanted to be on the drop during climbs. Origin 8 offers with an ergo bend.

Thirty four miles pedaling upright with one position for the hands would be utter torture for me. Just goes to show you; everyone is different. :)

I kept one drop bar bike for nostalgia sake and everything else is now upright/northroad/porteur/whatever....my neck cannot handle drops anymore.

Most of my bikes have upright bars. I don't understand why folks say they only have one hand position. If you tape the bars you have cusion anywhere on the bars. Plus most of the cooler uprights are some variation of a North road bar which has several places to put your hands. I did enjoy drop bars for years but I can ride just as far on upright bars as I ever did on drop bars.

You may be getting replies from all the flat-bar enthusiasts who agree with you, which makes it a skewed sampling. Of course you are free to ride whatever bar style you like.

However I'll throw in an opposing viewpoint. All my bikes have drop bars. The distance to the saddle varies slightly bike to bike, and the height w.r.t. the saddle also varies, some with the bar noticeably lower than the saddle. The frame sizes vary so I guess that's not surprising. They all feel comfortable to me. I commute about 17 to work, 18 miles home. A road bike feels like a good tool for it.

I notice two disadvantages whenever I ride a bike with an upright bar. One is my hands must be primarily in a palms-down orientation, compared to a drop bar which lets me ride palms-inward. I spent 90% or my time on the hoods and my hands are very comfy that way. When I see other riders honkin' it really hard with upright bars they have to stick their elbows out sideways to get their bodies down for generating power. With my road bars I never have that problem.

The second disadvantage is an upright bar places the mass of my arms close to or even behind the steering axis. Maybe I'm just not used to it but that is all wrong for low-speed stability. With a drop bar much of the mass of my arms is out in front of the headset, which provides a better dynamic balancing effect.

So count me on the drop bar side of the fence.

Hey Jim! Thanks for the reply. I'm not sure what you mean by "flat bars" because so far the bikes presented mostly have more complex upright bars like north roads.

As to your first concern, I personally ride with my palms facing down or inward on the bike I posted earlier. I can slide my hands around the grips fairly easily, so that's not a concern. Of course at speed it's never going to be as aerodynamic as drop bars, and I'm sometimes annoyed when I try to accelerate on a bike with upright bars - and wind can be rather torturous. However, the spacing between my saddle and crank is identical and I have no problem working my legs to their fullest extent in an upright position. Usually it feels even easier.

Your comment about low-speed stability is striking, as it's totally the opposite of my experience. I can nearly do a track stand using drop bars, but it always takes a great deal of balance to ride slowly with bars that are only 40cm wide or so compared to what it takes on the uprights, which have about a 55cm spread between the grips. Also, with my body straighter the overall balance on the bike is definitely better. Have you ever tried to ride without your hands on your bars with your body leaning forward, versus upright? It is far more difficult! Riding in an upright position seems to exemplify the overall body-bicycle balance.

-Gregory

Thanks for the further replies, folks. I should have noted that I'm very interested in maintaining historically-coherent aesthetic values with my bicycles and would never dream of trying some of the modern, ergonomic possibilities even if they enhanced my riding experience tenfold. I'm not that uncomfortable in any position just yet!

-Gregory

Sheldon Brown says it perfectly about drop bars, IMO:

"The main advantage of drop handlebars is that they offer several different hand positions. For longer rides, the ability to change positions is very desirable. Riding for a long time in any one position tends to be uncomfortable.People who think they don't like drop handlebars are often actually objecting to the position of the bars on the drop-bar bikes they have tried.Bikes with drop bars often have the bars mounted rather low and far forward, so that the rider has to lean forward quite a lot to reach the bars, especially the lower "drop " position. If these people tried a bike where the drop bars were placed higher, and closer to the saddle, they might find they really liked them."

But upright bars are something else. My guess is that, if you have a long enough ride into a headwind, you will start to miss the drop bars.

I've never seen anybody ride a drop bar bike on the beach.

Aside from any physical reasons for riding upright, it's a whole different concept that can be enjoyed separately from normal drop bar riding. Since your upper body is more upright, you see the world much the same way as if you are walking. But instead of the snail's pace, you're gliding through the air with surprisingly little effort. It is a far less efficient method of riding in every way but you adjust for that with slower speeds and shorter distances. It just adds another dimension to cycling.

Sorry, I misspoke. I was thinking upright. I really have minimal experience with all the different kinds of upright bars. What little I do have doesn't make me want them. If I rode them more I might think differently. Or at least if I rode them more often I'd have more experience with them.:D

Sorry for the stupid question, but where are the shifters? I just can't see them. On the stem?

I have had the same internal debate. I just love the look of the drop bars. However I have a set of mustache bars and was thinking of converting one to try out as well.

All of my road bikes have drop bars, but I rarely ride in the drops, for most of the reasons the OP says. I generally (90%) ride with my palms on the forward curve (the shoulders of the bar, for the lack of a better word). Sometimes on the top, and only in the drops if I'm heading into a strong wind or 'sprinting' over 22-25mph ;) . Would I give up my drop bars? No, because I like the versatility of having alternate hand positions available.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/bikefor...d033746b68.jpg

1985 Miyata Two Ten

OK. I know I am the minority (on several points) in this discussion, but this is what works for me for long dirt/gravel rides. I use a relatively narrow low riser bar with bar ends. The narrow bar keeps my hands more in line with my shoulders (similar to drops), rather than further outboard on typical width flat bars - no issues with elbows sticking out if I need to get a bit lower when riding into a headwind. Bar ends and tops of brakes/shifters offer me 2 more hand positions along with the standard position on the grips. I change the stem to dial in my reach distance on each bike.

This works for me on rides up to 6-8 hours.

Oh, my perspective and goal is purely functional; not worried about the aesthetics, as you can tell comparing my ride with some of the other works of art displayed in this thread. :thumb:.