Are Drop bars just an illusion for most?
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#252
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okay but you cut short the context. ( I am guessing intentionally)
my point was some simple. If you can't apply your logic to all things "bicycle safety", then your logic is faulty.
as in.... some people are happy riding with no helmet, trying to suggest they are wrong is misguided?
Descending on the hoods, is equal to no helmet in my opinion. if someone is happy doing that then go do it. That doesn't change the danger side of it though!
as in.... some people are happy riding with no helmet, trying to suggest they are wrong is misguided?
Descending on the hoods, is equal to no helmet in my opinion. if someone is happy doing that then go do it. That doesn't change the danger side of it though!
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Incorrect, on multiple points. Having a firm grip on the hoods requires hand re-positioning before braking. Having a firm grip on the drops does not. Drops are always more secure than hoods. You get three fingers and a thumb around the bar with one finger on the brake. With hoods, unless you have very narrower fingers you get two and a half fingers and half a thumb around the shifter body but no fingers on the brake lever. The handhold provided by the drops is also more secure and fits the hand better than the bar/shifter interface.
I'd like to see your bike - are we talking cyclocross style upwards angle or hobo-bum-bike upward angle?
I'd like to see your bike - are we talking cyclocross style upwards angle or hobo-bum-bike upward angle?
It is really hard to argue against the fact that most people nowadays are riding and braking from the hoods and that it has not been highlighted as a causal factor in crashes to the degree that the industry is talking about changing behavior. Nor that manufacturers seem to be going forward, not backwards in designing braking systems for hoods. No one is talking about modern hood use as being particularly dangerous.
Last edited by Happy Feet; 09-05-19 at 06:41 PM.
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okay but you cut short the context. ( I am guessing intentionally)
my point was some simple. If you can't apply your logic to all things "bicycle safety", then your logic is faulty.
as in.... some people are happy riding with no helmet, trying to suggest they are wrong is misguided?
Descending on the hoods, is equal to no helmet in my opinion. if someone is happy doing that then go do it. That doesn't change the danger side of it though!
my point was some simple. If you can't apply your logic to all things "bicycle safety", then your logic is faulty.
as in.... some people are happy riding with no helmet, trying to suggest they are wrong is misguided?
Descending on the hoods, is equal to no helmet in my opinion. if someone is happy doing that then go do it. That doesn't change the danger side of it though!
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I ride the drops more than anything and if I want to go downhill fast I do the 'Urs Zimmerman'! If I am on the drops and the road gets a little rough, etc. then I stay in the drops or get onto them and ease back in the saddle. This gets my c.g. back a bit and keeps it low. It's just my technique (and Urs'!) so your mileage may vary. Have fun!
This is an internet screen grab pic
This is an internet screen grab pic
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Just doing the GAP south to north, having dinner with an old friend in Pittsburgh, then riding back to Cumberland. On the way home I plan to stop and ride the abandoned section of the PA Turnpike, which is now an unofficial trail. I have done both before.
I was going to ride across PA but I had some exploratory surgery that kept me off the bike for a good while. I don't feel I am up for all the hills.
I was going to ride across PA but I had some exploratory surgery that kept me off the bike for a good while. I don't feel I am up for all the hills.
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I've been trying to use my drops more...I have a lot of sail area when on the hoods. Losing some more of my gut will help. In addition, being on the drops seems to yield more control and power (you can tell I haven't paid much attention to them previously).
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As others have pointed out, the index finger is a pretty strong part of the hand. The thumb and index finger wrapped around the hood isn't going to slide or bounce or just "fall off". Your...and others'...argument is fear based, not fact based. Show (or do) a study showing that braking from the hoods is more likely to cause a crash. We're waiting.
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So, are drop bars just an illusion?
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Yep, people who have not configured their bikes properly to ride in the drops ...”don’t know what they don’t know”...because they are more comfortable and used to riding on the hoods. As such, bar height/brifter angle are configured to optimize hood riding vs being optimized for riding in BOTH positions. If current bike can’t be configured to do this, then there are fit issues.
——-to everyone else——
Yes you can ride and brake on the hoods...nobody here is disputing that. What is being disputed is hood riding is not optimal when it comes to control/leverage/power transfer. Riding in the drops gives you more leverage, control and power transfer.
...and yes hitting an unexpected pot hole or irregularity at speed will make your hands jump especially if you are relaxed. Throw in a slight twist to the front wheel and you are really in trouble unless you ride with a death grip all the time and are able to anticipate it (can’t always anticipate when you are in a fast paceline). If your hands get bumped off the hoods, there is nothing to stop it other than your ability to remain balanced and recover. Your hands are hooked in...in the drops and the top of the drop has saved me more than one time when my hands were bumped.
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OMG! All these years of commuting on the potholed streets of the midwest in the hoods and flat bars and I haven't died yet!
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Drop bars are merely an entry-level illusion to looking racy. True raciness means getting aero-bars and riding those MUPs at speeds so fast that the complaints of the peds can't reach your ears!
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I was riding home on the shoulder of a familiar residential road in the rain at a moderate speed, relaxed with hands comfortably wrapping the hoods. Unknown to me, a work crew had dug into the shoulder to work on a utility line, then covered it over temporarily with asphalt, leaving a substantial but invisible (in the rainy weather) "speed bump".
As I recall, my hands didn't leave the hoods on the initial "bump" of the front wheel. It was when the back wheel jolt popped me off the saddle and forwards that my hands lost contact, the front wheel slid, and down I went.
Watching that video of the crash above in slow motion, that looks exactly as I remember my incident. Note that his hands remain in contact with the hoods on the initial front wheel jolt.
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As a lifelong roadie, for me, it's drop bars or nothing. The other night my wife's friend brought her beach cruiser over for me to look at. Cushy seat, big balloon tires, curved flat bars, single speed, coaster brake. She had a creak in the handlebar/stem. I took it for a ride. Wierd. I don't know how people can ride these things. I was wobbling all over the road. Also, in 55+ years of riding, I think it was my first time on coaster brakes, where you pedal backwards to stop. I found myself dragging my foot, "flintstone style" to make a u turn. Anyway, I checked the stem, for tightness, and squirted WD40 into the parts joint between stem and bars. The headset seemed OK. It's a pretty new bike, a "Cadillac" brand, pretty light, with aluminum frame. Not my type, I'll take my road bike, drop bars, and "real" brakes any day.
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I just got back from a ride where the last 8 or so miles was a stiff headwind. I rode most of those 8 miles on my drop bar illusions.
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I confess, I don't get the whole argument. Grip on the hoods is as good as gripping the bars. Weight distribution is about the same also, so I don't get "more control" nor "power transfer". Leverage from the steering axis is the same, either way. It doesn't take that much leverage to brake. Why is there an argument?
#274
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What he's saying is that in the initial photo, he's got a secure grip on the hoods but poor leverage for braking. In the second photo, he's able to brake fairly powerfully but his grip isn't as nice for hand security.
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Though, in fairness, he's clearly drafting the moto.
Still---pro rider descending on the hoods. The horror!
Last edited by Trakhak; 09-07-19 at 12:27 PM.