Anyone seen The Flying Scotsman?

Oh, and deep drop stems look hot. and imho, they work against you for street riding, but less than ideal ergonomics can be overcome by youth, conditioning, talent, experience, adaptation, and balls.

That or he has a watchmaker sponsor. You guys remember Team Festina from Tour TTT's? All aero, shoelaces tucked under those little booties etc, and they all had a massive shiny steel watch on their wrists. It looked unreal.

Touché

But the fact is, that bike accomplished it's purpose and, as mention earlier, a bent wouldn't be legal. So that arguement is moot in the context of mihlbach's previous post.

Yes I have, and yes it is.

I think your missing the point...There are two objectives here.
1. Comparing one human's ability over another's. For that you need to ride similar bikes so one does not have an aerodynamic advantage over another. This is basically what the hour record is all about.
2. Or, you can just go for total speed. In that case, bike design becomes a major factor, and as improvements in aerodynamics are made its no longer purely about human performance. Thats why the superman position was ultimately outlawed...theres no way to compare the results using this position with earlier cyclists who were riding more traditional bikes.

So with a heavily modified bike and riding position, being unable to really rate yourself against previous record holders, you might as well just go for speed.

YOU TELL IT BROTHER

If your bike has a drop stem there is no law that says you have to leave it at full insertion. My straight ahead road stem at full insertion (very comfortable for me and I get into the drops several times a day while messengering for sprinting and climbing)is about the same amount of drop as a drop stem raised up a couple of centimeters. Now if we are talking about drop stems all the way down then I hear you guys. Not to mention, like every aspect of bike fit it depends on how long your limbs are/how flexible you are/how your bike fits you etc. It is not going to be the same for everyone.

Yes, but that's only because you are too big a slave of fashion to put bars on that where designed with being held anywhere but the drop in mind.

The drop part of any bar sucks for climbing, sucks for standing starts and sucks for sprinting though traffic compared to a higher position. They are better then anything else on track drops though but only because they are the ONLY place the bars a designed to be held. All of this is even worse if you have a deep drop stem.

No no law but plenty of reasons not to do it. You end up with a more expensive, heavier, floppier stem. And if that wasn't enough anyone who knows anything about bikes has visible proof of what a trend chasing ****up you are.

i ride stems with conservative (standard) drops, with standard road drop bars. i'm in the drops most of the time i'm on my bike, but it's not extreme enough to be uncomfortable or unsafe (impeding my line of sight or ability to glance behind). i'm no fashion slave, pervert.

i just like the way that what that guy said didn't make any sense.

If you are riding with track drops on the road you are. There is simply no reason to do it beyond fashion.

Didn't he just say "with standard road drop"?
Or am I seeing things?

read this carefully this time: i ride road drop bars.

well still without hoods you are a slave to fashion. There is simply no reason to give up the most useful position of road bars other then to prove you don't need two brakes.

the drops are the most useful positions, for me. i ride geared much of the time, so i do appreciate hoods, but i still spend most of my time in the drops. they are the most comfortable and most efficient, for me. are you going to argue with my preferences now?

Pretty much...

Let's get this right for once, the drop bars aren't stylin anymore, you gots to have risers w/ drop stem and ourys...ok

Some things just work better. Justify it all you want and talk about "preferences" but there is not reason not to have brake hoods. Hoods will always be better for climbing just because they are higher and placing them at a good general use height will give you somewhere aero to get when you need it. If you are setting up a bike to use the drops all the time your not much better off then with bullhorns.

That's kind of his game plan.

lol.

well those hoods and levers are probably more weight on the bike than the afore mentioned (by dutret i think) weight difference between the deep drop stem and the road stem...

Right but they improve function while the raised deep drop stem degrades it.

http://www.synthstuff.com/mt/archives/orly.jpg

You're right. Everyone should ride a bike setup exactly like yours. Everyone's bike should look exactly the same and we should all take riding our bikes very seriously, disregarding everyone's idea of fun as well. Hell I better weigh my stem too and measure its "floppiness". I might not be getting maximum efficiency from my input as I cruise around at average speed. No one knows as much about bikes as you do so I'm sure most other folks (myself included) have no idea what this 'visible proof' is. On the other hand anyone that knows anything about manners has visible proof of what a ******bag you are.

the only guy who really gets it...

I understand what you are saying but no body told no one else that they can't build there own Obree style bike and try to beat him then they would be on the same level. Like Chris Boardman for example. I thought the 90's brought a refreshing wave of competition to the hour record. Of course Eddy Merckx was great for sure but why not move on? I am sure if Merckx had thought of the Obree bike he would have ridden it.

Blanket statements like "hoods will always be better for climbing" are about as worthless as this whole thread. How tall is the hill, how steep is it? Are you standing or sitting.? What gear are you in and how fast are you going? Whats traffic like? How high are your bars? Are you a strong climber or a total wuss? Do you have back problems? etc. etc. etc.....these factors will all play into what bars and what position on the bars will be best for your climbing.
On my roadie, the hoods are sometimes good for climbing, but then I'm usually climbing in the appropriate gear. On my fixed gear, I find hoods to be pretty much worthless for climbing because I'm way overgeared and I get more sustained power by scooting back in the saddle and holding onto the flat part of my drops. Hoods are great for standing climbing, but normally people don't stand and pedal for prolonged periods. You can hang onto the bend of a road drop for a similar position and it works just find for bursts of climbing out of the saddle.