How many of you guys ride with drop bars on the street?

Are using track drops on the street as unpleasant as everyone say it is?

they kinda are. if you are riding in an urban environment I suggest bullhorns

Drop bars are for sprinting and aero. You don't really need that on the street, you need control and visibility, and for that, bullhorns are the best, as they give you multiple but more upright hand positions. Moustache bars might work pretty well also.

I choose to keep the drop bars. if I want visibility and yada yada yada, I grab on to my bullhorns....I mean my brake hoods. same thing.

drop bars just take more abdominal endurance and require different skills to learn like looking behind you under your armpit instead of over your shoulder. if you dont have either of these skills, the desire,or physical shape to acquire them the go with bullhorns just slightly better than flat bars since they offer one extra hand position.

on a possitive note although many perfectly fine drop bars are being chopped to make these things, they are pretty looking and "hot" at the moment.

I ride drop bars in the city, i have a cross lever on the top, and they are angled slightly higher up then normally, I find if i angle them up a bit the pressure is spread out a bit better, meaning they are more like bullhorns. and then when there are head winds/sprints i can go to the drops.


best of both worlds. And for fitting through traffic, i have worked out how big my bag is (i carry the same thing when i commute, shoes vest and a book, so its small) and I find it is the limiting factor when cutting between cars so my bars being like 39cm i have never hit them on a car as of yet.

If you are on a bike that doesn't have ridiculous saddle-bar drop, drops make sense. Otherwise, whatever floats the boat on which you happen to be aboard.

i ride road drops, they are pretty comfy, thinking about getting some risers for my commute and then switching it up for longer rides

i ride nitto b123. i switched from my risers and intended to switch back and forth but i really like riding with me drops.

yeah i guess i can get in that more upright position on the road drops...i don't use the drops much so that's why i thought about switching the bars for a bit just as a test
bullhorns would be nice too, i have bullhorns on my old concord singlespeed and i like riding those a lot
i just got a little sad because i hardly ride the concord anymore

i hated riding drops for the street.. i dont know i just get into it. I ride pursuit style bullhorns (slight drop) and im lovin em'! Like stated above.. more hand positions and your more upright and drops. 90% of people riding drops on the street.. i see gripping the top of them.. anyway.

Nitto b123's for long rides and bike paths where I can practice sprinting, syntace stratos 200's for commuting and everything else. 110mm nitto stem for the drops to stretch out more and 90mm thomson for the horns and a more upright position. I switch it up every other day or so and slip my hinged cross lever on and off the bars with no problem.

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thanks good to know, my stem has a removable faceplate so i can switch bars quickly
i think i will get some horns ready to go with tape and such and just be able to throw them on when i feel like it

After riding with risers for a year and basically having the fixed gear equivalant of a "comfort bike" (and not knowing it), I concentrated on making one of my bikes fast, light, and aero. I was disappointed in my performance in a race I attended. So I lightened up the parts (especially the wheels + tires), increased the gear ratio dramtically, and switched to drops. That bike became so freaking fast. I had to learn a new way to pedal up hills (less cardio, more strength). I realized I enjoy going fast much more than i enjoyed being upright and having an easy pedaling cadence. Later when i switched back to my other bike one day, it felt like i was wasting energy, going slow and blocking the wind. So obviously I adjusted that bike, too (an changed those bars, too). I'm used to being lower in my position now. Track drops are great for the street. Now when i see risers and easy gear ratios I no longer admire those bikes. They simply look slow.

I ride drops and I wouldn't have it any other way. Nothing better than getting into those drops and flying. I also use the drops when I stand up to climb. I feel I have much more control and more power than being on top of the bars.

I have the stock road bars on my conversion and enjoy them. I'd say my time in the drops is less than 20%, but I'm glad I have them for those times, hills and nice straight-aways mostly.

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i will have to try this next time on a climb, i always put my hands on the top where the bend begins and i am able to climb ok

pretty informative post.
for the city, flat, urban environment, risers/flats are great. i used drops in the city for a while and liked it, but had nothing else to compare it to.
but now that i am out of a busy city, i find that i am wanting more to climb all the hills and get in the drops becuase it's so windy. it just makes life easier so we will see if i switch back to drops from flats

Drops are for people who are fast. True story.

Track drops for street riding is generally pretty silly. They have a very small flat section on top meaning you're going to have to grip them right at the stem. The bends are typically severe meaning they aren't that comfortable to grip if you want leverage without going into the drops. The drops are typically deep which limits your vision.

Probably the best setup would be road drops with brake/dummy hoods. You get the most hand positions that way. Bullhorns are a pretty close second (and in some ways are better).

I hated track drops so much that I don't even use them at the track anymore. I use Nitto RB 115 (road drops). I might try some shallow track drops in the future (like the Nitto B125s) but my experience with the Nitto B123s and the Deda Pista bars have been overall negative. They just aren't comfortable.

Ultimately, use what works for you.

I believe the thrust of the thread is track drops: no brake hoods.

I went from bullhorns to road bars with brake hoods/levers and have actually never ridden real track drops. I loved my bullhorns, and like the road bars. And since going to road bars, I can actually envision using track drops on the road now. I ride down in the drops quite often now. (only about 5cm drop from saddle.) I used to rag on drops as being stupid for the street, but for some/many, it can be fine. I think fitness accounts for a lot though. And flexibility.

ot but doesn anyone remember the 2 piece bmx bars that had a giant loop in the cross tube that made a drink holder for a big gulp size drink?

All my fixed gear bikes and my road bike have randonneur bars (drops) and my geared commuter has cross bars (drops)... I could never find any love for bullhorns and flat / riser bars are only good for my mtb.

With the drops I can get more aero and this really enables one to go faster and is good when you have to run into stiff headwinds for longer distances... I have a pretty level saddle to bar setup on most of my bikes as this is more comfortable for the long haul.

And they tell me I'm pretty fast for an old guy.

I really don't see why. You do lose some hand positions but it still works just fine. Plus I think they're more sexy than regular road bars.

Sexy doesn't always work... having multiple riding positions and being comfortable when you are riding is a big consideration for many folks.

Track drops suck for climbing as there is no leverage. Most people who use track drops on the street ride the tops, where the forward angle out of the stem is not appropriate. Riding in the drop portion will result in a saddle to bar drop that's ridiculous unless you are sprinting.

Aesthetic choices are important but not as important as being in control and optimizing power. Road drops are better, especially when paired with hoods. (The main difference between road and track drops is the bigger drop and reach of track bars.)