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Bone head!!!
Drop bars are not for riding in the drops unless you are really pushing for speed or pushing into a
big head wind.
Drop bars are for riding on the tops and the hoods. Properly set up, drop bars will give at least 5
differernt riding positions. Flat bars have just one. Unless you get the MTB style bar ends - then
you get a couple more. On the hoods or on the tops, on a well set up bike, should have the back at a
nice angle to optimise comfort and wind resistance. When you ride, the weight is shared between the
bars, the saddle, and the feet. Drop bars for touring were developed by folks who rode lots because
they had no cars. They had the option of various high bars and flat bars. Guess what works.
Not even racing cyclists use the drops of drop bars unles the pace is really on. Racing cyclists
ride on the hoods or the tops as often as they can.
Jack Kessler wrote:
>JO, I argued last year in this newsgroup that drop bars are are racing bars and make no sense on
>a tourer and got the same standard brain-dead responses that you just got. A few months later I
>was touring in northern Norway and met bike tourists from all over Europe. Not one of them had
>drop bars.
>
>So far as I can figure out the reason for this inanity, it is that "tour" is used in the name of
>the "Tour de France" which isn't a tour, it is a race. Riders in the Tour de France all use drop
>bars and ride down in the drops during the whole race.
>
>Drop bars keep the rider in a low, radically bent-forward posture. This reduces wind resistance a
>little and increases stroke leverage a little. It is good for riding in races in which winning
>matters and comfort doesn't.
>
>The riding-down-in-the-drops posture is murderously stressful on one's back, makes one's hands go
>numb and painful from being leaned on, and is an agony for one's balls unless one stands up on the
>pedals frequently (which the Tour de France riders do, even though it slows them down).
>
>The boneheads who are in favor of drop bars for touring admit that they ride with their hands on
>the upper part of the bars not in the drops, which defeats the whole purpose of a racing handlebar.
>This has the lovely effect of putting the brakes where the rider can't quickly reach them for a
>panic stop.
>
>On top of being uncomfortable and dangerous they have the additional advantage of keeping the rider
>bent over so far that it is a considerable effort to keep one's head up. Eventually one's head
>droops down and one spends the whole tour seeing nothing but the pavement. No purple mountains
>majesty, no fruited plain, no rainbow, no deer on a hillside, no eagle soaring on high - just
>pavement.
>
>
>
>
>"JO" <
[email protected]> wrote in message
>
news:[email protected]...
>
>
>>When I bought my wonderful TREK 520 I installed randonneur handlebars thinkg that they woudl be a
>>gret idea. In retrospect they are too narrow for me to feel steady and comfortable. (They are
>>signficantly narrower than the width of my shoulders and in traffic this feels terribly unstable).
>>Riding with hands on the brake hoods is a better position for me most of the time but that is the
>>narrowest point for the bars and hence feels unstable. riding on the drops gets tiring on my
>>posture and does not feel too good in traffic. I have grown to love the more upright position on
>>my mountain bike.
>>
>>
>>SO... I am wondering about switching to flat handbars for greater stability as I am not doing a
>>lot of touring these days. I do metric centuries and trips of no more than 60 km a day. Otherwise
>>I could switch back to ropped bars that are wider in place of the randonneur bars. Any suggestions
>>from others who have broken loose from the school of dropped bars??
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
--
Sue and Alan Bishop PO Box 156 Exmouth WA 6707 Ph/fax 08 9949 2950
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Bone head!!!<br> <br> Drop bars are not for riding in the drops unless you are really pushing for
speed or pushing into a big head wind.<br> <br> Drop bars are for riding on the tops and the hoods.
Properly set up, drop bars will give at least 5 differernt riding positions. Flat
bars have just one. Unless you get the MTB style bar ends - then you get a couple more.
On the hoods or on the tops, on a well set up bike, should have the back at a nice angle to
optimise comfort and wind resistance. When you ride, the weight is shared between the bars,
the saddle, and the feet. Drop bars for touring were developed by folks who rode lots because
they had no cars. They had the option of various high bars and flat bars. Guess
what works.<br> <br> Not even racing cyclists use the drops of drop bars unles the pace is really
on. Racing cyclists ride on the hoods or the tops as often as they can. <br> <br> <br>
<br> Jack Kessler wrote:<br> <blockquote type="cite"
cite="
[email protected]"> <pre wrap="">JO, I argued last
year in this newsgroup that drop bars are are racing bars and make no sense on a tourer and got the
same standard brain-dead responses that you just got. A few months later I was touring in northern
Norway and met bike tourists from all over Europe. Not one of them had drop bars.
So far as I can figure out the reason for this inanity, it is that "tour" is used in the name of the
"Tour de France" which isn't a tour, it is a race. Riders in the Tour de France all use drop bars
and ride down in the drops during the whole race.
Drop bars keep the rider in a low, radically bent-forward posture. This reduces wind resistance a
little and increases stroke leverage a little. It is good for riding in races in which winning
matters and comfort doesn't.
The riding-down-in-the-drops posture is murderously stressful on one's back, makes one's hands go
numb and painful from being leaned on, and is an agony for one's balls unless one stands up on the
pedals frequently (which the Tour de France riders do, even though it slows them down).
The boneheads who are in favor of drop bars for touring admit that they ride with their hands on
the upper part of the bars not in the drops, which defeats the whole purpose of a racing handlebar.
This has the lovely effect of putting the brakes where the rider can't quickly reach them for a
panic stop.
On top of being uncomfortable and dangerous they have the additional advantage of keeping the
rider bent over so far that it is a considerable effort to keep one's head up. Eventually one's
head droops down and one spends the whole tour seeing nothing but the pavement. No purple
mountains majesty, no fruited plain, no rainbow, no deer on a hillside, no eagle soaring on high -
just pavement.
"JO" <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E"
href="
mailto:[email protected]"><
[email protected]></a> wrote in message <a
class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="
news:[email protected]">
news:d94-
[email protected]</a>... </pre> <blockquote type="cite"> <pre
wrap="">When I bought my wonderful TREK 520 I installed randonneur handlebars thinkg that they
woudl be a gret idea. In retrospect they are too narrow for me to feel steady and comfortable.
(They are signficantly narrower than the width of my shoulders and in traffic this feels terribly
unstable). Riding with hands on the brake hoods is a better position for me most of the time but
that is the narrowest point for the bars and hence feels unstable. riding on the drops gets tiring
on my posture and does not feel too good in traffic. I have grown to love the more upright position
on my mountain bike.
SO... I am wondering about switching to flat handbars for greater stability as I am not doing a lot
of touring these days. I do metric centuries and trips of no more than 60 km a day. Otherwise I
could switch back to ropped bars that are wider in place of the randonneur bars. Any suggestions
from others who have broken loose from the school of dropped bars??
</pre> </blockquote> <pre wrap=""><!----> </pre> </blockquote> <br> <pre class="moz-signature"
cols="$mailwrapcol">-- Sue and Alan Bishop PO Box 156 Exmouth WA 6707 Ph/fax 08 9949 2950 </pre>
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