For those with road bikes/cross bikes or just drop handlebars.

how much time do you spend below the hoods on the drops?

I must have used that bit of the bars a handful of times, maybe because there are no steep hills for me to cruside down in the tucked position?

most of my time i just sit on the hoods, and probably never use the flat of the bars either.

Not much.

more as time goes by…

descending: drops – but towards the front where the loop is sort of vertical so i can reach the brakes.

sprinting: drops – but on the bottom, where the loop goes sort of horizontal.

most of my time i just sit on the hoods

Don’t you find it a bit difficult to reach the pedals from there?

baddum tsssh 😀

Pretty much none. Spend more or less all my time on the hoods, but like you there are no hills I spin out on and I’m not brave enough to sprint on the drops!

I didn’t to begin with, but I actually find them quite comfortable now. I’m running Nitto Randonneur bars with specialized bar phat on an LHT…very comfy

no wind round your way? or don’t you go out when the leaves are rustling? or you always sucking someone’s wheel? 😉

Use it most of the time (only been riding drops for a few weeks) is that weird?

Not much at all really. Riding in to a strong headwind, battering it because I’m late or trying to catch up with somebody or going down hill or quickly round bends is pretty much it for me.

A fair bit – IMO if you don’t then the set-up is wrong.

Will take time to get used to tho…

I only use the drops when sprinting or cornering hard (ie crits). I’ll often do a cross or road race without using the drops once

Quite a bit. It’s more aero to rest ones forearms on the tops, but it’s a bit scary in London because you’re a fair old way from the brakes, so the drops are a nice alternative.

Fast cornering just feels better from the drops too.

never.

More and more for me too, now helped by the fact I’ve compact drops which fit me loads better.
On the few cx rides I’ve done, I use the hoods for fire roads, drops for climbing and descending.
On the road, use drops for intervals, speedwork and descending. Use the hoods and flat section for climbing/flat stretches although if I’m going fast on the flat, I’ll use the drops.

rarely – I get neck ache if I have to tilt my head up too much relative to the line of my spine.

out of interest, why is sprinting better on the lowest part of the drops? I don’t think I’ve ever used the flat bits at the bottom (used to use the main bits of the drops but the bikes too small and I’m now too old to ride all hunched up)

As with wwaswas – being down below the hoods hurts my neck. And having the bars at an angle where the top half is comfy puts my lower bar section at too much of a vertical. And being down that low hurts my lower back.

1% of the time at the most.

I find it uncomfortable and difficult to brake in that position. My commute is also 90% flat so don’t feel the need much.

Blimey, you ladies ought to have been more honest and bought hybrids.

About 25-30% of the time at a guess, since I started using compact drop bars a couple of years ago. Std 140-150mm deep-drops are harder to balance, one position always feels wrong to me. 125mm drop bars are easy to set up so the hoods and drops positions feel natural.

😆 @ cynic-al!

I’ve been working on my tuck this year – now have the confidence to almost have my chin on the bar. Its still a little scary how fast you can go like this!

Out of interest, how many use the drops for cx climbing? I was surprised to find i climbed better on the drops than hoods.

I only use them when its windy. Majority of the time I’m on the hoods.

This is interesting, ‘cos I’m weighing up whether to get flats or drops on my next bike (probably something cross-y)

Blimey, you ladies ought to have been more honest and bought hybrids.

I sold my road bike and now fit slicks to this for road riding;

it’s not much more than 20lbs and I don’t seem to run out of gears so it’s fine.

It’s not a hybrid, though, you understand – no 700c wheels on it 😉

I use em 25% of the time, never used to, but compact bars make it much comfier.

That’s a frikkin’ carbuncle wwaswas, that’s what that is 😉

If that’s your view then it must be fine 🙂

Blimey, you ladies ought to have been more honest and bought hybrids.

😆

I actually find I get lower power down on the drops and after 5 minutes of it I end up with neck and headache that doesn’t go away for days. Being up on the top is still light years different from a hybrid though so I’m happy 🙂

most of the time, but they are set up fairly high and it’s not a road bike (salsa fargo)

a lot.
mainly because:
i’m relatively flexible.
bike is set up properly so tops/hoods/drops are all comfortable.
you go a lot faster in the drops.

don’t use the tops much though only for slowing down and having a chat at the back of a group

probably 40% drops 44% hoods 15%tops 1% no hands

Depends on the nature of the ride. amblign around, looking over hedgrows – hardly at all. Pressing on (into wind or not), or on a training ride/chaingang – much more of the time.

I have deep drops on winter bike and road bike and compact on the cross bike. They’d all be compact if I could find a set that had the right shape up top (fairly square) and down below (neat curve with slight flare). Suggestions?

so a follow on question – is there a nice way to raise the front of a road bike without it looking silly? I’m 6’3 so anything is going to look rather gate-like

Rarely – on really fast DHs is pretty much the only time. Or back in the day when I was on a break and really going for it.

I note that a lot of people now put their bars really high so that they can ride on the drops – that’s a far worse faux-pas, al 😉

On my commuter hoods 90% of the time, flats occasionally, drops only when it’s windy – like this morning.
On my “proper” road bike similar but use drops a little more when sprinting and for fast downhills when I want every bit of braking power possible for pre corner braking – or I’m expecting some tool in a car to pull out on me.

Blimey, you ladies ought to have been more honest and bought hybrids.

even if you only ever use hoods this is more aero than a flat bar hybrid shirley?

6’3″ – shortarse 🙂

is there a nice way to raise the front of a road bike without it looking silly

Not really. You run the dilema of choosing either a stupid tall head tube, a stack of spacers or shock horror a +ve rise stem.

FWIW, do what fits you 🙂

you could get something with ‘Audax’ in the name – they tend to have a taller head tube to start with?

I use the drops always on downhills, and on flat into a headwind or the front of a line, and when sprinting. I use the flat section when sitting and spinning up a hill.
The majority of time for me is spent on the hoods or just behind them on the curve of the bar, I wouldn’t be without the other positions though.

Into a headwind or taking a pull, otherwise I’ll take the comfort of the hoods.

Not really. You run the dilema of choosing either a stupid tall head tube, a stack of spacers or shock horror a +ve rise stem.

hmm.. I’ve got myself space on a frame building course next year, so have the opportunity to get whatever I want. it’ll be skinny steel tubing so I’m currently trying to figure out if theres a way of having a bike that

1) fits
2) doesn’t loook like a gate

I’m fine with a +ve stem, and a few spacers, but unless I figure out a way of lowering my BB (guessing most road bikes already run pretty minimal clearance down there) I’m probably going to end up with a gate :S

yours doesn’t look too bad as its got big thick tubes.