Talk To Me About Slammed Stems On Road Bikes

As I said, if you aren’t riding on the drops much then your bike isn’t fitting properly.

I still disagree with this. It’s a different story when I race, then I’m on the drops probably about 80-90% of the time, at least in crits. Why would you want to use the drops so much on a normal ride though? I can probably be just as low on the hoods if there’s a headwind..

I can’t get one with any kind of rise

Find another shop. There are plenty of riser quill stems.

Try hunting for a Kalloy riser quill stem at sjscycles

funkrodent one of these with a +ve rise ahead stem on it?

I can probably be just as low on the hoods if there’s a headwind..

More weight is taken through the arms rather than the lower back as the elbows have less bend.

What a load of tosh TiRed!

What you’ve basically done is put your drops where your hoods were, that’s hardly a relevation.

If your drops were too low for you to be able to use comfortably then so be it, I’m not going to be aiming for 50% of my time on them though.

rather than you lot slug it out with opinion/personal preference do any of you have links to articles?

Which of course is personal preference written by paid journalists 😉

More weight is taken through the arms rather than the lower back as the elbows have less bend.

Ride in various positions. Then without moving, take your hands off the bars. If you pitch forward seriously, I would say your bike doesn’t fit as well as mine.

2 points on arm position in cycling – #1

do any of you have links to articles?

Here’s the one I mentioned …

Provided saddle height and fore and aft are set correctly, bar height is an entirely personal thing. People make the mistake of adjusting the bar position to take up for misfitting frames.

I’m very happy with both the drop and hood position on my bike, thank you, and know that, for me, the fit is just right. I’ve also come to this from a bike that didn’t fit as well, and a professional fitting.

Here’s my bikes current set up[/url]

I don’t think the drops are where the hoods should be, do you?

If you pitch forward seriously, I would say your bike doesn’t fit as well as mine.

You’re awesome!

If you pitch forward, then your saddle is not in the correct position relative to the pedal axis.

Provided saddle height and fore and aft are set correctly, bar height is an entirely personal thing. People make the mistake of adjusting the bar position to take up for misfitting frames.

I’m very happy with both the drop and hood position on my bike, thank you, and know that, for me, the fit is just right. I’ve also come to this from a bike that didn’t fit as well, and a professional fitting.

But you’re telling everyone else theirs is wrong unless they do 50% of their riding on the drops 🙄

OK, fair point, I was trying to say that failure to use the drops for an appreciable fraction of the time is an indication, to me at least, that a better fit may be obtainable. How’s that?

Given the 1cm of spacers and a 16.5cm head tube, I think the set up of my current medium-sized bike looks pretty normal (and I am an average size, according to BikeFit). It’s been raced, sportived and commuted, and my drops to hoods ratio has increased considerably over the TCR which had a longer stem.

But I’m struggling with the idea that a higher ‘drops:hoods ratio’ is in some way better?

Is riding on the drops more efficient? By efficient I mean a combination of being able to apply the same power over the same duration vs how aero a position it gives you. Whether that be on the drops or hoods doesn’t really matter surely?

In fact, tonight I shall conduct an experiment to see how true this is (as in you go faster when on the drops). I have my power tap affixed to my sturdy upright, in addition I shall also consult my heart rate and average speed. The test will be carried out over a set length course where all conditions are equal (as possible – I don’t control the weather). I’m expecting to prove two things. 1) there is very little difference between being on the drops and on the hoods and 2)me having a power tap is a waste of money and time and I just need to stop being fat and pedal harder.

Leave the spacers under your stem

When I ride on the drops, my head is lower than on the hoods and I am more aerodynamic. I know some people like to crouch onto the hoods with forearms horizontal, but that places more weight on my lower back and is not sustainable for longer periods (say a 60 minute race). Instead, previously, I would tend to ride with straighter arms on the hoods which brace the weight. This is a neutral position and very comfortable, but less aerodynamic than being on the drops.

I use less energy on the drops to go the same speed or can go faster for the same effort, hence I’m more efficient. The difference is about 20 watts, which is 10% for normal cruising speed, and confirmed with the onboard power meter.

EDIT: 8% from Bike Calculator for flat still air riding at 200W and 21.4 mph, switching from hoods to drops, which is in line with my experience.

But bringing your drops up cancels that effect, there is nothing inherently ‘good’ about the drops, just that they’re low, and as you say you are more aero than adopting the same position on the hoods. There’s no panacea though, and frankly I’d sooner my drops were a little bit of a stretch and saved for descending and what not, rather than being my default choice leaving me nowhere to go.

As is I said, it’s an averages game, The hoods are a little higher than the older neutral position (about 1 cm), but I spend a LOT less time on them. So whilst having the drops out front and really low was THE most aero position on the TCR, I was never using it (well, maybe for descending and the odd hard pull on the front).

Now, the bars are a little closer and a little higher and, the drops are less aero than they were, but more aero than the old hoods, so… I’m more efficient overall (about 5-7%) – and with my performance, I need it!

Last point – on the nowhere to go, moving hands up to the bend is where I go for descending and more control. I lowered the shifters slightly on the bends, a la Sean Kelly, so I can still change gear and brake on the drops (which are not parallel to the ground). That’s not clear in the picture.

Try it, you never know. I did and found I liked it. 😉

Was quite intrigued by people talking about where to ride. The first two years of my road riding I rode exclusively on the drops. In the last year or so, I’ve started to ride almost exclusively on the hoods with the drops for descending and sprinting. Incidentally, the last year was when I decided to dedicate more time to road riding.

Watching the TdeF today it seems almost all the pros are in the drops. Interesting the things you pick up when you’re looking for them.

I’m not sure there is a right or wrong way. The hoods certainly feel more comfortable these days to me, but after this exchange here on STW I may just experiment with more time on the drops and see how it feels.