Drop handlebars – 26.0 vs 31.8 mm and other questions

[Samuel D]

De Vlaeminck is the very picture of “comfy” there. You can tell by his beatific rictus, right?

But I understand your point, Brucey.

Leaning toward the easily available Nitto Noodle to see what the fuss is about flat ramps and make up my own mind about flared ends. The Noodle (seemingly also called “Mod.177” though not listed here) is described as a touring bar in some places, but I’ve learned not to pay too much attention to labels. And anyway, if it comes down to tourist or racer, I’m clearly the former.

[Brucey]

IIRC that photo of De Vlaeminck was taken whilst he was doing about 45kph, in a solo move, on the cobbles, late on in Paris-Roubaix.

I think this picture


was taken earlier on in the same race, same year, when he made his move. I guess 'comfy' is all relative, but he raced many hundreds of km like that.

cheers

[Samuel D]

I know, I’m just joking about the impossibility of being comfortable while riding at the limit (even worse over cobbles).

They were hard men. Today’s racers still are, though they seem to favour the invisible aerobars position over the old styles. I use this position myself and can vouch for its efficacy at reducing drag. So much so that I wonder why it wasn’t used in the old days. But it’s not comfortable: I have semi-permanent bruises on my forearms from doing it maybe twice a week (hitting bumps in that position does the damage). I’m trying to get out of the habit, because I have also developed a small lump near an affected vein.

This looks fast, using an unusually long stem.

[Bmblbzzz]

it is worth commenting that these days the accepted normal position for brake levers is as per the only position that you can set most ergos/STIs in (and still use the brakes/shift the gears). This is quite a high position, which can mean (if you set the hoods as 'normal') that the tops are not as high and as close as one would like when climbing

It wasn't always so; in pre-STI days plenty of riders used to have their brake levers set in all kinds of different ways, with the top of the hoods set anywhere from horizontal to + 45 degrees or so. I was reminded of this when they recently showed some footage of Sean Yates riding for Motorola a couple of decades back; he often had his hoods set below horizontal, or so it seemed, relatively speaking.



Bobet and Geminiani had more jaunty hoods


as did Anquetil


and there were many other variations....

cheers

What strikes me about all three photos, but particularly Anquetil, Bobet and Geminiani, is that their bars are not that much lower than their saddles. Certainly not as much below saddle height as some non-pros nowadays.

Also, I'd never noticed before how similar Anquetil was in face to Lemond!

[foxyrider]

My 70's race bike certainly has less drop than my latest, not sure that it proves anything. I have pictures of myself and contemporaries in similar positions to Brucey's pics.

I ride the hoods more these days but that's largely due to better lever ergonomics - you ever tried riding on levers hiding around the bend for any distance? Well you end up on the drops out of necessity rather than need. Overall i'm more comfortable with more offset and a more compact cockpit.

[Brucey]

- you ever tried riding on levers hiding around the bend for any distance?.

it doesn't suit me that much either, but that is not the point; the point is that

a) it clearly did suit some folk


and

b) it is not as if you have a choice these days; the tyranny of STIs/ergos means that there is only one sensible place to put them on the bars else your gears don't work properly any more.

It is easy to suppose that modern STIs 'must be more ergonomic' and maybe they are for many folk when you are actually riding on the hoods. But anything that removes choice is by definition not a good thing, and as I mentioned earlier the tops are no longer in the same place in relation to the hoods as they once were, and the hoods are probably not in the right place anyway; I think this (amongst other things) makes for less choice of useful hand positions when climbing.

cheers