The modern trend for high drop bars.

[SS Retro]

Been looking at modern road bikes and there's (IMO) a horrible trend to have the bars as high or higher than the saddle to me it looks plain wrong.

but as brad proves it doesn't have to be that way so what's going on.

 

[youngoldbloke]

Been looking at modern road bikes and there's (IMO) a horrible trend to have the bars as high or higher than the saddle to me it looks plain wrong.
.

Really? I haven't noticed this at all. Pictures please.

 

[T.M.H.N.E.T]

You're gonna need to provide examples that aren't Bradley Wiggins doing the opposite.

 

[Nearly there]

Have you seen someone who's flipped the stem on there bike maybe due to a bad back or something?

 

[Mr Haematocrit]

Out of curiousity why use a picture of someone who rides a frame with custom geometry made specifically for him?
At this time the simple answer is that consumers have to fit their bike, while pinerello fit the bike to brad

 

[youngoldbloke]

Been looking at modern road bikes and there's (IMO) a horrible trend to have the bars as high or higher than the saddle to me it looks plain wrong.

I thought everyone knew Rule 45?

 

[Banjo]

I know he is now persona non grata but Lance Armstrong used to ride with the seat not much higher than the bars.

 

[Gary E]

If its comfortable, it's right! We're not all training for the Tour.

I think one of the reasons that people try drops and don't get on with them is that they're pressurised into setting them up in the 'correct' way. Not everyone wants to ride with their head between their knees

 

[ianrauk]

Half the fat git mamils I see on bikes these days couldn't even get into low drops anyway..... myself included.

 

[tyred]

If its comfortable, it's right! We're not all training for the Tour.

I think one of the reasons that people try drops and don't get on with them is that they're pressurised into setting them up in the 'correct' way. Not everyone wants to ride with their head between their knees

Absolutely.

No right or wrong way to do it. Better to look "unfashionable" than to arrive home with sore back/shoulders/hands/arms and dump the bike in the garage for the next 20 years in disgust.

I wonder does the low bar position and race spec gearing explain the amount of basically unused road bikes from down through the years that turn up at car boot sales and the like?

 

[Boris Bajic]

As my children got used to riding on drop bars (starting with a 43cm frame on 650c wheels, which was ridiculously cute) they used all sorts of bizarre set-ups to ease the transition from their MTB-lookalike kiddie bikes. All three (if I recall) started with the stem higher than the saddle.

They now all have something like 'standard' set-ups on 'proper' road bikes with horizontal crossbars. But they eased into those positions over a year or two.

My wife (an occasional rider) uses my daughter's bike but with the bars raised to saddle height. She likes it that way. She's allowed to.

I think the trick is to ride the geometry you enjoy and not to pander to fashion. I confess I do not see huge numbers of riders with their bars set too high. Does the OP live near an orthopedic outpatient unit and ride regularly past patients on their way to or from appointments?

What does amuse me a little is the absolute conviction on the part of some cyclists that there is a 'correct' position which cannot be bettered and that the best way to find it is with a professional bike fit. I've moved my position a little this way and that over the years and will probably continue to do so.

Each rider probably has several 'correct' positions and bike set-ups. Even the pros like to move their bars around a little on longer stage races to allow them to alter their position.

I hope this post has helped to clarify this most complex of issues, but I fear it has done nothing of the sort.

Carry on.

 

[SS Retro]

You're gonna need to provide examples that aren't Bradley Wiggins doing the opposite.

Yeah wiggins was probably a bad example as he's so tall.

 

[Rob3rt]

I thought it was only CC members with the wrong sized bike or who bought the wrong type of bike that did that?

 

[SS Retro]

Don't get me wrong from a comfort view I can see why you would have high drops but then why have drops at all surly your defeating the aero advantage of getting down on them?

 

[Gary E]

Don't get me wrong from a comfort view I can see why you would have high drops but then why have drops at all surly your defeating the aero advantage of getting down on them?

Yes, but you're not a proper cyclist if you don't have drops. Some people who use drops would undoubtedly be better suited to flats but peer pressure is a wonderful thing :s