Originally Posted by
terrymorse
Descending a steep mountain road on the hoods is foolhardy.
Hard braking on the hoods is risky.
If you never descend a steep and twisting road, and if you never expect to have to brake hard, then you can get away without using the drops.
If your brakes aren't set up properly, it's foolhardy but that has nothing to do with the location of the brake levers. I regularly hit 40 and even 50 mph on loaded touring bikes and I brake almost exclusively from the hoods. I've never failed to stop doing so. Even unloaded, I do a lot of mountain cycling and can hit the same speeds. It's just never been an issue.