Here is how I look at it. Hold your hands straight out palms up and you are at about the max rotation the arm will allow in the one direction. Then rotate your palms the other direction and you are getting close to max rotation in that direction. The usable range that is best is in the middle someplace so straight or angled in at 45 are both in my comfort range. The key to riding pain free is the pressure points in the hand and actually one of the best is the pad of the palm opposite the thumb or like where you would karate chop something for me anyway. There are lots of ways to favor that spot but straight bars are not one of them.
When I went to drop bars I hated them and never rode down there always on the hoods. Didn’t like the hoods because shifting and stopping didn’t feel good (short reach hands) same in the drops plus too low. What I figured out worked for me was placing my drops much higher than road bike height where I would actually use them then lower my STI’s down to where I could reach them. I then added in dummy hoods and a top brake lever for riding more upright. Right now I say I ride in the drops at least half the time maybe more.
Last edited by bud16415; 02-10-12 at 09:35 AM.