Originally Posted by
John E
I have kept the stock Ritchey flat bars on my mountain bike, but I added the extensions mentioned earlier in this thread, to provide the neutral axial forearm rotation position afforded by drops. Without these, I hated flat bars, because they limited me to a single hand position.
I use drops exclusively on my road bikes, and I probably spend more time down in the drops than most people do. I agree with Machoman that this provides great control.
Actually with the addition of bar ends you get an extra hand position. Even so, you are correct, drop bars are much more versatile giving you all of the above and then some including much improved aerodynamics.