Originally Posted by
koala logs
I'm glad you see my point on bike handling.
I also agree with you that some situations are unavoidable with luck playing its part. But won't you agree that shorter braking distances would make your bike safer to ride? Just the fact you know it's more resistant to flipping over if you press the brakes hard will help build confidence in braking instead of being timid at using them.
I can brake VERY hard on my drop bar bike. It is all about technique. You need to shift your weight back (or, put another way… shove the bike forward relative to yourself) and down BEFORE you grab a handful of brake.
I don’t know why doing this is so much more intuitive for some people than others. I don’t even think about it. I just do it. Maybe it is my mtb riding that has trained me for this.
Yes, most drop bar road/gravel bikes are more likely than flat bar bikes to throw you if you grab a handful of front brake without shifting your weight. But that shorter front-center is a little hard to get away from with drop bars, due to where the steer tube ends up being relative to where your hands are on the hoods and drops. Even mtb frames designed for drop bars have shorter top tubes (and thus longer front-centers) than flat bar mtbs.
So yeah, in the end, assuming traction is equal and brakes are as strong as needed, when push comes shove I can stop faster on my flat bar bikes than on my drop bar bike.
But it you are going over the bars, that is due to technique. And grabbing handfuls of brake without weight shifting on most flat bar bikes will do the same thing.