Originally Posted by
79pmooney
Years ago I had the thought that if the handlebars were located on an arc around my shoulder sockets it should matter relatively little exactly where in that arcv they were since with the same arm bent, my shoulders (and therefore the rest of my body) doesn't move.
I used to think similarly but I知 less sure now. I致e noticed that if my arms are angled more forward and up (more forward reach) I feel more tendency to pull myself forward on the saddle when I知 pedaling hard enough that I知 having to pull a lot on the bars to keep myself on the saddle.
It seems to help to have the shoulder to hand alignment angled down and more nearly parallel and opposed to the downward pedal push from hip to roughly the forward pedal position for those times that I知 really pedaling hard in the saddle.
It also seems to work about as well (just in terms of doing the work, not aerodynamics) to be slightly more upright on my touring bars but with arm angle similar to what I would have in the drops. This has also encouraged me to take the approach of minimizing the extension of hoods if I run drop bars by using my old non-aero levers. Again it seems to reduce the tendency to pull myself forward on the saddle.
Obviously, these things all seem to work differently for each of us, and I wouldn稚 say I知 through with experimenting on ways to optimize the riding positions for my riding style.
Otto