Originally Posted by
denaffen
My question -- what I hoped to get out of the conversation -- was really whether there was something I hadn't tried, or if I needed to tough it out more, or if I've put in the good effort and should give up.
What I've gotten out of the conversation so far:
1. On vintage bars, you can be comfortable on the drops, and MAYBE comfortable on the hoods, but there's no way you're likely to be comfortable on both.
I’ve tried a lot of stuff. A few random thoughts.
Just about anything can work if you have the core strength to keep weight off your hands and you pedal hard enough to have pull a fair amount of the time.
Combine this with bars close to saddle level and you can have a decent bend in the elbows most all the time and down to parallel when more aero is needed.
I can set up classic round bars to be comfortable everywhere, at least with aero levers (SS, so no brifters needed). it helps to angle the drops up 10 degrees: this is optimal for standing out of the drops and keeps the ramp angle small. That makes the ramps work well and allows a half aero position with the outside of the hand on the ramps and down to the hoods.
For me, the value of drops is: a position to rest some of the arm and core muscles that work a lot in the other positions, better braking leverage and sprinting/standing in a lower and more aero position.
To the extent I don’t care much about standing out of the drops, the braking thing is about a wash except for road racing.
There are some pretty cool alternative bars. One that is good but not common is the hornbar/trekking bar. The Scott AT-3 was an example, and the AT-4 if you ignore the aero position. It gives some of the same options as drops: bar tops for climbing, ramps and forward bends like hoods for cruising and climbing out of the saddle.
Trade off is no drops but you get a sort of aero position with arms on the tops and hands on the forward part. You can still rest some arm and core muscles and be somewhat aero.
I use this bar in preference to drops on my vintage MTB because flat levers works better with the cantilever and u-brakes and the bike handles better with wider bars.
My other bike has classic round drop bars and old school aero levers, but I’m giving serious thought to setting up this style of bar on that bike, too.
YMMV. There are so many things to do with fit, riding style, and personal preference that you will ultimately have to try some stuff and see what works best.
Otto