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When to ride in the drops?

durhamvamdurhamvam Posts: 246
in General Chat
Hi guys,

Please don't shout, I know this has been asked at least a gazillion times before but I'm struggling to get the search function to talk to me.

When should I be riding in the drops on my new shiny bike?

VAM

Comments

  • TRIumphantTRIumphant Posts: 850
    Tonight.
  • willieverfinishwillieverfinish Posts: 1,381
    normally I only use them when I am descending - i prefer to stay on the hoods.

    In a race I use them as much as possible ( I am yet to have aero bars fitted to my bike)

    it depends on what your trying to gain and why ? In a race or in training ?

    on a hilly route of flat ?

    is it windy or calm ?
  • huwdhuwd Posts: 228
    Generally stay on the top around London but if I have noticable headwind then I will drop down.

    When flying down hills with tears streaming into your ears you should definitely be on them
  • risris Posts: 1,002
    when it feels comfortable. i ride on the drops while decending (although i quite like the tri-bars for this now) and when i'm trying to put some power down.

    before i got used to tri bars i spent a lot more time on the drops.
  • CCSCCS Posts: 53
    Whenever I am not on the aero bars (though I am fairly new to all this, so may be completely wrong).

    I only ever ride on the hoods is I am doing zero effort ambling along, which is virtually never...
  • transittransit Posts: 163
    By going on your drops you become more aerodynamic, the pay off is that you can't generate as much force. If you could get comfortable on them then ride them all the time (building up to this). Can be hard to climb on the drops due to the amount of force being reqd but he aero benefit is reduced anyway.

    By being on the drops you also have better leverage on the brakes opposed to being on the hoods so very strongly recommended when decending or going v.fast - as mentioned by others.
  • gingertrigingertri Posts: 277
    i stay on drops even when out of the saddle - though you've got to work up to it! on a big hill i'll use the hoods, or if my back starts to ache! i think its whatever suits you really!
  • MintyMatMintyMat Posts: 98
    I read somewhere that in still conditions any speed over 15mph will have a noticeable drag effect if not on the drops so I tend to ride anything over 15 on aeros or on drops.
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