Newbie question, hand position...

Dr S

Long term mountain biker, just been out for an hour or so on a borrowed roadie bike, there's a few notable differences!

Where do you normally place your hands? literally on top of the brake lever hoods? a little further back? Should my arms be bent on holding the hoods?

On the drops. thats just pure terror?! feels really twitchy and very very low, this is normal right?

When your just normally riding around where do you hold onto? The straight bit next to the stem?

Suggestions welcome!

ris

i normally ride on the brake hoods, but if i am looking for a change i usually only move my hands back an inch or two to the turn of the bars. usually my arms are slightly bent at the elbows to soak up the road buzz a bit.

i'd not riden drops for a long while and it took a couple of months for my hands to get used to the hoods but now it's very comfortable. i don't ride on the drops very often (you are right, it does feel a bit low!) but hope to work on that in the new year.

2Fast4Love

If I'm out for a casual ride / commuting then usually on the hoods.

The drops do feel twitchy at first, but I grew to quite enjoy that :twisted: . If I'm out for a proper blast then usually the drops, altho sometimes my stomach feels quite crunched up - I'm not a fat boy either - causing me to revert temporarily to the hoods.

Hoods when out of the saddle dancing up the hills as well.

Was thinking today how strange it felt having my hands in the normal mtb equivalent positioning on a roadie.

Also today spent some time with forearms resting on the bar either side of the stem & and hands clutching around the cables (palms facing upwards). Saw a fella in the TDF doing this and thought it looked lethal, turns out its quite nice for stretching/resting the wrists/arms. For straight roads only tho!