Why do some riders tilt their steer waaay down?

rbn1995

I've started to notice this, thought only in the junior ranks, and I wanted to know if there's some advantage to it.

LangerDan

Tilting a steer? Is that like cow-tipping?


Do you mean the stem?

rbn1995

no not the stem, it is the steer, tilting the stem is'nt that weird, though not tilting the steer so much that it's almost impossible to attack when holding the shifter

csp

The handlebar?

LeicesterLad

:?

Cleat Eastwood

I love quizzes. Does it begin with a P

rbn1995

dammit ok, I guess i don't really know the proper expression, so i'll just show you a picture

http://www.oddercykelklub.dk/tdh/tdh_ph ... 58&menu=da

LeicesterLad

rbn1995 wrote:

dammit ok, I guess i don't really know the proper expression, so i'll just show you a picture

http://www.oddercykelklub.dk/tdh/tdh_ph ... 58&menu=da

Handlebar.

Don't know why, but can't be very comfortable for that kid in the middle.

LangerDan

If I were to hazard a guess, given the road surface they are using, he's hit a bump and his bars have slipped in the stem clamp

LeicesterLad

LangerDan wrote:

If I were to hazard a guess, given the road surface they are using, he's hit a bump and his bars have slipped in the stem clamp

That is one Sh*tty looking road. :shock:

rbn1995

LangerDan wrote:

If I were to hazard a guess, given the road surface they are using, he's hit a bump and his bars have slipped in the stem clamp

well good guess, but no they also have it that way when they ride on tarmac

LeicesterLad

rbn1995 wrote:

LangerDan wrote:

If I were to hazard a guess, given the road surface they are using, he's hit a bump and his bars have slipped in the stem clamp

well good guess, but no they also have it that way when they ride on tarmac

In that case i don't think there's any benefit from it, i would say its personal preference, or the kids trying to look cool, or his bike came like that from the shop, and he assumed it was normal. Horrible stretch to get to those hoods though, and riding on drops like that and having your hands in such away to have adequate control of the brakes cannot be very comfortable.

LangerDan

I thought someone used to ride with his levers very low - turns out it was Sean Yates



It must be remembered that this was when the gear levers were on the downtube which might make a difference.

Happiness1982

Okay so am I the only one laughing at the fact that dude couldn't remember/didn't know the word 'handlebars'? hahaha

LeicesterLad

LangerDan wrote:

I thought someone used to ride with his levers very low - turns out it was Sean Yates



It must be remembered that this was when the gear levers were on the downtube which might make a difference.

That looks mighty bad for the wrists.

Cleat Eastwood

LeicesterLad wrote:

LangerDan wrote:

I thought someone used to ride with his levers very low - turns out it was Sean Yates



It must be remembered that this was when the gear levers were on the downtube which might make a difference.

That looks mighty bad for the wrists.

Yates never had wrists. He was fashioned from one solid lump of steel.

LeicesterLad

To be fair his guns look wider than Bradley Wiggins waste.

Salsiccia

LeicesterLad wrote:

To be fair his guns look wider than Bradley Wiggins waste.

I should hope so. :shock:

nicklouse

Happiness1982 wrote:

Okay so am I the only one laughing at the fact that dude couldn't remember/didn't know the word 'handlebars'? hahaha

may because English aint the OPs native tongue?

many languages use a word similar to steer for handlebar like
styr
styre

don't forget that though the main users of these forums are native English speakers (hard to believe at times) many are not.

knedlicky

It used to be that most racing bikes had their bars turned more and/or the lever/brakes fitted lower. If you look at photos of riders from previous decades, certainly during the Merckx to Mottet era (into which Yates fits), you see they had their 'steers' turned more, and their levers lower, than you see today.
I don't know when the trend started to change among professionals, or in the shops, maybe about the time of Pantani, or possibly later because there are photos of Ullrich in the early 2000s still riding with bars turned and levers low (if not as low as in the decades before).

Many a good bike shop will still tell you the best position for handlebars is so that drops are parallel (or almost parallel) the ground. This will typically mean the bar ends are farther back than the middle and the top of the levers lower than the top of the bars.
I ride this way and find it more efficient, with less wind resistance, and able to transmit more power through the legs. Also the more balanced weight distribution is better for the behind, and the hands are at the right angle compared to the flats on modern ergonomic bars. And despite what some might think, it's no farther to reach to the levers - bar to lever distance is the same no matter what angle the 'steers' are at.

I don’t know for sure, but I suspect the shift to having the handlebars less turned and the levers higher is due to the change in bike geometry over the last decade or the choice often made nowadays, for whatever reason, to select a smaller frame size than body dimensions suggest. The geometry of modern frames, especially the smaller sizes, have less horizontal separation between crank and bars than on frames of the past, which means a rider may feel uncomfortable or insecure with the bars turned much and the levers low. The same applies to a rider who purposely chooses a smaller frame than matches his size.
A way to slightly counter this is to have a spacer so the stem sits a pinch higher and to have a slightly longer stem. Then the bars can be turned more and the levers lower.

Yellow Peril

I have the handlebars on one of my bikes angled in a similar fashion. It helps bring the drop forward slightly and feels a more natural position when you go on to the drops.

oscarbudgie

You can go the other way too.....

sagalout

It's those FSA wing bars - they are very confusing. You'd think the top bar should be flat for aero and looks, but then it's rotated too far forwards like the pic posted by the OP. Then if you set it so the hoods are in the right place the bar on the top points upwards, which also looks wrong.

Happiness1982

Jesus Christ that pic of Sugar is terrifying

Happiness1982

nicklouse wrote:

Happiness1982 wrote:

Okay so am I the only one laughing at the fact that dude couldn't remember/didn't know the word 'handlebars'? hahaha

may because English aint the OPs native tongue?

many languages use a word similar to steer for handlebar like
styr
styre

don't forget that though the main users of these forums are native English speakers (hard to believe at times) many are not.

Isn't it? I saw a post-ban post from him in which he did alright swearing at the admin haha

knedlicky

I’m glad to see no one noticed my mistakes! :oops:
Trying to hurriedly squeeze in a forum post when in the middle of something important at work, albeit as supposedly a moment’s light relief to refresh the mind, sometimes leads to getting left and right, top and bottom, and so on, mixed up.

In the last paragraph of my post above, when I wrote “The geometry of modern frames, especially the smaller sizes, have less horizontal separation between crank and bars than on frames of the past”, I meant to write ‘more horizontal separation’.
Similarly, when I wrote “A way to slightly counter this is to have a spacer so the stem sits a pinch higher and to have a slightly longer stem”, I meant to write ‘a slightly shorter stem’.

My apologies to anyone who seriously tried to understand what I was trying to explain, and found it confusing.

And to the others, it just shows what a load of tripe one can sometimes post in a forum without contradiction! :shock:

Daz555

Yellow Peril wrote:

I have the handlebars on one of my bikes angled in a similar fashion. It helps bring the drop forward slightly and feels a more natural position when you go on to the drops.

Handlebars? You mean steers, surely?

Handlebar:


Steers:

pedro118118

Daz555 wrote:

Yellow Peril wrote:

I have the handlebars on one of my bikes angled in a similar fashion. It helps bring the drop forward slightly and feels a more natural position when you go on to the drops.

Handlebars? You mean steers, surely?

Handlebar:


Steers:

Bravo, Sir........

RowCycle

oscarbudgie wrote:

You can go the other way too.....

Is that Alan Sugar?