Dulwich Hill Bicycle Club

I know for some it sounds silly but I am going to replace the bullhorn bars on an old road bike (the Shogun Katana) with drop bars. I haven't done much riding with drop bars and would like to get some advice about getting used to the multiple hand positions and the different position of the brakes.

i have drops on my road bike, but only use them when im racing crits, probably not even for roadn races really unless its hardcore fast.
I use them alot more on the track

Hi Jono,

it's all about core strength. What you want to avoid is having your upper body weight supported by the palms of your hands. A rider should be lifting their upper body using their abs & if this is not the case then they will have alot of weight bearing down via the hands. This will result in tired arms & hands, poor steering & bad aero positioning. This strength is built by the following - good ol' abdominal strength exercises (sit-up's, crunches, etc) & good ol' heaps of km's on the bike.

As for hand positions - this is the beauty of drops. I talk of the tops for the flat part on the top, the hoods for hands on the brake leavers & the drops for the lower part of the bars. The tops are for seated climbing & relaxing riding. The hoods are for standing off the mark, standing climbing and for bunch riding & the drops are for aero decending & sprinting. I do 90% braking from the hoods.