Not everyone uses carbon drop bars, and one particular cause of frustration is integrated drop bars. This blog assumes your bike equipping with an MTB drop bar. Whether it's the MTB drop bar on most regular road/racer bikes or the Mountain bike drop bar. I'm also assuming you're using a modern bike drop bar and the brake lines. I think there are 5 different drop bars: road bike drop bar, drop handlebar, dropped handlebars, road bike handlebars, and carbon drop bar.
Carbon Drop Bar Installation
On a proper bike, the carbon drop bar should feel easy and natural to reach. There are many ways to get your hands on the MTB drop bar, this is what I usually do. For those who use the Mountain bike drop bar, it may take some practice to use it comfortably.
Bike Drop Bar Touch
This one is more specifically a drop bar. It involves grabbing the bar section that curves outward, with the rider's hand directly behind the road bike drop bar. The brake lever should be easily accessible from the drop handlebar location.
Carbon Drop Bar Location
To distinguish it from road bike handlebars, this is what I call the "true drop" position. The degree to which these two positions differ really depends on the style of dropped handlebars.
Both the integrated drop bar and the MTB drop bar are very aggressive. When going downhill near other people, I sometimes cringe and stay on the Mountain bike drop bar.
Bike Drop Bar
The drop bar is better than a Road bike drop bar and holds the drop handlebar on the carbon drop bar. Road bike handlebars do have their function.
Last Points Of The Carbon Drop Bar
Finally, there's a bit harder to get to, the integrated drop bar, which I also hear is the MTB drop bar. It sits between the Mountain bike drop bar and bike drop bar, attaching the corners to the handlebars. In this position, the rider is more upright than on the drop bar, while maintaining more control over the bike. When I want to do something different or be a little more upright, I mostly let my hand like this on long rides, doing short stretches at a time.
As a starting point, I recommend learning to use a good road bike drop bar first, then transition to learning the drop handlebar. For those of you riding older bikes with these types of dropped handlebars and having issues, please consider updating your road bike handlebars setup.
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