Grant Peterson sees a connection between bar width and Q factor. Modern cranks are wider than old ones. The hand/foot leverage equation, when standing, might feel odd with narrow bars and wide cranks or vice versa.
Speaking of narrow bars, check out the ones on the '37 Raleigh on the right in
http://www.adventurecorps.com/
At 5/23/2006 08:32 PM -0700, you wrote:
>Ever since Aldo showed a pic of Bottechia and his
>narrow drops tilted downward, I've been thinking how
>comfortable and sleek he looked in the position he was
>riding in. His hand positioning seemed rather like a
>jockey on a race horse holding reins. And the
>narrowness of the bars seemed a virtue leading to
>comfort, dexterity and less wind resistance; at least
>less of all these than I see today with everyone
>riding with these extremely wide handle bars. I have
>tended to prefer wide drops myself. But I went out and
>adjusted a bike with narrow drops and a long quill to
>this position of Bottechias, slipped the brake levers
>up a bit, and liked it, despite being 6'2" tall and
>average shoulder width for that height. It seems that
>wide bars not only weigh more, but would create a
>bigger frontal surface to push through the air.
>Further, wider bars locate a persons hands and arms
>out wider when staying near today's integrated
>brake/shifter controls and enhance the sail effect of
>the body. Why are wide bars so much more in favor now?
>Or have they always been and I've just been around
>alot of bikes with narrow drops for small riders?
>
>Don Wilson
>Los Olivos, CA USA
>
>D.C. Wilson dcwilson3@yahoo.com
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