Hand positions on drop bars

Knowing little (read: nothing) about riding road bikes, I was surprised to learn when at a recent frame fitting session that a normal relaxed hand position on a bike with drop bars is like in the pictures below (or perhaps a little closer to the bars)...

I must admit when sat on the jig it did feel nice and comfy. Since then I've been wondering though, on a fixed wheel bike with either one or no brakes, what is the substitute for this position? Is this the reason some folks do the chop/flip move with the bars?
Anyways - where do you rest your hands, and why?

Mine are normally stuffed into my skinny jean pockets, to perfect that non-chalant look. I steer with my knees.

thats not nonchalant enough for me, I play with my oversized headphones whilst rolling and lighting a cigarette, whilst peering out through my vintage shades.

Right at the stem or right at the bottom of the drops...you can get them at the ends of the bars like that if you turn your hands the other way around but it's not comfy for long on your wrists

So in answer to the question...I keep mine on my super narrow risers ;)

and on a serious note, I like my old school persuit bars- cos they allow me to keep my wrists in perfect line with my forearm, so that the back of my hand is completely in line with the hairy side.
it protects my weak as fuck injured shoulder.

you can get fake hoods too, but i don't know if they are any use.

on a fixed wheel bike with either one or no brakes, what is the substitute for this position?

there isn't really and its rubbish. I imagine the hoods are there and ride in a similar position instead.

read sheldon, there's pages of stuff on hand positions.

i have a dummy hood and a crosstop/normal hood lever. so i get hoods, tops and drops to use.
i wouldn't have it any other way, deeply unfashionable but if you are going to be riding 50-80 miles then i would rather do it without getting back/neck/arm ache.
I don't understand why people make their bikes so uncomfortable to ride just because they think it looks cool? you just look like somebody who doesn't know how to ride a bike properly doing that hunched shouldered thing? either that or you have a nasty draught up your back or perhaps a shoulder muscle that has gone into spasm and you are on the way to the chiropractor?

Hoods, well, I've got one front break and it would look wrong to have one, so I've got the pair, just one is disconnected... obviously I also use the tops and drops too...

Does anyone else use the drops with their thumbs towards them? (elbows out, back of hands pointing up...) I find it's good for stretching on long rides...

i have a dummy hood and a crosstop/normal hood lever. so i get hoods, tops and drops to use.
i wouldn't have it any other way, deeply unfashionable but if you are going to be riding 50-80 miles then i would rather do it without getting back/neck/arm ache.
I don't understand why people make their bikes so uncomfortable to ride just because they think it looks cool? you just look like somebody who doesn't know how to ride a bike properly doing that hunched shouldered thing? either that or you have a nasty draught up your back or perhaps a shoulder muscle that has gone into spasm and you are on the way to the chiropractor?

you're finishing your statements with question marks? like this? are you australian?

eh?

(that's a canadian affectation, my voice goes up at the end of every sentence too)

does anyone know of an online punctuation and correct English service?
where you can write your post and it re-organises it for you?
i'm obviously not getting the hang of this writtin stuff down as it is in my head
and it really gets on peoples tits.

you're finishing your statements with question marks? like this? are you australian?

Rhetorical, innit?

eh?

(that's a canadian affectation, my voice goes up at the end of every sentence too)

it's known as the Australian Question Intonation or the High rising terminal :

[ame]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_rising_terminal[/ame]

i've never heard a Canadian do it, at least not as much as aussies. mind you, americans etc do do it

It's creeping into East Anglian dialects..

When I went to Dublin I was mistaken for an Australian and was recently mistaken for a Kiwi by an Englishman in Suffolk

does anyone know of an online punctuation and correct English service?
where you can write your post and it re-organises it for you?
i'm obviously not getting the hang of this writtin stuff down as it is in my head
and it really gets on peoples tits.

Just PM your post to me first ;)

it's known as the Australian Question Intonation or the High rising terminal :

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_rising_terminal

i've never heard a Canadian do it, at least not as much as aussies. mind you, americans etc do do it

I have a psychosociolinguistic theory as to the origins of this phenomenon, but this really isn't the place for it...

oh, do go on...

I think you'll find he normally does :^]

scince i ve been riding drop bars ive never understood how people find riding the hoods comfortable. i ride almost exclusivly in the drops, or by the stem when im relaxing.

maybe my bars are too low, but when i ride the hoods all my weight is on my bent wrists and elbows which just isnt comfortable. i much prefere having straigheter arms in the drops.

you haven't got the hoods/bars at the right angle, then

And your saddle's too far forward (pitching your weight onto your arms), and your reach may be too short, and your bars may be too low, and your core strength may be a little underdeveloped.

Other than that, no problem ;)

oh, do go on...

I can't be bothered.

Let's just say I doubt you'd debate the reasoning behind it.

you've convinced me!

There, that wasn't difficult, was it*.

• note the absence of question mark here. A rhetorical statement, clearly, but possibly also a sign that the speaker of the utterance has a healthy baseline psychological security, something that may be a result of refusing to join the masses who willingly take their consumer medicine (prescribed by an insidious political and economic spectre) instead of reflecting on the emotional ills that sicken their souls and obscure their true identities. The voice is a powerful instrument, but it never lies.