How much Saddle - Bar Drop did Eddy Merckx Ride?

[MattTuck]

I'm sure this has come up before, but I can't find an exact number. Thanks!

[nrs5000]

Not sure there was one, standard number he used.

http://www.rapha.cc/content/uploads/fettle.jpg

[dancinkozmo]

first pic looks like no more than 5cm
second looks more like 7 or 8

so between 4 and 8 cm ...does that help ??

[witcombusa]

this shows it fairly well (at least on this particular day). I think after the back injury his position chaged.

[Ralph]

We rode on the drops a lot then. Now we drop the bars low, and mostly ride on the hoods. Our hoods are now about where the drops were in those days.....for a lot of riders. Maybe not all.

[Mark McM]

We rode on the drops a lot then. Now we drop the bars low, and mostly ride on the hoods. Our hoods are now about where the drops were in those days.....for a lot of riders. Maybe not all.

There's another factor - due to recent anatomic bends, levers are mounted higher on the bar then they were with classic round bends, so when riding on the hoods today the hands are often about the same level as the bar tops, whereas in the old days our hands were often below the bar tops.

In addition, modern handlebars generally don't have as deep a drop as they did in the old days.

Rather than measuring the vertical distance from the saddle to the bar tops, what if we measured the vertical distance from the saddle to the bar drops?

[mtechnica]

In the pics eddys bike looks really close to my own so I'd guess 7-8cm of drop with the deep drop bars which are probably 2cm lower than compact drops

[MattTuck]

Thanks!

[christian]

Looks like he runs a bit more than me. I run classic bars and about 8cm of drop.

[redir]

We rode on the drops a lot then. Now we drop the bars low, and mostly ride on the hoods. Our hoods are now about where the drops were in those days.....for a lot of riders. Maybe not all.

Yup... This.

[djdj]

Just the right amount for him.:banana:

[Louis]

just the right amount for him.:banana:

+1

[dancinkozmo]

these days looks like his bar drop is about negative 20cm

[oldpotatoe]

I'm sure this has come up before, but I can't find an exact number. Thanks!

dis much

[c-record]

Eddy ran the perfect amount of drop. Everybody else is wrong.

[MattTuck]

There's another factor - due to recent anatomic bends, levers are mounted higher on the bar then they were with classic round bends, so when riding on the hoods today the hands are often about the same level as the bar tops, whereas in the old days our hands were often below the bar tops.

In addition, modern handlebars generally don't have as deep a drop as they did in the old days.

Rather than measuring the vertical distance from the saddle to the bar tops, what if we measured the vertical distance from the saddle to the bar drops?

Ultimately, I guess this gets to what position you ride in the majority of the time. It is an interesting theory though... Is this a function of brifters being more easily accessible from the hoods on modern bikes and thus people being content to ride like that?

At some level, this must have some impact not just on the saddle to bar drop but also the measurement from saddle to the part of the bar you ride most frequently. Does the move from drops to hoods mean the top tubes and/or stems have gotten a bit longer?

[zap]

With obscenely large goofy looking hoods today, I get the stubby reach. But the short drop ........?

Deep drops are nice. Bar top/hoods are at the right height for out of the saddle climbing, deep drops for proper flat back (to the ground) motoring.