Position on bike through the ages

[skiezo]

So I have been watching old video clips of races as well as a bunch of old pics.
Most are from the mid 60's up through the mid 2000's. It seems the on bike position from the 60's through the 80's was more relaxed, shorter TT,longer ST,less saddle to bar drop and more upright in general.
Than around the late 80's it all started to change with longer TT,shorter ST and more saddle to bar drop and a more horizontal back.
When I was racing in the 80's on a basso asscot my saddle to bar drop was around 4 to 5 cm and a 54cm TT. Now that would seem way too upright.
Now it seems, ableast for the rec. riders we are looking to go back to less drop and more upright as we age.
I am currently on a 55.5cm TT with 5 to 6 cm of saddle to bar drop and could go less for longer rides.
So what is the average saddle to bar drop these days?

[tv_vt]

Agree.

Competitive Cyclist used to have a good description of their three fit models: Race, Merckx, and French-fit. Merckx-fit works for me these days - few cm of drop, not super-long reach.
Twenty years ago I was running about 10cm of drop and about 60cm for tip of saddle to bars. Now I'm about 2-4cm of drop and around 55-56cm tip to bars.

[Black Dog]

In the 80's we were running less saddle to bar drop compared to today. Bars today are much shallower. I suspect that the drop from the saddle to the drops has not changed that much. We also have shorter reach bars because we spend so much time out on the hoods. The pro look has certainly made us long and low but not as much as we might think...IMHO

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/8d/a0/ee/8da0eeadaeb12010cf717ee7a881eaf5.jpg

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/proxy/O3Ek-62Rpywq_4P30BImXrcK0E0aRMPBe-kyVznjW9jIa9k79sb33-sByFRk1K073pd7F3XVaIeiDg4k-tjkWvaXMggKm7bUmj3ZHiv8S1NgtG4AydNm2jVVrhrljvps5_t OZDjLc2dokhP_J1C8_L-MbgJ3cME

https://felixwong.com/gallery/images/t/tdf_bike1990.jpg

https://images.giant-bicycles.com/l2yjvnvoaapzef4ndr3n/preview.jpg

[fiamme red]

Racers used to use handlebar drops a lot. Now they use them much less, often instead resting their forearms on the bars (a much less stable position, obviously). Interesting use of Photoshop to compare older and newer racing positions: https://forums.thepaceline.net/showthread.php?p=1287351#post1287351.