Putting myself in Leah's place to answer your question, if I had her 
plethora of Platys I would choose a new/different bike for drop bars 
because it would be more interesting. Popping drops on one of my Platys 
with wide tires and a dynohub ain't gonna do the roadie thing for me. 

Joe Bernard 

On Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at 6:39:13 PM UTC-7 ttoshi wrote:

> --What if I flip the question on its head and say could I do club riding 
> with my Cheviot, and what would I gain from getting a road bike?
>
> I've not ridden a Platypus, but I would assume that it would be similar to 
> a Cheviot.
>
> If I stripped down my Cheviot, then I am confident that I would be 
> perfectly fine on club rides.  I have Albastache bars, and basically use 2 
> positions.  My brake levers are on the curves up front and it is probably 
> similar to my drop bars.  I have an upright position at the end of the bar 
> where the bar end shifters are.  I think rides up to a century or 200k 
> would be fine.  I think I might prefer a drop bar for longer rides because 
> I have more hand positions that I use (I'm sure there are more usable 
> positions on the Albastache, but I don't use them...).
>
> For my drop bars, I found this site to describe various hand positions: 
> https://www.roadbikerider.com/dropped-bar-hand-positions/
>
> I probably use position 3 (curves of the flat front bar) for 45% of my 
> riding.  30% in position 7 in the drops and the other 20% in position 9 
> (end of drops) and 10% on the flats or in the hoods (2,5).
>
> I actually don't use the hoods too much because I set up my drop bars so 
> that I am most comfortable in the drops and a bit stretched out when my 
> hands are in the hoods.
> --I would definitely recommend TRP levers if you want to brake from the 
> drops because they are angled out to make it easy to grab when you are 
> braking from the drops.
>
> Aside from more hand positions with a drop bar, there would be more 
> responsive steering from the handlebar.  I think that if I had a bmx setup 
> without brake or derailleur cables, then I would be able to spin my front 
> wheel 360 degrees without falling on my Cheviot.  
>
> If I tried to spin my Roadeo front wheel 360 degrees, then I'm pretty sure 
> I'd fall flat on my face as I angled the front wheel too far to the left or 
> right.
>
> My Roadeo has the best handling via steering input.  This responsiveness 
> to steering gives me better descending capabilities when going down curvy 
> roads.  I wouldn't otherwise need the responsive steering if I didn't 
> descend hilly/mountainous roads, and would be perfectly fine going slightly 
> slower on my Cheviot.
>
> If I had a racing Platy/Cheviot: 1. Albastache bars to have the hand 
> position with the brakes up front to tuck down in the wind. 2. Supple 
> sidewall tires.  Yes there is a greater risk of sidewall damage, but if I 
> store my bike indoors (I do) and do periodic inspection of my tires (I need 
> to do this before big rides for sure), then I am comfortable with the risk 
> benefit tradeoff. The improvement in ride quality and speed was tremendous 
> for me. 38-42 mm is ideal for me (Hetre EL or Babyshoe pass EL or parimoto 
> 38 mm are tires I have used and are wonderful).  I think Jan 
> Heine/Compass/Rene Herse's research showed that 42 mm supple tires are no 
> less efficient and can be more efficient than 28 mm road tires.
>
> I wouldn't worry about the weight of the bike unless I was just hanging on 
> by a thread and needed to lose a pound or two to keep a margin of comfort, 
> or unless I were actually racing (I don't) and seconds might really count. 
> Besides, I know there is a certain amount of satisfaction when a racing 
> Platy keeps up with the carbon fiber pack!
>
> Toshi in Oakland, CA
>
>

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