Never having been much of a biker I’ve always wondered why
racing bikes typically have handlebars that do not come up at all above the top of the front post, but are twisted down and away from the rider’s upper body. Isn’t this inherently
excruciating during a long ride, forcing the the rider to keep his neck bent at an awkward angle?
They reduce air drag. Sitting upright and riding is a lot like pulling a parachute. Getting “down on the drops” reduces air drag significantly. It can be a bit uncomfortable on long rides, so riders generally alternate by putting their hands on the brake hoods, or sitting up occasionally and putting their hands on the tops of the bars. But you get used to it, and they do make pedaling a lot easier.
Kevin B.
It’s not as uncomfortable as you’d think. Sitting in a more upright position puts more weight on your butt, compressing sensitive nerves. It’s common for a person to be uncomfortable not because the handlebars are too low, but because they aren’t far enough forward of the seat, cramping the torso. Low handlebars allow a rider to distribute weight between butt, feet and hands. Kevin is right on the money about having multiple hand positions too. Fact is even in my skinnier days I rode most of the time on the brake hoods going to the drops just for sprints. I’ve never owned a bike, road or mountain, with handlebars higher than the seat.
Especially on high performance bikes (those with tight geometries), it often actually feels a lot more comefortable to use an aero-bar or handle-ends on mountian bikes. It lets you stretch out a bit.
Kevin is absolutely right regarding the wind resistance aspect. And “dropped handlebars,” as they are properly called, also allow the best hand positions for hard uphill climbing (“honking”) and speedy downhill descents. That’s why long-distance bike tourists, not just racers, like them too.
While we’re on the subject, mountain bikes have straight-across handlebars for a reason too, and it’s not all comfort related. Straight bars are skitish and responsive, allowing the rider to react intantly to bumps, obstacles and mud. (You’ll also notice the front fork is very close to vertical, with very little “rake” – that helps responsiveness as well, at the cost of a cushy ride; but that’s what the suspension system’s there for.). Distance on-road riders – racers and tourists – generally don’t need such responsive steering, so they opt for the dropped bars.
For those of you who want the responsiveness and low wind resistance newkbike.com sells bolt-on drops. I love the versitility .
When I was a kid, in the mid to late fifties, these bikes were commonly called “English Bikes”. I hope I’m not the only one who remembers that. 
Peace,
mangeorge
mangeorge, they were called “English racers” when I was a kid (1960’s).
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- Drop handlebars are a semi-modern version intended to provide different positions for increased comfort. Classic “bull” bars only provide the lower hand position. Of the couple examples I’ve seen, they would not allow mounting of brake/shift levers, as they are usually only used for velodrome/time trial bicycles.
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- “Comfort” is a relative measure, as far as conventional upright bicycles are concerned. - MC
I remember that term in the early 70’s too. As an interesting aside, This weekend I happened upon an original Schwinn Varsity at a church rummage sale. It had been ridden only rarely, still having the original tires and brake pads. It cleaned up nicely and rides wonderfully. Not bad for $9.00!
Hey Vestal, if it’s “Sunset Orange” (…God, it’s frightening that I actually remember the official Schwinn color!..) then it might be mine! My Varsity was stolen in the mid-seventies… breaking my heart in the process.
So, what color is yours? You don’t want to be caught with stolen goods, do you?
Yeah, that’s it. Thanks, stuyguy.
I liked my big ol’ Schwinn too, VB. I’m not sure which was more important to me, my first “big” bike or my first car. When you’re 10, your bike is everything. 
It all came back to me when I was watching “My Dog Skip” with my grandaughter the other night.
Peace,
mangeorge
In addition to the wind resistance factor, human legs are supposedly more efficient in a “closed” position - that is, when the torso is bent forward so it’s not straight with the legs. That’s why high-performance recumbent bikes (that’s not an oxymoron, really) have the crank placed very high, often several inches higher than the seat. The Wishbone is a good example.
Hmmmm, not quite the way I see it.
With drop bars the width is usually far less than on straights.
This means that racing machines need only a small movement by the rider to steer and leaning the bike usually achieves most of this.
When the front wheel is deflected by a bump the rider will correct this by putting in a counter steering effort often overeacting slightly and finally bringing things steady again.On a bumpy track the over-correction can make riding on drops very difficult and it takes some skill to develop the ability to ride with ‘dead’ hands, especially because drops put weight over the steering head.
On racing machines a particularly important dimension is the length of the handlebar stemm, if it is very short then one has to turn the bars more to steer rather than lean.Having a longer stem means that the weight that is supported by the hands helps keep the steering straight.
Track riders, mainly in the pursuit events have fairly narrow bars but their machines are twitchy, so to compensate the rake is increased, in fact the low profile bars used by time triallers are usually very narrow and the machine is usually lousy at dealing with poor roads.
With straight bars it takes a greater rider input to achieve a particular steering outcome so overeaction is usually less.On bumpy trails when the bars kick they do with less force,but more movement which is easier for the rider to detect and correct.Riders will often equip mountain bikes with bars end add-ons which give extra hand positions and greater forward reach which improves stability greatly by putting more weight over the front end.
Mountain bikes have wider tyres which makes them slow steering so to compensate they often have steep steering head angles which can make them feel like the front wheel is going to tuck under in tight turns but by then the longer bars are usually bashing you on the knees.
Generally speaking when looking at the agility of a machine one has to look at the whole package but I can get round a corner much faster on my racer than on my mountain bike because the racer leans much more easily meaning I can take a better line, unless of course it is on a trail.
Cas, in light of your well explained post, allow me to backpedal (yuk, yuk) a bit regarding my post. “Skittish” was the definately the wrong word; I should have opted for “precise” or even “forgiving.” And, your rationale – wider bars – makes perfect sense.