I am of the opinion that there should not be all that much difference in drop between the two positions. Often no difference. Cockpit distance is generally a far greater driver of comfort, while aerobar drop is usually given too much significance in that regard. When determing aerobar drop, the majority of athletes will reach their limit of power & digestion before they reach their limit of comfort. Plenty of them are mentally uncomfortable with dropping the front end a bunch of cm's in a fitting, but we can work with that.

Assuming all other comfort and crank length issues are attended too, most of us can ride fairly low, or more precisely, at appropriate hip angles. Dont get caught up in thinking that long course, short course, time trials and whatnot are fundamentally different position questions. They arent.

You could be giving up as much as 1 mph IF you could drop those 5cm sustainably. Others may be quick to mention that the current higher position could be faster as well, so there's that.

You sound like my fitter. Makes sense to me. You don't have to hurt to be aero.

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Also it's impossible to do an eyeball wind tunnel just looking at a headset.

Haha, alright, thanks! You're the person who put me in this position, so I guess I can defer to you.

Dang, now that is funny. Don't know your name still, but funny. BTW, I just moved to Atlanta, but email and phone are the same if you need any follow up discussion.

How much time/watts/speed am I giving up with the higher position over 40k?

Absolutely no way to tell. Rule of thumb is that reducing frontal area is usually good. Narrow and low. You need to experiment. Do you have a PM?

This ^^^^^

If your bike is set up with the larger spacer you may be able to remove that pedestal the pads to the same position and that should/could/might make it a bit more aero.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Why is being "slammed" so much less comfortable than being 35mm higher? Other than a little more neck soreness, I really don't find comfort being any different. What's your limiting factor in comfort? I think the ideal set-up on a Speed Concept, is finding a stack that's tolerable, then adding the spacer under the pad wings for IM and most training, then removing it for 70.3 and shorter races.

I just picked up a 9 series, and the shop didn't have a low-far stem in stock to match my position I had on my Gen 1 7 series, so I'm riding it for now 35mm higher? Is it more comfortable. Not really. My neck is a little less sore after long rides, but my shoulder, back, core etc. are the same.

Let be honest here, do you want to ride the "comfort concept" or the "speed concept"?

The better question, is are you actually faster, by going lower? Don't assume yes. I know for myself, that I am based on power data and bike splits from before and after I went another step lower last winter. But if going lower means you can't tuck your head as tight, or stay aero as long, you might not be.

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TrainingBible Coaching
http://www.trainingbible.com