Flat bar to drop bar?

[Tangled Metal]

OK I prefer drop bars. I owned a flat bar hybrid to try it because it suited my needs better at the time. I've got elbows that give discomfort if I can't move my hands around a bit like your can with drop bars. I moved back to drops.

Now my partner has no issues with using flat bars. No discomfort or anything. It's the only type of bar she knows. Is it worth trying to make the change considering we're road based riders with easy gravel tracks only? It seems to me there are more practical bikes in drop bars (tourers for example that aren't heavy trekking bikes).

[LollyKat]

What does your partner think? If she's happy with flat bars and they serve the purpose why bother to make the change? It would cost you a bit as you need not only new bars but probably a new stem (the reach will be different), brake levers/shifters which may not work so well with the existing brakes, bar tape, maybe a different saddle... Unless she does a lot of riding into the wind there doesn't seem much point in switching.

[Tangled Metal]

It's a new bike that's offered by the manufacturer in two formats. Fiat or drop. She's hoping to pick up speed too over her mtb with slicks.

Bikes looking at include tour de fer, although cheaper offerings such as trek or pinnacle hybrids. Sirrus does look decent hybrid. Trouble is touring gets treated as make do with what you've got. This time she is thinking a better tourer hence the TdF. She likes the steel frames.

She's looking at drops I guess partly so that she's got somewhere to drop down to in headwind. Plus something different.

There's not much around the bike shops near us that suits because it's all road, hybrid or mtb. There's little touring. Unless you get to Ambleside which is a little too far. Some very good local bike shops such as Evans, wheelbase and Edge (perhaps even leisure Lakes but they've gone off the boil a bit). A nasty dawes in Evans or a dull janis at most, until you see the genesis offering at wheelbase. They look good bikes. Interesting they do one flat bar. Looks cheaper but similar standard as the top of range in drop bar. Would be good to offer them in different frame choice. So far it's three specs with three different coloured frames. It's possibly the last thing to want but colour should be chooseable at £1100/£1300 IMHO.

[JohnW]

Over nearly 60 years of serious adult cycling, and the expressed thoughts of the 'old guys' absorbed all down those years, the rule that I've learned to apply to myself is "find what's comfortable and stick with it".

If there's a problem, then it has to be resolved and that gets complicated - what's comfortable for one rider frequently isn't for another, and the solution for one rider's problems may not be for another rider - everyone can tell you how they've solved a problem, but that may not work for the same problem for you.

If I'm comfy with my position and set up then I stick with it. It's my set-up and not someone else's. We do change down the years though and I find it helpful to be open and ready to adjust.

I found that riding on the levers, on drop bars with the tops about level with the saddle is the most comfy for me, certainly for rides up to 260 miles and for the little bit of time trialling that I did I had that same position, but learning to use deeper drop bars - for reducing headwind resistance. Other riders, including serious time trialists would probably say differently.

We can easily get too serious about all this - just be comfy, and ride happy.

[Mick F]

^^^^^ +1
Wot John said, though I'm not as old.

[JohnW]

^^^^^ +1
Wot John said, though I'm not as old.

Not a lot of cyclists are nowadays Mick.

[Tangled Metal]

TBH I only had my first uncomfortable bike a few years ago. My first flat bars since a kid and since over use of elbows and shoulders kayaking. Before then anything fitted me even if it didn't!

[mattsccm]

Is the size the same as the dropped bar version? Many flat bar bikes have longer top tubes than dropped versions as on the former the bars are further back. If there is a difference it can make the whole thing too long and the only solution would be things like shorter stems and inline seat posts. All more money and fuss and they can mess up the handling and feel of the bike.
Leave well alone .

[Cyril Haearn]

Butterfly bars are good, just got some, the stem swivels too, lots of adjustment and many different positions possible

Or drops higher up and further back maybe

[Tangled Metal]

From the genesis website large has a horizontal top tube length of 604 for TdF 10, 20 (flat bar version) and 30. The first and last are drop bars.

[531colin]

……….
Now my partner has no issues with using flat bars. No discomfort or anything. It's the only type of bar she knows. Is it worth trying to make the change .............

Its certainly worth test riding a few bikes.

[reohn2]

From the genesis website large has a horizontal top tube length of 604 for TdF 10, 20 (flat bar version) and 30. The first and last are drop bars.

How tall is she?
I'm 6ft tall and for a drop barred frame I ride a 57cm horizontal TT.For a flat barred frame I like a Horizontal TT of about 61 to 62cm.
The reason is that the default hand position for drops is way out in front of the stem handlebar clamp(ramps and hoods),whereas the default and only position for flats is level with the stem handlebar clamp and if the 'bars have a back sweep behind the clamp.

[reohn2]

……….
Now my partner has no issues with using flat bars. No discomfort or anything. It's the only type of bar she knows. Is it worth trying to make the change .............

Its certainly worth test riding a few bikes.

Agreed,if someone's been riding flats for years and is happy with them,they may find it a challenge to change

[Tangled Metal]

I tried it the other way and whilst the first few minutes were a bit iffy (riding on a canal towpath next to a canal concentrates your mind). Half an hour later it was OK. I rode the bike for a few years until it got nicked.

My issue with flat bars was that the change from drop bar hoods to drops and back again offers a change in loading on my elbows sufficient to refresh them. But most of all I find my arm position from my grip to my shoulder seems more ergonomic for me than flat bars. I can ride for an hour on drops comfortably then switch to hoods off needed.

On flats I had no respite from the single hand position. Fitting bar ends would mean new grips because they didn't accept grips unless you cut a chunk out. Then it got nicked and my flat bar experiment was over. I am, however, possibly different to a lot of riders because I've got an iffy elbow or two and an iffy hand through various outdoor activities.

My partner is mostly without past breaks and aches to affect bar choice. She keeps wavering between drop barred tourer and flat bar hybrid. The Genesis TdF 20 with flat bars is the same frame as the drop barred versions. Both with 100mm stem but the flat bars have a 10mm rise 12 degree backsweep. No science behind it but to my eye the photographs seem to have the bars of both style in my too different position if you look at the drops. The flat ones appear slightly higher up and backwards. Which is probably more of a mountain bike setup. Possibly a more off road version of the bike, especially with the lower gearing. I like it. Mind you I ride drops off road so I'm not quite normal. Been doing so for 20+ years but not frequently until the last couple of years.

I think the only way to try drop bars is for her to ride for at least half an hour or more. I wonder if bike shops allow that.

[reohn2]

Both drop barred and flat barred TdeF's are shown on the Genesis site with the same stem length but that proves nothing,what matters is the riding position.For me personally if I were choosing the flat barred version I'd go for the large frame(604 HTT) for the drops I'd go for the medium frame(578 HTT) to get the default hand position in the approximately right position.I'd then play around with stem lengths to get the bike dialled in more exactly for my personal height and reach.

Drops off road aren't so unusual people have been riding them off road for decades,myself included