arciere wrote:1) My riding position is much more stretched out than on the hybrid.
I went through all this. According to online stuff, for my height, I should be on a 57 frame.
No chance, far too stretched out.
The size that actually fit me properly (on drop bars) ended up being something like a 51!
Even a 48 I had was alright and I wasn't having to put the saddle right back or put long stems on.
That's a massive difference when online says 57 but a 48 fits me. I remember it because a 48 was the smallest possible frame with 700c wheels. That was a
fast bike.
All you can do is sit on the bike in a shop and find out that way, making a note of where the saddle is clamped on the seatpost, ideally it should be in the center.
On flat bars it's a whole other deal and I need to be on a frame with far more reach, if it was a road bike with flat bars, I'd need to be on something like a 59.
arciere wrote:2) Brakes! Cycling on London, I got used to keeping my fingers on the brakes pretty much all the time, but I find it almost impossible with this bike, I have to stretch them out in a position that is rather uncomfortable if held for long. Funnily enough, I find it much easier to brake if my hands are on the drops.
Annoying isn't it. That and the shifters pinching the skin on your fingers because the up/down shifter blades are right next to each other. Try shifting to a higher gear while on drops (the times when that's when you'd be shifting to higher gears), it's just stupid, you can't bend your fingers back enough and it only works properly while on the hoods.
I ended up just going back to flat bars again - yep, on the road. In London with busy traffic that won't be a good idea because your handlebars are going to stick out up to 15cm more each side compared to drop bars.
I have tried my hardest to give drop bars "another chance" four times in the last ten years and every single time I have gone back to flat bars. I'm not going to bother a fifth time, I know I don't like it by now!
You can however, get used to it. It's just not something I want to get used to and constantly think about flat bars anytime I have gone to drops.
Having shifters and brakes at my fingertips is important to me and it sounds like you're having a similar experience.
So many people ride drop bars, they can't be wrong... or can they. I can't get on with them. It's aimed at people racing, I'm not racing, far from it!
When two cyclists get married, they should throw anodized cable crimps instead of confetti.