pjclinch wrote: 12 Apr 2026, 8:12am
The thing about bar styles and handling variations exists but is more about a personal interaction than drops work the same for everyone and flats work the same for everyone.
If you wheel a bike by the saddle you can steer it just the same by gently leaning it irrespective of what bar type it has, the lean of the bike turns the fork, not manhandling the bars, and
if you do most of your steering effort by leaning the bike rather than manhandling the bars the bar type has much less effect on handling.
It's also the case that leaning weight on the bars (whatever sort) is not only uncomfortable for wrists but works against the bike being steered by leaning. Pushing down and forwards on both sides tends to prevent the fork from turning naturally with the lean of the bike, and that makes the handling feel off.
In other words, don't assume you need to drop bars for decent handling, though maybe a bit of re-learning of steering with more emphasis on leaning the bike with your hips would help, possibly along with changing your riding position so you're not leaning on the bars.
A modern mountain bike (e or otherwise) is designed for technical trails with drop-offs, rock gardens and some degree of getting air, and the forks are designed with that in mind, i.e. taking fairly big hits. On the road or smoothish tracks that translates as being over-engineered for the job in hand and consequently not actually that good at it (like a sledgehammer to crack a nut), so if you're not actually mountain biking you pay money for a heavier, slower bike.
Suspension is potentially a Good Thing, but if you can get something tuned to the sort of riding you're doing tends to be best. On the road you only really need < 5 cm of travel.
Saddles are personal taste, and mostly about shape. It's also the case that saddles provided on new bikes tend to be "contractual obligation" torture devices, working on the principle that most people will change them for something that's right for them. To find a good saddle, sit on a load, and preferably ride on them for a bit.
"Comfy grips" are a Good Thing, but the real key to comfortable hands is not putting much weight on them (a combination of riding position and habit). So by all means invest in comfy grips, but lean on your hands for any length of time and unless you do hundreds of push-ups a day it probably won't be very comfortable.
For choosing a bike, e or otherwise, it never hurts to try a load out. If you're going electric and what you really want is comfort on roads and good tracks you don't need anything special and the Dutch have these angles well covered. An upright sitting position makes keeping weight off hands relatively easy and that you catch the wind more is handled by the e-assist. A modern electric Dutch bike actually handles fine, something like
https://www.gazellebikes.com/en-gb/ebikes/chamonix might not look cool and sporty but as I get older I'm far more interested in comfort and practicality than a sporty image.
Pete.
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