Flat bars vs Drop Bars

[Sycamore]

Hi All,

I have an ~8mile commute through 2 town centres.

At the moment I'm doing it on a B'Twin Triban 500SE, which is a great little bike for the money.

It has drop bars, but I never really get the chance to get much benefit out of them as I'm constantly having to stop, avoid cars etc, so I'm toying towards getting a bike with flat bars that I can commute on, while also using canal paths if need be. A budget cyclocross bike with flat bars seems appealing.

My budget isn't huge, so I'm leaning towards buying a used bike online as there seems to be some good bargains, but I'm just wondering whether I should just suck it up and stick to the current bike?

I don't really use the bike for anything other than commuting.

Reckon flat bars would be better for me?

[bigandclever]

Is it too obvious to suggest just swapping the bars? Pretty sure the 500 comes in both flavours from Decathlon (it did when I got mine).

[sjg]

Sycamore said:

cyclocross bike with flat bars

There's a term for that - "hybrid".

If you prefer flat bars and a more upright riding position (many do in traffic) then get one. If you're doing longer road rides for fun, along with the odd commute then probably best to stick with what you have. A road bike won't fall apart just because you rode it down a canal towpath.

[idiotgap]

I'm in the process of switching from flat bar to drops on my commuter, I miss the variety of hand positions and sometimes get sore hands.

[Dannbodge]

I'd rather have drop bars because
A. They look better
B. They are a nicer width than most flat bars (for me)
C. They look better
D. You'll only get on the drops a few times on a ride and riding on the hoods is comfortable anyway.

[warp9]

I went through exactly the same thing myself. I had a Dawes Giro 300 which is an entry level road bike and just couldn't get on with the drop bars because you couldn't get to the brakes and gears from upright and IMO was a real faff through traffic in town.

I converted that bike to flats and have since moved on to a hybrid which again IMO is perfectly suited to city riding. You can always cut the width of the flats down to suit you. Do it, its the way forward.

[scrw.]

Have 2 London Roads, 1 flat bars, one on drops, with short commutes in traffic I'd take flat bars. You can also hydro disk brakes much cheaper with flat bars if you fancy them.

[Barchettaman]

Before changing the bike, try fitting a set of cyclocross interruptor brake levers. Best of all worlds.

[AC43]

Dannbodge said:

I'd rather have drop bars because

B. They are a nicer width than most flat bars (for me)

My riding is 100% city so it's flat bars all the way for me for the visibility.

A hacksaw sorts the width out in about ten minutes flat.