Hi all

I am considering swapping my road bikes drop bars for flats with bar ends …. Mainly because I rarely use the drop section … Most of he time my hands are on the top of the shifters.

If you’ve done this too … How was it? …. Ride? … Weight penalties? … Recommendations?

Thanks

Steve

Tempted myself, but the cost of changing brakes and shifters puts me off experimenting

You really would want a different sizes frame as a road bike is obviously built length wise for drops. Better off with a hybrid / flat bar road bike frame.

It’s a very upright riding position, that said I love riding with the bar ends over the drop bar. Shimano flat bar mechs lets you use mtb shifters if you have any lying around.

Why don’t you use the drop section at the moment?

IME steering is twitchy and TT length feels wrong even with barends, probably because you cant cover the brakes or change gear from there like you can on the hoods.

always ran flat bars on road/touring bike.
loads of mamil’s pottering about on race bikes, with belly’s too big to allow them to get on the drops.
pack it in, get comfy you wannabe fool’s.

seriously, who ever gets on the drops?

Yes. I changed to flat bars on my Charge Filter. I have a childseat on the back so I wanted a more upright position and better access to the brakes.

I found it puts me a much more upright postition – slightly more stretched than a hybrid – which is what I wanted. I’ve got Tiagra flat bar shifters and brake levers which work very well. Less expensive than the SRAM versions.

Works for me.

seriously, who ever gets on the drops?

Me 🙂

Thanks to the mess my neck and back got into from being hit, plus the desire to be able to cover the brakes in town, I’ve used one of these for years in place of the drops. Advantage is can use the same levers – the only new cost was the bar.

sdb……..for 2 mins until your back goes. 😀

coincidentally i was thinking about this just this afternoon – i was in the bike cave armed with the measuring taping wondering how to convert the dirty disco to flat bars. assuming the saddle to bar grips distance on my hardtail is correct for me (well, its the most comfortable riding position of all my bikes) then translate that across to the DD with some narrow flat bars i could get away with just a fairly long stem. and then i could fit the deore brakes i bought but didn’t fit to the single speed, and all i need is some shifters. only question is, (really really sorry) i will have a 10sp road rear mech, and a 10 speed road cassette and a mtb shifter, will this work or do i need a mtb mech? i will probably fit a mtb cassette so i think i’ve answered my own question

No, that would be silly.

seriously, who ever gets on the drops?

Anyone who’s set their road bike up properly. I had a nice wind assisted ride the other day and ended up spending about 2 hours in the drops…it was even the Strava title…

monkeyfudger – Member

seriously, who ever gets on the drops?

Anyone who’s set their road bike up properly.[/quote]

This +1000

Yep, shoulder inpingement means drops hurt, alot! Longer stem and a few tweaks kind of make it all work-ish 🙂

Anyone who’s set their road bike up properly.[/quote]
This +1000
[/quote]And another 1000.

Yep, shoulder inpingement means drops hurt, alot! Longer stem and a few tweaks kind of make it all work-ish

Could you not just have got a bigger frame, so the headtube would be longer, bringing bars higher, not needing a daft long stem and still leaving loads of post sticking out the frame.

Could you not just have got a bigger frame, so the headtube would be longer, bringing bars higher, not needing a daft long stem and still leaving loads of post sticking out the frame.

The pic is prob deceiving, there’s 200mm of post showing and a 110mm stem. Shoulder injury means I need wider bars and riding on hoods, drops or tops cause pain. Thanks for the input tho! 😉

Cheers everyone … Interesting points

I suppose I don’t use the drop section cos I mainly ride solo so no drafting required … And coming from mtb it just feels a bit cramped. I get the aerodynamics reasoning but as my rides are not competitive, just charity type sportives then not really going for fast times etc…. It’s just that when climbing I find myself pulling on the shifters like bar ends and similar when just cruising ….. Probably doing it all wrong

seriously, who ever gets on the drops?

Also me.

Took a different bar and a much longer stem, and a lot of faffing (and bar tape) to get it right. Not only can you move the position of the bars, you can rotate them AND move the hoods around the bend, so you have tons of options.

My hoods are now only just comfortable, but the drops are great. If I rotate the bars and hoods to put them flatter, the drop part becomes too far away. My frame is borerline too small though.

I suppose I don’t use the drop section cos I mainly ride solo so no drafting required

I ride solo and usr the drops plenty. I’d look at bike set up and aim to use then for small periods of time, building up to longer.

Flats on a road bike? Just plain wrong.

seriously, who ever gets on the drops?

me

for climbing, sprinting and for a more aero position at speed. for traffic heavy commuting though i’d use a flat bar for a more upright/better vision position.
sounds like the OP needs a different bike or one that fits better

I did it on a Triban 5 as an experiment as I couldn’t get on with drops having ridden MTB for years. Loved it. Now waiting for my broken hand to heal to try the flat bar London Road I’ve put together. It suits me and may not others!

Your frame will probably be quite a bit too short to make it work.

I have started road riding with my wife again recently and she doesn’t use the drops much and it’s clear following her that her high centre of gravity and inability to.cover the brakes adequately from the hoods are making her descending much less stable and more awkward. I don’t use my drops loads, maybe a third of the time, but it’s an important position and I would tweak your set up so you can use them more. Maybe use compact drop bars?

Also, I assume if you are riding on the hoods now you are braking and shifting from them. You won’t be able to do that on a flat bar set up.

seriously, who ever gets on the drops?

this guy

Going down on the drops is much like going down on a woman. The novice should try it for a little at a time, and then after a while they will find they need to come up for air less and less frequently. Within a short period of time it will seem uncommon to go for a ride without doing it – even if you are riding solo.

Are your handlebars the correct width for you?

I did it a couple of times when tarting around on my old fixie, although I was using riser bars rather flats and I also changed the stem length. Both set ups felt completely comfortable and looked ‘right’.
I find riding in the drops most useful when going down hill, it seems to make the bike feel more stable and I feel more in control of the steering.

On yeah, flats all the way for an urban commuter though 🙂

My mate gave me a road bike that he’d crashed. I’d 9 inches taller than him.

I took the drops off, with the related gubbins, and put flat bars and bar ends on. I found it fitted me surprisingly well, it didn’t with the drops, and I rode it like that for a few years

I’ve since converted it to singlespeed, and have bought a cross bike (and use the drops)

Make of that what you will!

Wow there is some crap spouted on here sometimes! Why on earth would you need a different size frame with a change of bars? The bars are in the same position pretty much! Cost isn’t an issue as you can generally sell a set of road STI’s for way more than a set of new levers/shifter and some flat bars will cost.

So many people buy drop bar bikes nowadays because that’s what the pros have but for many it just isn’t necessary or desirable. Yeah if you’re chasing speed it might be important to get that drop position right but most people want to go out and have a nice ride around the countryside and flat bars do that very well indeed.

I’ve converted 2 bikes to flat bars and much preferred them, a Kaffenbak and my TDF. Both are the right size for me with drops and I haven’t noticed any crazy handling or short cockpits or death with the flat bars.

If you want a more upright position then a lot of folk mess around with their drops at weird angles and the shifters pointing to the sky rather than getting flats as they want to stay looking cool rather than just being concerned about being comfortable and riding a bike that suits their riding.

Only advice I would give is that the flat bars you use shouldn’t be wide ones 580 is plenty wide enough for road use. I use 600 on the tourer as it gives more space for attachments. I once put bar ends inboard of the controls which worked well for headwinds and was really comfortable but I don’t do it now and don’t miss it.

A pic of my TDF to annoy the fashion victims. 😉

And my drop bar bike just to show I don’t hate drops…. 😉

Robdob in response id say you would usually need to alter the cockpit of a roadbike that fits as they are generally shorter in the tt. As an example my old mtb that fitted was 600mm tt with 90mm stem my roadbike was a 540mm tt with 100mm stem quite a difference

I have converted road to flat bars but found them very cramped up without stem change.

But overall i personally prefer drops nothing to do with fashion just comfort. Tho i did discuss with the builder of my eagerly awaited bike flat bars as id like the usable space for ‘stuff’ but not over comfort so went with drops in the end

Robdob- of course you need a different frame size (or a longer stem, but if your stem is already at 120mm then your handling will go to pot). A drop bar extends much further forward than a flat bar- if you spent most of your time on the hoods then swapping to flats will put your hands several inches further back.

Giant, the world’s biggest bike manufacturer, happen to agree with me-

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/rapid.1/19205/77299/#geometry

http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-gb/bikes/model/defy.1/19187/77294/#geometry

56.5cm TT on the medium flat bar Rapid, 54.5cm on the medium drop bar Defy.

Robdob- of course you need a different frame size (or a longer stem, but if your stem is already at 120mm then your handling will go to pot). A drop bar extends much further forward than a flat bar- if you spent most of your time on the hoods then swapping to flats will put your hands several inches further back.

Need? No I don’t, as already proved. If you put flats on the grip width will be wider than the tops position on a drop bar which will mean that for the same length stem your weight will be further forwards – no longer stem needed. If you want to replicate the reach of the hoods position you could put a slightly longer stem on but most people will run bar ends which make your hands even further out so again it isn’t needed.

Yes I do know how the bars are different, I do have eyes. 🙄

If people will pull their heads out of their butts they will realise that some people want to be comfortable and don’t give a crap about fitting into the drop bar clique. It’s advice like the above, making people think they need drops and couldn’t possibly convert their current bike, that keeps people riding uncomfortable bikes with weird setups of drops/brifters that get laughed at anyway by followers of “the rules”.

Handling “will go to pot”?? Errr no, sorry it won’t. And you don’t need to change anything anyway.

People think that changing things around and fitting different stuff attracts disaster. No it doesn’t.

19″ Kona built for a lady who is 5’9″ with very long legs and arms. 50mm stem, risers, forks the wrong length for the original frame (seat is not set right in this photo). Works brilliantly, everyone who has ridden it loves it. Just wish i could more of these frames for 99p!

94 Kilauea fitted with a stem 4 cm shorter than original. Handles fantastically. No one has died.

Cheers everyone … Interesting points

I suppose I don’t use the drop section cos I mainly ride solo so no drafting required … And coming from mtb it just feels a bit cramped. I get the aerodynamics reasoning but as my rides are not competitive, just charity type sportives then not really going for fast times etc…. It’s just that when climbing I find myself pulling on the shifters like bar ends and similar when just cruising ….. Probably doing it all wrong

There’s absolutely nothing “wrong” with what you are doing. Don’t think you need to fit into the rules like all the other sheep – ride how you want to! Sounds like you’re having fun which is more important than anything else.

There’s absolutely nothing “wrong” with what you are doing. Don’t think you need to fit into the rules like all the other sheep – ride how you want to! Sounds like you’re having fun which is more important than anything else.

This is the key. If you want to ride a road bike quickly then flat bars are useless; if you just want to cruise about then they’ll be fine.

Sounds like you just need to spend a bit of time setting up your current bars properly though.

Er.. were we not discussing road bikes with flat bars? As opposed to changing stem length on mountain bikes?

Ride and enjoy!

If people will pull their heads out of their butts they will realise that some people want to be comfortable

although drop bars are very comfortable; more so than flat bars.