Fancy something different for a 1/2 commute to work in winter, (Drop the car off at a mates and ride in 13 miles either way)as a way of trying to get my fitness up a bit.

Already have a Carbon roadbike for using in summer when riding into work from home (25 miles either way)which I find OK in summer but don’t fancy riding it in winter.

The rat will also be ideal for those 1 hr blasts when I don’t fancy get $h1t up and just want to get some riding in on the rough as hell country lanes round here.

Really like the Soul I have and quite fancy the flat bar long model Roadrat, but I’m still dithering over the ‘buy now button’ as to the advantages a drop bar model may have.

What advantages have either bar types got? and is the Roadrat OK for the odd off road jaunt, or is a Cotic X/other CX bike a better bet.

STW massive opinions and views needed please

Ta

Chucky

I bought a flat bar version because I rarely use the drops on my road bike.

It is fine off-road – I did HoNC a couple of years ago and it rode really well. Good for light touring as well with all the fixings.

If the use is road biased I’d go for drops.

Benefits of drops on road outweigh those of flats off road once you are on skinny tyres.

I bought a flat bar version because I rarely use the drops on my road bike.

I’m the same to be honest, rarely stray from the hoods on my road bike.

Hence my requests for opinions and my first chioce being flat bars

Get flat bars then, simples.

I always dismissed drops but they really are more comfortable for lots and lots of road miles. Theres just loads more comfy padded bits to put your hands even if you don’t use the drops.

That said, its easier fitting proper hydraulic discs to flats, and i find i’ve got more control in traffic (think its just a more familiar position coming from an mtb background).

My flat bar Roadrat is easily my favorite bike, I just love it.
As for how it performs off road I wouldn’t know but I’d imagine the fork is a little harsh.

why don’t people use drops?
is it because they are sat up bimbling along.

When are you supposed to use drops?

I ride a 20 mile round trip on my Vapour and never feel the need to use the drops, ever. The odd time i’ve attempted to use them it felt horrible…but that may be because it felt soooooo low compared to any MTB set-up.

When are you supposed to use drops?

when you want to go at at a reasonable speed, wind resistance is much less when on the drops
if you can’t use drops then it’s probably lack of flexability or a badly set up/fitting bike.

I see…probably wrong size as i ride a 54 but probably should have bought a 52! I didn’t have much experience of cross or road bikes when i made use of my staff purchase allowance!

I’ve got a flat barred RE for sale. Full xt group set including discs, full mudguards. Great for commuting and the xt works well if you take it off-road. Can’t recall the size but I’m 6ft.

Let me know if you are interested and I can sort some pictures.

Rio

probably a bit big, i’m only 5ft 4″ and do you mean RR or RE?

what size is it?

I went for drops ‘n discs.

I never ride down on the drops, but vary hand positions on the hoods. People say you can achieve the same with flats + barends, though I’ve never tried.

To be honest, the nearer I get into the City, the more stop/start I am, and I’d probably prefer flats at that point, then I don’t have to adjust myself to get nearer the brakes.

My main gripe with the Roadrat is the tektro discs they come with (if you go for them). Much prefer the feel of avids – wish they would offer that option.

I think I’ve decided to use flat and Formula K18’s on it.

yeah I mean RR, I think it is medium long but need to measure to confirm.

Here’s my commuter Roadrat – a flat-barred, medium long one with Alfine gearing:

I prefer flat bars for commuting and I’ve also got a drop-barred road bike. Another advantage of flat bars is that it means you can use hydro disks.

Flats and discs for me, with wide mtb bars and CX tyres- good for hopping up and down curbs and some gravelly / fireroad / mud / field /towpath routeage. I dont do drops in the same way I dont do nights in with Dale Winton.

is the Roadrat OK for the odd off road jaunt

Kind of ‘yes, but…’, the ‘but’ being that the fork is pretty harsh so doesn’t particularly like rocky trails. Potential solution to that is the carbon disc-compatible fork from the Cotic X, which I think, was mooted to be out as an upgrade part at some point. And/or a bloody great big front tyre. I think I’m correct in saying that the original fork was lighter and double-butted etc, but recalled and replaced with a chunkier version.

I really like my Rat, I’ve run it with flats, as a singlespeed, as a 1×9 and currently with a short stem and drops, cable discs and a sort of bastardised mtb compact equivalent up front. Main plus of drops is lowering wind resistance on the road as has already been said. Toying with fitting the new Ragley off-road drops to it, sorry, forgotten what they’re called, but they look interesting.

Hey Chucky,

I got mine (a large/short) secondhand off here without bars or brakes, so just stuck on what I had lying around (Avid brakes, low-rise Easton bars).

I’m fairly short in the upper body, but with long legs, so this set up works fine for me. Running it with 35mm knobbly tyres during the winter and I run it every weekday on rough tracks and road etc, including the odd bunnyhop over speedbumps, jump off kerbs etc. My only issue with it is the PITA rear wheel set-up when you add mudguards, and the noodlier-than-a-noodly thing handling when you run it with a rack and pannier.

I guess if you are set on disc brakes, then flat bars, possibly with bar ends would probably work best.

the new Ragley off-road drops to it, sorry, forgotten what they’re called, but they look interesting.

Luxy

My roadrat is used for riding around town mainly – I use flat pedals and flat bars

For a commute on country roads I use a road bike with drops.

So if your commute is mainly urban I would use flat bars – mainly “open road” I would go with drops.

Are you going to run it geared? I’ve got a flat bar RoadRat and it’s a great commuter and occasional road bike. I’ve never had a flat with it (touch wood) and wouldn’t really fancy faffing with the rear mech hanger arrangement out and about. If you’re going down rough roads or even off-road then you’re more likely to get punctures, if you can live with drops then maybe a CX frame could be a better bet..?

Are you going to run it geared

i was aiming to run it 1 x 9

Just had a look at those Ragley Luxy bars, they seem a nice compromise, but obviously only for V brakes or cable discs.

Anybody using them?

Vortex, at your height the short RoadRat with drops will probably prove a bit long. It has a 54cm top tube which makes it roughly equivalent in size to a 54cm road bike. If you want a gear drop bar bike in the right size from us, the 52cm X would be a much better bet. We could do this with the RoadRat fork for £350 of you’re not looking at wanting the carbon spendiness. As for flat bars, I designed the RoadRat because I don’t get on with drops that well. Flats with bar ends for short blasts would still be my preference (and it’s all preference at the end of the day, there’s no right or wrong here), but the flat bars would mean a much cheaper way to gear the bike as drop bar shifters cost a fortune compared to MTB shifters.

Drop me a line if you want to thrash it out, or give us a call.

I feel fairly well placed to add a bit to this.

I’m 5’6 and find the small Soul a teeny bit long on occassion but good most of the time. On that basis I bought a long small roadrat for predominantly road riding which replaced a 48cm Pompino.

I was smitten by the versatility and had a few toe overlap issues with the Pomp plus I wanted discs and the option of fitting gears. Also a flat bar setup was what I figured I needed at the time.

It’s a bit of a heavy monster what with all those gears (Campy compact up front and 105 out back running SRAM attack triggers) and discs and feels less involving to ride than the Pompino did. Mud clearance is better on the Roadrat and I have used both bikes off road a fair amount. (I too did HONC on the RR without problem)

I miss the pomp which had Midge bars and so I bought some which I could fit to the RR with a short stem but then I’d have to use 287V levers and cable discs from the parts bin but I’d have gear change issues and don’t want to pay for new STI’s that probably won’t work too well with the cable BB7 mtb discs.

The midge bars are great – you use the drops much more than on a normal roadie setup and teh width works great for off road forays.

I have used easton flats on the RR but for ages now I’ve had a set of cut down Fleegle bars on there (the swept back flats from on one – tried Mary bars too but hated them) and they are really quite suited and allow all those MTB levers and shifter combinations along with varied hand positions.

So I’d say for arsing about on urban commutes of say 10 miles and a bit of off roady stuff then it’s a good bike especially if fitted with a set of Fleegle pro’s which makes it more useable on longer distances (I have done 40 plus mile round trips). It will feel slower than your road bike by quite a bit though.

If you want a speedy road bike that will also cope quite well off road there’s probably more exciting and lighter bikes around but even a simple drop bar or Midge bar conversion will add a wodge of extra speed over any distance.

I’m running a drop bar version with avid cable discs and a 1×9 setup. I use if on and off road on fire roads and the odd bit of single track and find it to be fine for all of the above.
My only gripe is that I think the cable discs are a pain and wéigh a ton. If I were to start again I would either go with a flat bar and hydraulic brakes or more more likely a drop bar and canti brakes to save money and time on brake pads and it would also give a lot more flexibility when it comes to getting spare parts.

Pompetamine is certainly worth a look if you want drops and discs and a 1×9 is easy to put together with a chaintug/mech hanger affair and a full length outer zip tied to the frame. From what I understand there’s a bit more rear mud clearance on these later versions of On-One’s offering too.

What you use for the rear shifter on drop bars might limit you a bit – I’d probably try a bar end shifter combined with the 287v levers and BB7s or similar.

I couldn’t find a flat bar setup I liked on the Pompino though just seemed to upset the sorted drop bar handling.

Something worth mentioning is I found the BB7 on the back fouled a rack mount (for a baby seat) so I put an Avid Juicy on there. It’s become a bit prone to locking up ever since when running a skinny 26c tyre rather than cross tyres.

Finally, round these ‘ere parts mud very quickly gets the better of anything with V brakes but it is surprising how quick you go off road and how mud friendly a Roadrat or cross style bike is on a set of disc shod wheels and something like Specialized Houffallise cross tyres. Doesn’t matter if you have drops or flats, a higher bar position than on a road only machine and confidence/commitment are the key factors.

cheers guys, after ringing Cy just 1/2 hour ago he recommended a small/short but with 100mm stem and flat bars, this will put me in a similar position to my Soul.

Anyway credit card was out and the purchase closed.

should be here Monday. 😆

Better tell the mrs now as apparently it’s better to ask for forgiveness than permission 🙄

Drops vs flats, I always think it’s interesting to look at the riders you see on the road and take note of how many are actually on the drops. Not very many is it? Especially once you discount the dedicated roadies, since you probably wouldn’t get a Rat for that anyway.

i’m a ‘hood’ climber – i wouldn’t want flat bars on my road bike.

i don’t use the drops much, although they do provide a good sprinting position.

your opinion may vary.

Nice feeling knowing a new bike is on it’s way.

Do have a play with a longer stem too though if you get chance as riding more “on” than “off” road you might well find being a bit more stretched out works better more of the time.

I didn’t have the “recommended” stem length on my long version to start with and when I eventually splashed out on a correct stem I felt it much more confidence inspirng despite it being a noticeable stretch over my MTB setup.

Shoving the rear wheel right forward combined with a short stem is likely to make the handling a bit entertaining too so play with wheel position 🙂

My previous commuter was a Genesis Vapour with drops but I hated the whole toe overlap thing when attempting some mild offroad with it, plus rim brakes were a liability in winter conditions (ice forming on rims was a regular occurence). Pretty much meant a longer frame, necessitating flat bars, with discs was the best solution for me – I ended up with a medium-long Roadrat with flat bars and discs, spot on for me. Suprisingly fun offroad although not the comfiest hitting rougher stuff a bit more quickly…