anyone got a flat barred road bike.
inparticular the scotts speedster range….or owt.

You mean a hybrid?

😯

I have a Marin for commuting to work

Yes Ton – they’re called hybrids and they’re available in both 26″ and normal size wheels. You might want to add one of these to your shopping list

bastids……. 😉

flat barred road bikes make a lot of sense in a lot of situations – In heavy traffic they really are quicker than a regular road bike with drops. They certainly don’t lack performance – we sell a lot of Marin Highway 1 – full carbon frame and nice groupset.

TBH, how much time do you spend using the drops vs the hoods anyway?
highway one:

that is what i was talking about.
i can’t use drops or ride on the hoods cos my wrist is fused, so flats or risers only.
ta jimbo….. 8)

I’ve got one of these – Marin Lucas Valley

Suffer from a bad back so need more upright position. Comes with eyelets for full mudguards and panniers (which I have for the commute)

No worries ton – I spend a bit of time up in london riding about getting companies to sign up to the cycle to work scheme, and these are the bikes I go for every time…. This style of bike is ace in the city, and we also find they get a lot of people who want a fast road bike, but can’t make the drops for whatever reason.

Kona PhD.. drool.

My brother has a Revolution Courier Race, which I’ve been using for the last few months… Lovely little bike, weighs basically nothing, does the job. I’ve never liked drop bars, this rides like the mountain bikes I grew up on.

Not flat barred but using carbon low risers

Kona Major Jake CX frame with a mix of road and MTB bits(22lb) It rides really nice (Ti post now swapped for a straight silver Thomson)

My Mill Valley,

I’ve got a road rat single speed which I commute 12.5 miles each way to work on. Occasionally use geared Giant OCR with drop bars and was surprised how little difference in journey time there was!

i like the look of that Dibbs!

Trek 7.6 FX – plenty big enough for you, brilliant ride, wheels would need upgrading for you as I make them flex when out of the saddle.

Another (older) Mill Valley here.

I did have a ‘proper’ road bike which was bought as winter trainer/summer speedster but just never got on with the drop bars. Also started falling off the mtb more if I’d spent any length of time on the road bike.

Honestely haven’t noticed any significant drop in speed on the cycle computer. Did a PB on this in my last Triathlon a few years ago and have no problem keeping up with roadies during Sunday club rides. Also much more comfortable during very long rides than I was on the road bike.

I don’t suppose it would be much good in a proper road race but apart from that – flippin great bike.

i don’t get all these ‘hybrid’ comments on stw. Its just a bike, and often the only difference is the shape of the handlebars. wtf?

I got one of these from (cough) halfords for £400!

Perfect mix of road and mtb componentry for me. No slower (for me) than a drop bar bike, and seems to do everything i want really.

Go for one.

Just prepare to be amazed how bloody quick they are! Rapid!

DrP

What bike is that DrP?

Looks like a Boardman to me.

Is there any difference in geometry between this sort of thing and a regular mountain bike?

flat barred road bikes make a lot of sense in a lot of situations – In heavy traffic they really are quicker than a regular road bike with drops

What rubbish.
Buy what you want, do you really need to get everyone else’s approval all the time?

ap, chill mate, not approval but opinion.

ton you’ll be sitting down to p1ss before you know it :o)

We disagree on some things, but I’ll side with ton when it comes to researching bikes. Being taller and heavier than over 90% of the population, we can’t just walk in and buy any old tat.

In heavy traffic they really are quicker than a regular road bike with drops

How in any circumstances can it be faster?

How in any circumstances can it be faster?

If it’s red?

Flat bars = much more attractive to thievery.
And no, not faster in heavy traffic at all.

ton – sorry, it came out rather more terse than I’d meant it to.

Still don’t understand how flat barred bikes are faster though…..

If it’s red?

Good point well made!!! 😆

I’d never choose flat bars over drops on a bike for road use only.
You can brake and shift from the hoods while maintaining a fairly upright position for a good view in traffic, but still have the advantages of multiple positions on the bar. You don’t need the extra width of a flat bar either on the road.
Fair enough if you’ve a wrist problem that means drops are out, though!

I’ve got a Marin Mill Valley like Dibbs’ and I’ve just borrowed a Cervelo from the LBS to check out the road bike thing. Did 50 miles on it today, roughly following a route that I did on the Marin 2 weeks ago.Initial thoughts are that the Cervelo is a lot more twitchy but is considerably faster. Was climbing stuff in 39/25 that I’d be in 30/25 for on the Marin (OK, that wasn’t my choice!). Top speed on the GPS for the Cervelo was 7KPH faster, might have been a different section.

The advantage for the Marin is going to be visibility during the commute, I’ll eat my hat if it’s quicker. Don’t feel quite as secure on the Cervelo yet, so that might affect things. I’ll do the commute on it tuesday and wednesday and time it for you all 😉 It is somewhat of an unfair comparison, since the Cervelo would be 4-5 times more expensive.

Everything else being equal, I don’t see how a hybrid can be as quick as a drop-barred bike, given that there’s a noticeable difference just from being in the drops or being on the hoods. Anyone pretending otherwise must be from another dimension – one in which the normal rules of aerodynamics don’t apply.

just been out on my old tourer for 2 hours with drops on and cx top brake levers.
i found the position on the tops quite comfy.
drops might get a look in after all.

I managed to ride with a cast on for a busted scaphoid, and I reckon drops give you more chance to get comfy.

What if you had one of those Giants that is the same apart from the bars? You could run negative rise on the flat bar one, and positive on the drops 🙂

Dunno why you insist on calling them all hybrids, half of the bikes on this thread would be useless off road.

Ton, even with a duff wrist there is no reason why you couldnt use a proper road bike, when im in the drops my wrist/forearm are in the same alignment as when im holding onto a wide MTB bar, the twist is in the shoulder and elbow. Plus you can get about a million variations of bar with different angles, drop distances, reach distances, widths, splayed at the bottom (cx bars), all of which suit only a few people, im sure there will be one for you too.

And as for the flat bar advantage of visibility during the commute, does not exist, totally down to set-up, if you want a high setup on a drop bar’d bike its easilly acheivable. I have this on my commuter, high bar for riding in traffic (same place id put a flat bar) but with the option of drops to tuck into on fast downhills and into strong headwinds.

Is Ken Shields fork back to front? Looks it to me.