Hi all, sorry if this is a bit long/boring. If so, feel free not to comment 😀 Or you could drop to the bottom for the question 
I currently have a Ti hardtail, light, XC bike. Love it.
I bought a Carbon HT to move my bits over to for a super light XC bike. Not sure I'm doing the right thing though, weight wise there's going to be nothing in it really and I love my Ti HT.
I have a flat bar road bike (proper road bike, not an urban/city bike) for commuting/training. I don't like riding the road bike, it scares the crap out of me to be honest! Hate the traffic, hate the skinny tyres, hate sliding around in the corners and being scared of hitting a pothole. I do love the speed and acceleration and fitness though (and don't feel so scared when on my mtb on the road).
I've priced up converting it to drop bars and saving it for the summer when the roads are drier and days are longer/lighter but that's gonna be too expensive to do and still leaves me on skinny tyres!
So that has me thinking. The road bike was cheap enough to risk leaving outside college, but it is a road bike and won't take fatter tyres than the 700c25 that are on it (ok, might squeeze 28's in but that's not enough).
I'd like a drop bar commuter/touring/road. I was thinking about building up the carbon mtb frame up as a super light, super slick tarmac/trail muncher. I could sell the road bike to fund the build, and my mate has a cheap Saracen frame I could have for my commute/pub bike.
Or would I be better selling both and buying one ready made? If so, any recommendations?
I want to get it right, keep my Ti HT and have one other bike for road/towpath type use.
Personally I would ditch the carbon XC bike. Carbon is great for road bikes, but less so for XC applications. Depends also a great deal on how hard you ride and also how often and hard you fall.
flat bar road bike
Not a proper road bike
Not a proper road bike
Well they made the bike with drop bars or flats (Claude Butler Chinook). If it had the drop bars then would it be a proper road bike? 😆 That's why I was wondering about adding drop bars to it, but cost wise I think it's more than I'd want to spend on a bike that's still got zero clearance for fatter tyres.
Personally I would ditch the carbon XC bike.
Yeah, that was my thinking, mostly because I love my Ti XC bike. I don't tend to fall and can ride "light" so wouldn't abuse it. I don't suppose it would make a particularly good hybrid/drop bar bike either?
Decided to sell the carbon frame and put the money towards getting some drop bars for the road bike. My mate pointed out that you can get frame mount indexing levers and a frame clamp, and drop bar brake levers aren't expensive. Turns out my bike has mounts for frame mounted shifters already. They have a cable guid adapter on at the moment but levers should just slot on. Maybe try squeezing a 28mm tyre with some tread on it and see how that goes 😯
If I crash I'll sell it and stick to walking 😆
Carbon is great for road bikes, but less so for XC applications.
Why is that so?
Hmm
Not sure your commute will be less scary reaching all the way down their to shift
How about a compromise of bar end shifters
Frame mounted index shifters? I think you'd be better off getting the Decathlon 300 quid road bike and some decent tyres - your bike shouldn't be sliding round in the corners.
Hadn't thought about bar end shifters. Will do some shopping around. Thanks.
Think I'll get some decent tyres to start with, try it as it is, and if I get on with it I'll invest in drop bars. Makes sense to do it that way before investing in new stem, bars and shifters.
Then perhaps stop riding on wet/icy/diesel covered roads 😕
Any recommendations, presuming I can fit 28mm tyres on my rims (think I can), for a tyre that's focused more on grip than speed?
I was at the cycle show last weekend and Schwalbe are now doing the marathon tyre in 23 mm, might be worth a try
Thanks, see they do them in 25mm as well, might be better for me. Cheers.