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Looking a various commuting options like Pompinos, Day One, Roadrat etc and have noticed they come in drop and flat bar variants.
Having never ridden drops I would probably go for a flat bar variant but if I wanted to covert to drops at a later date I presume this is just a case of changing over the bars? I guess there are no geometery changes to take into account?
Depends...road rat frames have shorter top tubes for drop bars, otherwise most need a much shorter stem.
Otehrwise, if you aren't running gears then the swap isn't too expensive, but if you are then sti are eye-wateringly expensive.
Drop bar bikes typically have a shorter top tube, as the long stem and drop bars have you further out over the front.
Roadrat comes in long and short versions, long for flats, short for drops.
New bars, stem, cables, bar tape and shifters/brake levers depending on what you're running. Not actually that cheap when you add it all up.
Assuming it's a single speed/fixxie, you'd need as above - perhaps v-br levers too, say £60+?
at the least, I reckon, unless you're going 2nd hand.
For examples, here's the stuff on my bike that's drop specific and I'd have had to buy specially if I'd moved from flats:
£25 tektro RL520 v-brake pull road levers
£25 on-one midge bar
£25 on one forged stem
£16 Spec. bar phat tape
£49 bar end shifters
£10? cables, depending on what still fitted
You might find the stem lenghth suits you better on drops anyway and not need to replace. You might not need any more cable, and as has been said, you might not have gears that need shifting.
Or...cheap stem £12, bars £20, tape £8, levers £25, cables £8...(ss)
Mmm, so in essence cheaper to buy the bike with the set up you want and stick with it.
Regarding geometry I've checked On-One and the Pomp seems to have the same effective top tube size for both the flat and drop bar version which seems to contradict what was said above?
No, they just havn't bothered to make 2 specific versions, whereas Cotic have 🙂
you could go for the inbred dirty dozen deal and get all the bits to build each variant of the bike
http://on-one.co.uk/news/products/q/date/2011/06/24/inbred-dirty-dozen-bundle
I don't think Cotic still make a short top tube Rat, though I may be wrong. I guess the thinking is that most people who want a drop-barred Cotic will go for the X instead.