Quite fancy a road bike.. don’t like drop bars!

For sure it can take a bit of getting used to, and of course a fitted bike is better than a random one if you don't know what you're doing. FWIW the riding position on my turbo-bike is quite a lot different to my normal road bike - including, as you mention, the stem being upward pointing. I find that's necessary as I'm a lot more "fixed" on the trainer. You may find you need to do some Core exercises so you're not putting all your weight on your arms.

If all else fails, there are a number of flat-barred road bikes about too. Some of the US brands refer to them as Sport bikes or Fitness bikes .

Thank you @scotroutes, really useful advice. Interesting and good to hear you have a slightly different turbo to real bike setup, makes me feel better about my own setup. Core strength is definitely something I need to improve though!

All depends what sort of road bike and how long the reach is and how high the bars are.  An endurance road bike will typically have longer head tube and shorter top tube than a more race orientated bike.  You will be in a different position on each of them.

Giant Fastroad Advanced 2 or the Giant AR Fastroad 2 are probably the best flat bar road bikes, if that's what you fancy.

I've got one, I've used drops before but went for a flat bar as realistically I spent most of my time on the hoods, upright, but do kinda miss the narrower aero gains of a narrow drop bar.

If you get a flat bar road bike I would put some bar ends on. It is good to be able to change hand positions over long rides.

I have a drop bar road bike and pretty much the only time I'm on the drop parts is when going down hill.

a drop bar bike doesn't have to be more stretched than a flat bar bike for normal riding (on the hoods). Drop bars are just about giving you a couple of hand positions, and a low position when you're pushing into a headwind. your frankenbike might simply be too big for you, but sliding the saddle back on its rails can surprisingly help by putting more weight over your feet.

Make sure you get something with a decent amount of stack at the front, and no through-the-stem cable routing. moving the bars up and back is then as simple and cheap as putting a shorter stem on.

If you get a flat bar road bike I would put some bar ends on.

Yea, I have Cane Creek Ergo bar ends and SQ Labs inner bar ends on mine.

Not about the bars, but I was out on the road bike at the weekend thinking if I replaced it I'd look for something that could talk 32mm tires as the roads are so shit there days.

Drop bars have loads more variables than MTB bars:

• Width
• Drop
• Curve shape, affects where your hands sit on the drops
• Hood position which affects where your hands go, the weight on your hands, and also how easy it is to reach the levers on drops
• Bar rotation which affects everything
• Extension, how far the forward pointing bit goes which affects how comfy you are on drops

My old bike was slightly too small which meant I went through several bar stem compromises and it was never comfortable. My new one is 3cm bigger and was great OOTB.

If you aren't racing you want an 'endurance' road bike which will be much more comfortable and easy to get on with. You probably won't need 'conditioning' although it will feel weird coming from a trail MTB at first.

Drops are well worth persevering with - they are the norm for a reason. You may not care about an extra mph or two on any given stretch of road but that saving means you will be able to go further in the same time for less effort, and that in turn gives you far more route options which keeps your interest.

How tall are you? Inside leg?

Too much hand pressure is probably a weight imbalance. Short of having a bike fit done you could try checking your saddle tilt, set-back, hood position, put cleats further back and then you can lower your stance...etc). As you have a turbo might be worth filming from the side on that to get an idea of position.

As mentioned above core strength is useful, your hands should be resting on the bars not holding you up. A good test is taking your hands off for a few seconds while maintaining your normal riding position.

I converted my gravel bike to flat bars, I've never really been fully confident with drops on technical ground, and I've got fairly small hands and hate feeling like I can't cover the brake. I also find its way better for commuting and navigating through traffic. More confidence on the bike is way faster than aero gains.
<p style="text-align: left;">Your reach will be shortened if you just switch the bars. You can increase your stem length (which also helps smooth out twitchy steering) or a stem with more angle upwards to adjust position. Both have merits, both are cheap and easy, both might depend on how wide the flat bar is. If you have a xc bike you could try measuring the seat tube to front of stem length (from top of seat post, with saddle in higher position) and use that as your starting place for reach adjustment.</p>
For mechanical brakes you'll find brake pull is different between road and flat systems, so either use BMX levers or change the caliper too. You can still use road brakes with flat levers but the performance is...lacking.

Or have hydraulic and be laughing.

Not bar ends; bar inners. Put stubby(er) bar ends between grips and brake mounts, it is a better position and you can still use the brakes almost like a horizontal drop lever. Plus bar ends on flat bars make you look like like a gorilla with your hands so far apart!

@nicmewen if you're near Cardiff you can have a ride on my stock Cube (hahaha) which is a modern endurance road bike in middling spec.

I guess it depends on  what kind of riding you're planning on doing but aside from the aero benefits etc personally I couldn't imagine descending on a road bike without using the drops. I would consider drop bars just for that reason if nothing else.

Work on your core muscles. Mountain bikers tend to sit up more so rely on their core less for stability. Also do some stretching especially around your back, hamstrings and glutes (plenty of cycling specific stretching and core exercises videos on YouTube).

Another thing I see quite a bit with dropbar bikes is people riding with their arms staight. There should be a slight bend. Also try to pivot from the hips rather than bend your back.

Your weight should be IME split evenly between your bum and hands.

I never liked dropbars but now find them really comfy. It just takes time to adapt. FYI I've never had a bike fit, just set it up myself using online guides. I'm quite lucky though as I'm pretty much average height and build, might be different if you're built a differently 😜.

Some good advice here.
https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/sizing-and-fit/road-bike-position/

Note that fitting drop bars to a frame made for flat bars (and vice versa) can muck up the saddle to bar reach, meaning getting a decent bike fit can be a bit trickier. Much better to go to a bike shop and try out a couple of dropbar bikes for sizing and fit.

As has been said on here a few times. Poor bike fit is exacerbated when on an indoor bike/turbo/rollers etc.

This is because you're in the same position all the time.

What's your height and inside leg measurements? This will help guide you to a good starter bike position IMO.

Drops are useful for their multitudes of positions.  Normal riding is done on the hoods, relaxed riding, on the tops toward the outer edge, descending and (for me) especially into headwinds provides lots of relief.  Climbing I use hoods and drops.  They're also much narrower than flats which makes threading through traffic and people just that little bit easier.  You get used to them fairly quickly and it's easy to flit back and forth, though if you're road/gravel riding for a while, going back to 35mm stem and 800mm bars will feel oddly quick.

I use a fairly wide 44cm bar as this allows for more position when riding on the tops and a little more flexibility in stem length. I'm 6' with a fairly slim/average build at 71kg.

I have now used drops for 3 years. I get why some folk use them, I too move hands around and on occasion use the drops for extended periods in wind or on descents.

My next bike is likely however to be a flat/Alt bar road bike.

(Most of my riding is commuting and weekend road/gravel pottering with a coffee in a bar bag around some lovely highland scenery. YRMV)

I was out on the road bike at the weekend thinking if I replaced it I’d look for something that could talk 32mm tires

Becoming more common on road bikes now.

I honestly think if you're mostly riding by yourself, or in a small group of 2 or 3, an alt bar with decent sweep and bar ends mounted in the middle is the best bet.

Decent tuck position when you're just grinding away and when you want more control you move your hands out and by happy coincidence the brakes are exactly where you want them.

For bunch riding I can see there being issues with a 700-800mm tube sticking out when compared to a 400mm drop bar but if you aren't going to be contesting bunch sprints then that shouldn't be a problem.

drop bars are a historical accident.

Plenty of options to use flat bars these days

I've got drop bars on the tandem which is the bike I ride the most (also have them on road and CX which I use for commutes)

Got flat bars on the spare tandem, which we use for variation / when the main tandem is out of action.

For longer days out (anything over 3 hours), I find the drop bar tandem much more comfortable than the flat bar, just for the choice of hand positions.

As above, bike fit is a big part of this - but some folks just don't get on with drop bars, it's not mandatory.

FWIW I found it quite intuitive when I first bought a road bike to help me get trail fit. Once stem and saddle positions were sorted, it just felt natural really. MTB set up is waaaay too tiring when going big distances on the road.

Thank you for all of the information, tips and advice everyone. Tons of good stuff for me to think about and work with here!

I'm a smidge under 6ft (182cm) and inside leg is ~85cm. Good point about avoiding any through the stem cable routing and ensuring a decent stack height, I hadn't even considered that. Definitely sounds like I need to be looking for an endurance over a race machine. Other than the longer head tube/shorter top tube are there any other tell tale signs/principles I should be looking out for?

I'm up in Newcastle so can't take you up on that offer @molgrips, thank you though. My work scheme says I can use Halfords, Tredz or an independent bike shop. I think I will end up going for a bricks and mortar LBS for access to better aftersales service should I need it.. Any recommendations for good bike shops in the North East would be most welcome. Looks like there are a quite a few on the list/map. Hopefully they can help with sizing/fit too rather than just ordering a bike online that will arrive in a box..

Thinking about and looking at my CX/gravel turbo bike after the comments above, it probably is a tad too big.. I bought it off a mate when he was getting shot of it so was never sized/bought specifically for me. I'll try moving the seat around a bit to try and get weight more over the pedals and take pressure off hands.

Thanks again everyone!

I rarely use the drops on my 3 road bikes (one is a CX). The advantage is you've got quite a few more hand positions than flats, and riding 'on the hoods' is very comfy and reduces wrist pain (provided the set up is right).

Other than the longer head tube/shorter top tube are there any other tell tale signs/principles I should be looking out for?

The telltale sign will be the label 'endurance road' in the blurb.  In the world of Cube, the Attain is branded as such, and the Litening is the race bike.  When I was shopping I looked at Ribble, Boardman and Canyon, but I went with Cube cos it was on sale. I specifically needed a frame that could take guards, which many endurance frames do, because sometimes it rains. Cubes have dedicated guards available which aren't the best (or the worst) but they fit perfectly and are light and rattle-free.

nickewen

I’m up in Newcastle
I think I will end up going for a bricks and mortar LBS for access to better aftersales service should I need it.. Any recommendations for good bike shops in the North East would be most welcome

How about the Alpkit store & see if they have any of their endurance road bikes in there - the Colibri.
You can hire bikes from the stores to try.

I got a Camino from Alpkit through bike2work & they were very helpful.

Picked up an Aethos the other week, fairly tall headtube on it being a 58 (could of gone 56, but wanted to reduce the toe overlap). Get your bars high enough and drops are less of an issue, 98% of my rides are on the tops of the bars (could do with thicker tape for my gorilla mits)

Bike fit is booked for a few weeks time to fine tune everything, I've stuck a shorter stem on whilst my back and body adjusts the new position, way more upright on the MTB's and so less flexible at the moment.

I've not used my road bike much at all over the last eight months, but when I have, it has left me with "beaten up" sore upper back; shoulders; triceps. I think it's simply I've lost so much muscle strength in my torso and it's now hell of a shock when I go into a roadie position, as opposed to the hybrid on the turbo.

TBH, there are far more ways to screw up the fit of a drop bar than a flat one.

And i'd guess a good %age of those complaining about uncomfortable drop bars have screwed it up.

Trying to duplicate Sean Yates position when they've got the flexibility of a 50 year old desk jockey isn't going to be pretty.

Doesn't help that a lot of the "rules" direct you to potentially uncomfortable position unless you are some sort of racing snake.

I use tt bars on my road bike. There's a weight penalty but I use that position far more than any other and with a few rises it find it fairly comfortable.

I use the drops when I'm either going down hill fast, going down a steep hill and need extra brakes or if riding into a head wind and I need to change position to have a rest.

Tt position gets a bit scetchy after 25-30 mph with no hands on brakes.

Doesn’t help that a lot of the “rules” direct you to potentially uncomfortable position unless you are some sort of racing snake.

What if drop bars are part of those 'rules' everyone says we should stick to? 😉

On the continent it seems a lot more bikes are alt/flat bar than in the UK.

Is it the case that if I get a good fitting road bike it’ll start to come naturally and the rest will just be conditioning my body to that position? As opposed to a LLS full susser?

This is what happened with me, especially when I got one with a more relaxed position (Trek H2 fit, not sure if they still do it). Since then I've slowly gone from hating drop bars to them being my preferred set up

A lot more people on the continent are bimblers, who are spending more money on bikes to bimble on than we would here - at least, that's my impression.

Drops aren't always about speed, they are about going further for less effort which you'll appreciate even if you are taking it easy.

What if drop bars are part of those ‘rules’ everyone says we should stick to?

Hardly, i'm talking about rubbish like slammed -17 stems and pointing the flats of the drop horizontal. Tips of the lever blade in line with the flat of the drop. Hiding the hub behind the centre section of the bar. Stuff like that. Ok if you're a 10 stone racing snake with a 300+w FTP. Bugger all good for a desk jockey.

Drops are better than flats for covering distance at any sort of speed. Obviously the more bimblecore you are the smaller the difference will be as the aero difference trends to (almost) zero. But anything over something like 20kph average you'll *probably* be better off with drops.

A lot more people on the continent are bimblers, who are spending more money on bikes to bimble on than we would here – at least, that’s my impression.

Yes, last trade show i did (in Denmark about 5-6 years ago), several of the brands there were doing ultra high end sports/comfort bikes.

Some were even up to full carbon frame and fork, set of audaxy braze ons (glued on obviously), carbon flat bars, stem, seatpost, carbon rims, High quality large volume race tyres, XTR discs, XT(R) double set up or D-A driveline with a compact. Floating around the  €5000 mark. They don't even offer them in the UK.

Not all drop bars are the same, either.
My first road bike had quite a large drop, and for me it was bloody uncomfortable for any length of time. Probably OK for someone with a modicum of flexibility.

My current road bike has a much shallower drop on the bars & I can stay in that position for probably 10x longer than the old bike.

1) don't copy the pros and slam that stem idiots
2) don't stick a flat bar on a designed for drops frame
3) buy a hybrid, there are some high end trick ones available and with a decent wheelset you'll get a great handling, comfortable bike capable of long distances

2) don’t stick a flat bar on a designed for drops frame

Controversially, I've done this before and it's been fine. You'll need a longer stem though, and extra 20-30mm seemed to work for me

It was a single speed though, which makes things a lot easier

I have done it loads of times.  Rode brakeless fixed for 10+ years so changing bars was a 2 minute job and I changed them on a whim before a ride sometimes.  Drops, bullhorns, flats, risers - whatever I fancied that day.

Anything over an hours ride on a fast road bike though and drops are always going to be preferred.

My first road bike had quite a large drop, and for me it was bloody uncomfortable for any length of time. Probably OK for someone with a modicum of flexibility.

Yes, when i was racing as a junior you had the cinelli 64, 65 and 66 as the "default" bars with progressively more drop and revised shapes (64 for classic racing, 65 for crits and 66 was deep drop, never worked out what that was for, but the drops were a looooooong way away)

I’m going to minor hijack this thread as I also don’t really get on with drop bars and ride pretty much only on hoods. Part of that is braking which to me has always felt like left foot braking in a car-I just cannot get my head round the different feeling braking in the drops. Which probably means I’m doing it wrong.

Mate of mine has a Genesis day one 853.

steel frame, drop bar alfine 11 super tourer type adventure bike.
he absolutely didn’t get on with drop bars, was hardly riding the bike because of it, so after much discussion, I advised him to just change anything he didn’t like/didn’t perform for him.
Ended up with a shimano sti shifter for the hub, flat carbon bars (with bar ends) and zee brakes. contrary to the advice of many, he later fitted a shorter stem.

it now works perfectly for his needs.
Do what makes your bike rideable, no point having a bike you can’t ride eh

Probably not so much now,but back in the dawn of time,the position of bar ends on flat bars was almost exactly the same as the hoods on drop bars. 😃

I honestly think if you’re mostly riding by yourself, or in a small group of 2 or 3, an alt bar with decent sweep and bar ends mounted in the middle is the best bet.

in those conditions, why not go for a TT/aerobar setup. Way more comfy than bar ends (or hunching in an aero position over roadie bars) when you're heading into the wind, and a more aero position (so faster) as well.

I put a 20mm longer stem and flat carbon bars on my Croix de Fer.  It is really comfy.  I had bar ends on too, but I took them off because I never used them.  I have a drop bar bike too, a Cannondale Synapse with 'Endurance' geometry.  However, I've put a 10mm shorter stem on that.  My problem is my little T Rex arms, I think :-), although anything over about 40 miles is agony for my neck too (don't think that counts as 'endurance' ......).

I am a keen audaxer and know many long distance cyclists who regularly ride distances from 200 to 1600 km. I cannot think of any that do not use drops.

Given your choice of shops I would look at the Cannondale Synapse range which is available from Tredz. It is an endurance bike available in aluminium or carbon and very comfortable. I have a 2014 alu 105 Synapse and have done many happy miles on it in comfort.

After a lot of fannying around I eventually got a drop bar setup that felt pretty much OK. Not great, and I was only really comfortable on the hoods but it did work at least. But then I replaced that and got a Boardman hybrid, which just suits me better in every way. With road bike tyres on it doesn't really feel any slower, the riding position works better for me (though tucking into headwinds is obviously harder and less good, it's better basically all the rest of the time), and best of all it's from before road bike standards settled so it uses all mtb standards, meaning I could fit fantastic but cheap brakes, random bits from the spares bin and best of all unfashionably skinny but superlight tubeless xc wheels that cost me £90.

Of all the bikes I've ever owned it's probably the closest to perfect, if I needed another road thing I'd be trying to track down something exactly like it, but especially the mtb standards. Road standards bring, imo, absolutely no benefits to a flat bar bike, just means you get to pay more.

I was never comfortable on drops on a bike that was too short/small. Now my bike fits, they're fine.

in those conditions, why not go for a TT/aerobar setup. Way more comfy than bar ends (or hunching in an aero position over roadie bars) when you’re heading into the wind, and a more aero position (so faster) as well.

For one thing, bar ends cost £10 assuming you don't have a set lying around.  Not sure how much aerobars cost but I'm guessing it's more than £10.

Second, I would hate to buy a set and then find they don't fit the Ritchey Kyotes. I wouldn't want to give up the 25 degree sweep the Kyotes give me.  I mean, they could probably be made to fit but the poor man's Jones bar set up is working well for me so far.  If I wanted more aero gains I would probably just go Cruzbike recumbent (definitely more than £10 though).

Also, mid-barends give you and excellent place to mount lights/computers/etc

Not saying one's better than the other, just that it's not a no brainer to go with TT bars.

TT bars also make your steering unwieldy which I hate.

For anyone insisting on flat bars, narrower high sweep bars are much much better than straight ones, especially with wing style grips. Also great for adventure MTB.

Not all drop bars are the same. They have different drop, curve (reach), width. That combined with saddle drop and stem length means it is easy to be in the wrong position and hence flat bars can be an easy and quick fix. Drops offer far superior comfort when correctly adjusted. Sort you adjustment. Sometimes that might mean a change in width/ drop/ curve. Personally, I don't like ergo bars. And some of the track sprinting bars can have a huge drop and everyone will struggle with using the drops. Traditionally bars were almost level with saddle so a large drop was necessary. That's not the case any more.

I bought a gravel bike back in 2021 and didn't really get on with the bars, so ended up mainly riding my XC bike, though to be fair I think the bike is a touch too big for me.

I recently replaced the stock bars with some Ritchey Corralitos which have transformed the comfort and I've not ridden the MTB since. The corralitos have super short reach and drop and also a 15mm rise so your body position ends up more like it would with a flat bar.

https://ritcheylogic.com/bike/handlebars/comp-corralitos-handlebar

Thank you for the continued advice and info all. I popped into Edinburgh cycle co op in Newcastle to look at this yesterday:

https://www.edinburghbicycle.com/merida-scultura-endurance-4000-2023-road-bike?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5o7E-tD5_wIVwYBQBh09rg0IEAQYASABEgJcx_D_BwE

Unfortunately they didn’t have one built up but they had one in a box in my size so it’s getting built now for me to have a little test ride over the coming days. Think I’m set on this bike TBH unless something unforeseen happens.. It did take a lot not to just gravitate towards MTBs and order something with big knobbly tyres!

Now the question comes to pedals.. I ride flats on all my bikes.. what sort of disco slippers/clipless pedals should I be looking for?! I don’t want something I can’t get out of easily at the lights and struggle to walk in when buying cake/coffee.. probs get them from the bike shop too with the c2work vouchers. Any advice most appreciated.

Cheers!

The default answer would be Shimano SPDs - a 540 maybe, and matching shoes of whatever style/colour you fancy. No need to go full-on SPD-SL if you're still unsure about the whole road biking idea and don't want to be dancing around on cleats.

I use Shimano PD-M520 on all my bikes - road, cx, mtb, tandem. Recessed cleats mean I can walk in shoes, but still clip in. They're about £25 a pair and while you can spend more for XT equivalents, these are not much heavier and far cheaper.

Thank you! Sounds like shimano SPDs/recessed cleats are the way to go. Little bit of a weight penalty to save a lot of money sounds good to me.

That bike looks spot on - I like the colour - the only thing I would personally look at is the ability to fit mudguards.  You don't want to be doing a nice long ride on wet roads and coming back soaked.  They do make a huge difference to comfort. I fit mine in autumn and remove in spring.

Regarding pedals - road shoes are a bit better to pedal in, the larger pedal and solid sole give much more support, but they are by no means essential.   A good compromise is probably MTB XC racing type shoes. They are nearly as good to pedal in and you can still walk around.   But you do get slightly less support from the small MTB pedal - not that it matters, I've ridden bajillions of miles on them over the years.  A good option might be those platform SPD pedal types like the PD-ME700 which are good but heavy in their cheaper forms and again probably not necessary really.

This kind of shoe - many brands are available, I prefer Shimano or Specialized:

https://www.jejamescycles.com/product/36961/specialized-specialized-recon-2-0-mtb-shoe-rocket-red

But I recommend getting something with a Boa fastener because they're ace.

EDIT the Merida does have mudguard mounts so crack on 🙂

Oh yes, I run mudguards on all bikes, year round - it rains in summer round here :). They are game changers if you are riding regularly.

It rains in summer here too but usually the roads dry out later 🙂

When I got a road bike to do the Ride London, I used a set of Crank Bros Candy pedals & Specialized mtb shoes (similar to the above) that I had lying around from an old XC bike.

Have now switched to shimano roadie pedals & Giro shoes but don't notice much difference riding.

Took me until my second attempt to get used to drops after a lifetime of flat bars.  First attempt I built up a Cotic Escapade a few years ago, but couldn't get used to the drops/brake lever position.  I ended up putting flat bars on and a longer stem , however it never felt right so sold it.

I've now got a custom gravelly frame with drops and really like it, a MTB'ers road bike as such; long reach, short stem and slacker HA than normal. I also use SPDs with one sided clip in pedals, PD-EH500, enables use with/without the SPDs.  I ended up with Lake SPD shoes as they have plenty of room for my mountain biker Frodo feet. Done a few +50 mile rides with my roadie mates with no issues so far.

I find drop bars with a headwind give a big advantage over flatbars.

For road riding you don't need wide bars so anything over about 45cm is wasted and will just slow you down.