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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:
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.