Ive just bought my first proper road bike. Had a fixie which got me into it. I worried about drips and started with flat bars on the fixie, after a month i was fed up of not being able to get my head down in the wind. Drops are real easy to get used to. The main thing that took a while
For me was getting used to how light they are!! Brand wise i aint no expert i got a giant defy 3 mainly as i got it for £500 new 🙂
The sheer speed of these things is immense ive just bought some entry level
shimano roa spds and a pair of wiggles roa shoes. Do the road spd from the start as over distance mtb ones are not that great.
Hope this has been of some help as i was in the same boat a few weeks ago.