Ramshackle

I assumed that it wouldn't make much difference in handling if I put a flat bar on a bike designed for a drop bar, It seemed logical that if I ride on the top of a drop bar it should handle similarly to a flat bar. My Trek Domane 4.3 was ridden with a flat bar for 18 months. After battling winds, I decided to get more aero, so I installed a compact drop bar and brifters. That made me remember why I went to a flat bar. Woke up the next morning and decided that I hadn't given the drop bar a fair chance, so I raised the bar and made other minor adjustments. Whammo, the bike felt a lot more comfortable. The biggest surprise came when I rode it. This felt like a totally different bike--almost unrecognizable. Much more responsive, faster, more agile, more aggressive, and a little more twitchy. Suddenly, the bike went from feeling like a hybrid bike (not a bad feeling) to a responsive performance bike. It became a lot more fun to ride. I don't know why changing to a drop bar made such a difference, but I guess you can't beat geometry. I began to understand that a bike is designed to be ridden in a certain configuration, and when that is radically altered, everything changes. Moral of the story for me: "keep the bike the way it was designed."

Milton Keynes

A few years back when I first got serious about riding, I got a hybrid because I wasn't 100% sure what I wanted then. I needed a bike that I could ride as a road bike, but also would be able to handle gravel and hard packed limestone trails. So I got the hybrid. But it didn't do well on gravel as the tires were just too skinny. I got a wide tire mountain bike for gravel, and the hybrid was pretty much just used on pavement, taking on the role of a road bike. But the upright position wasn't very aero, and in high headwinds it took a lot of effort to get anywhere. A friend of mine told me that I'm a powerful rider and I could do so much better with a more aero and less upright bike. I'd been wanting to get a dedicated road bike with drop bars, and will be looking at one this weekend. I think that will fit my style of riding on pavement a lot better, plus I still have the upright gravel bike for going off pavement.

genejockey 

I don't understand flat bar road bikes. Flat bars give you A position. Drop bars give you at least 5, with varying degrees of wrist pronation.

livedarklions

Bar ends can make it at least two. I used my FX 3 as a flat bar road bike for many thousands of miles, and it was a lot of fun. This might vary from rider to rider, but I actually find flat bars are better on climbs. On pretty much anything else, I now prefer drop bars.

livedarklions

If you look at my posing history, you'll see I've gone from strictly flat bars to exclusively drop bars in the last few years. Overall, I think there's about 1 mph diff in average speed, the top speed is just so much higher on the drops.

Koyote

My commuter bike has a flat bar, and it's great. It provides a slightly more "heads up" position that allows me to see just a bit better, and the bar makes the bike very responsive...Also, on such a bar, the brake levers are always right there near my hands.

But on a bike built for longer distances, "serious riding," I will take drop bars every day of the week and twice on Sunday.

Milton Keynes

I agree 100%. Riding 30 mile or longer rides on my hybrid, and I started feeling it in my upper back & shoulders. I would get a dull ache from being in the same hand position the whole time. After I got bar ends and was able to change my hand position every so often I never had that problem again. Plus it felt like I had more power when holding onto the bar ends, and it was really noticeable going up hills.

Milton Keynes

My gravel/commuter bike is a flat bar mountain bike, and I of course have a set of bar ends on it. It's not bad for semi-long distance gravel, but I don't think I'd want to try to ride a set of drop bars on gravel. I think it feels like there's a lot more control on gravel with flat bars.

delbiker1 

Drop bars all the way for me. I tried flat bars on a couple of different bikes due to back issues. The flats did not help the back and made the hands go numb, and shoulders and neck really sore. I now use compact road bars but have them set up to have a slight drop, around 1 1/2 inch, from the saddle height. Also, I move my hands a lot and the drops make it easier with more positions to use.

subgrade

Except that as a general rule flat bars are much wider than drop bars, thus giving more leverage, which alone makes a big difference.

70sSanO

It really depends on the bike. For around town, neighborhood, along the beach I converted both my old bike and my wife’s to a flat bar. We both have other drop bar bikes.

For me it really helped improve my old Cannondale. The steering always seemed a little slow with drop bars, but now it seems quicker. I’m running 42/30 chainrings and she has a triple mtb crank. Perfect use for the old bikes.

John

spelger

I like my drop bars...but i was told it was all an illusion.

-scott

GamblerGORD53

I haven't had a back or neck ache since I went exclusively to old style comfort 70d swept bars, except when I had them too low. About 29,000 miles since 2012. I have my left hand on the grip and the other on the bend a lot. NOT possible with drops. Temporary hand aches are unavoidable.
Yesterday I rode my 1973 CCM with new SA RD3 / 650B wheels.... 100.6 miles, 8 hrs moving. This bike likes to go 14 mph LOL. Doesn't seem to matter what way the wind is blowing.

C.corri

Due to age, flexibility, and an ever growing belly I have been a big fan of flat bars with bar ends. Even on my bikes that still have drop bars, I really can only ride comfortably on the top or hoods. As I have gotten older I have had to choose more comfort over coolness.

Chinghis

Boy, does this thread hit close to home.

I've ridden my old Specialized StumpJumper with flat bars and bar ends for a very long time. I'm now in the market for a bike, but I'm not enthusiastic about going back to drops. Part of it is that I've never ridden on dirt on a drop-bar bike. In the abstract, seems kind of sketchy.

My philosophical issue with drops is that NO ONE seems to ride in them. I see dozens of roadies around LA, and almost invariably, they're on the hoods. If that's the way I'm gonna end up riding, I may as well stick to the flat bar and get some visibility. When I took my son's gravel bike to work one day and had to squeeze between cars, I did not feel comfortable on the hoods, and dropped down. Felt better ... and then I went back up on the hoods.

So looking at flat-bar bikes, I end up at the Salsa Journeyman - but it's aluminum, and I want steel. So I have these debates with myself if I can convert a bike to flat-bar (and bar-ends) and get what I need. Reading this thread, now I'm not so sure.

Actually, the bike I really want is one of those BD Mercier "flat-bar gravel bikes" (which are really just SS bikes with derailleurs, I think). But they are way out of stock, and I'm getting antsy.

livedarklions

Riding on the hoods doesn't feel at all like riding a flat bar with bar ends to me and it's definitely my favorite hand position. I also can get pretty aero doing it depending on the bike. As always, YMMV. Arms, hands, backs are not standard issue.

Hope the bike you want gets in stock soon.

Maelochs

Different bike are different, different riders are different. Different bikes get used by different riders to do different things. it is one hundred percent personal preference.

That said, a bike designed for one type of bars will likely feel Much different with another type, simply because of math. If you have a 100 mm stem m and 70 mm reach with drop bars, your hands are almost eight inches from the top of the head tube , and likely between 40-44 cm apart.

If you have a flat bar, your hands (and body weight as well as control input) are likely at least four inches back and possibly (depending on preference) several inches further apart. Different equations to resolve steering forces.

Sometimes bikes designed for flat bars will have longer top tubes. Slap drops on on of those and you might be riding in the Superman position.

BikesDirect offers a lot of solid bikes at good prices. Probably wort the wait. Go out and buy a few yard-sale bikes and play with them for a while to pass the time. Maybe even pick up a couple beat-down old-school rigid MTBs and combine parts to get them working, and abuse them for a while. Won't be new but will be strange, in a manner of speaking.

Chinghis

Thanks for the encouragement, Maelochs and livedarklions!