[Andyman_1970]

But I have a question: 3 years ago I had a road bike (2001 C'dale R600) in addition to my hardtail. I tended to do alot of road training so at the time it made sense. Over about a year though with different stems and such, it just never felt like the bike felt as much of a "part of me" as my hardtail did. So I traded it (the road bike) in on a FS bike...........excellent move.

Now my HT with 1.0" slicks has become my road bike, it's ok but a little heavy for the road (23 lbs.) and when I'm riding it seems like some "roadies" I can catch some I can't (if that matters at all). Then about a year and a half ago I saw a thread on a forum where a guy had put a flat bar on his road bike............cool.

So now lately I have been thinking about doing the same thing, getting a used road bike and converting it to a flat bar with bar ends. Then I saw the Giant Cypress SL (the least Wal_mart looking of those types of bikes, claimed to be a "road bike with a flat bar") and thought about that too.

Now my question is: Am I going to look like a total dork out there on a road bike with a flat bar? Is it really worth the hassle and $? Or should I just get a suspension corrected rigid fork for my HT and call it a day?

Any thoughts suggestions and whatnot would be appreciated.

 

[Westy]

I don't know if I can help but I too have abondoned my road bike. I have tried riding the thing for a year and have never felt comfortable on it. I just don't like the twitchy steering, narrow bars etc. My main complaint is the position I have to be in to get on the brakes. Anyway this sunday I put on some skinny slicks on the old hardtail and hit the road. I loved it, and I don't think I am much slower, managed a 91 mile ride in 5 hours. I just need to find a larger ring so I can pedal faster than 34 mph. Ultimately I ride road to train for MTBing so this is the way for me.

 

[Wumpus]

They make top mount brakes that go inline with the regular brakes.

 

[LordOpie]

"Am I going to look like a total dork out there on a road bike with a flat bar?"

You never struck me as a guy all that worried about what others thought *shrugs*

 

[bigevilgrape]

I'm a roadie and got stuck as a Mt. bike consoler for the summer (I was a girl who had a Mt. Bike which fit their requirements) Anyway it took me a while to get comfortable on a Mt bike because it feels so different. It's probably he same thing for you dudes and mt bikes.

 

[wooglin]

There's two reasons for drop bars. One is you can get more aero. If that's not important, fine. Two is you can vary your hand position (and thus also weight distribution on the saddle). When you're on the bike for a long time, that matters. At least to me. If it doesn't to you then go with flat bars. I'll think you're a total dork, but who cares?

 

[bigevilgrape]

you need some nitto bars so you can be a retro dork.

 

[Serial Midget]

Mountain bikes with high pressure skinny tires and a reasonably light wheel build are not that much slower than a road bike - I have no trouble duplicating performance on my road bike or lightest XC bike which is heavier than yours. I would be lost without the drops on my road bike and yet I don't miss them at all on the mountain bike.

Westy - how often do you use the brakes on a road bike? My Suntour Superbe Pro pads hardened before they showed serious signs of wear - I never replaced the pads on my Serotta until I updated the group ten years later... my current pads have tons of miles on them but look brand new. I guess I saying that I don't buy your arguement. You just fear spandex...

 

[Andyman_1970]

"Am I going to look like a total dork out there on a road bike with a flat bar?"

You never struck me as a guy all that worried about what others thought *shrugs*

Not looking like a dork on a bike is probably the only area in my life that I'm worried about looking like a dork....................

 

[w00dy]

Flat bars on a road bike? It's done all the time, just call it your "commuter" bike and nobody will question it.

 

[Westy]

Westy - how often do you use the brakes on a road bike? My Suntour Superbe Pro pads hardened before they showed serious signs of wear - I never replaced the pads on my Serotta until I updated the group ten years later... my current pads have tons of miles on them but look brand new. I guess I saying that I don't buy your arguement. You just fear spandex...

I live at the bottom of the blue ridge moutains I like to ride to the top and back down. The decents left unchecked can push 60 mph and usually contain multiple tight switchbacks, braking is important.

I do have a few more reasons to ride my MTB.
My road bike is cheap and heavy, my hardtail is pretty chi chi and actually weighs the same as the road bike.

With my busted hand it is hard to grip skinny road bars when climbing out of the saddle, I can get much more leverage from my wide ass riser bars.

I can huck curbs.

I wear my bling bling gold Guiness team jersey on road rides, it matches my ti hardtail much better than my blue road bike.

 

[dante]

get fitted on a road bike. seriously. it makes all the difference, and half an inch here or there will be the difference between part of you and excruciating pain.

 

[Wumpus]

I've heard different things, but you might also have to change your stem out as Mtn bike bars are a little smaller diameter than road bars.

1) Mountain bike (7/8") These take traditional mountain bike components like grip shifters, thumb shifters, rapid fire shifters, v-brake levers, etc. The Dove and Albatross bars fall into this category.

2) Road bike (15/16") These take traditional road bike components like caliper brake levers, STI or Ergo shifters, bar end shifters, etc. The Moustache, Dream, and Noodle bars fall into this category.

Possibly confusing the issue is that there are two stem clamp diameter standards that usually (but not always) correspond to the bar diameter. Most mountain bike bars have 25.4 mm (1") clamp diameters and most road bars have 26.0 mm clamp diameters (except some old Cinelli's were 26.4 so you had to use both their stem and bars). Some old road bars also came in 25.4 mm clamp diameters. Also some bars come with a 25.8 diameter clamp area but they work with the 26.0 stems.

 

[Leethal]

You might have had to narrow of bars on your previous roadbike as well, most stock bikes come with pretty narrow bars and if you have wide shoulders obviously you would feel cramped/ unconnected etc. If you have super wide shoulders like me Salsa Pro Race come in a 46 center to center which is as far as I know as wide as they come.

 

[Serial Midget]

OK fine then... I'm still not buying the brake excuse but the other ones seem reasonable. I hucked an 8" curb twice on Sunday - strictly out of lazyness but also secure knowing that Mavic Open Pros are bomb proof.

I live at the bottom of the blue ridge moutains I like to ride to the top and back down. The decents left unchecked can push 60 mph and usually contain multiple tight switchbacks, braking is important.

I do have a few more reasons to ride my MTB.
My road bike is cheap and heavy, my hardtail is pretty chi chi and actually weighs the same as the road bike.

With my busted hand it is hard to grip skinny road bars when climbing out of the saddle, I can get much more leverage from my wide ass riser bars.

I can huck curbs.

I wear my bling bling gold Guiness team jersey on road rides, it matches my ti hardtail much better than my blue road bike.