looking to buy a road specific bike with flat bars.....

counterculture

im looking at either specialized sirrus or giant rapid, around the £700 mark on either range, reason behind this is im getting the bike on my companys cycle scheme, i bought a mountain bike on the scheme last year and have been using it for mountain biking aswell as my commute but feel its time i got a bike better suited to commuting and general road riding with occasional event rides (pedal for scotland etc), and im not comfortable with drop bars, are there any other bikes i could be considering for this purpose?

the mountain bike just isnt fast enough for me around town and it looks ridiculous with skinny tyres.

all advice appreciated.

bobtbuilder

What is putting you off dropped bars? You can ride on the top of the bars or on the brake hoods. It may feel odd for a ride or two, but it soon becomes normal.

Maybe try one out at your LBS before making any final decision? There's nothing worse than buying something and wishing later you had bought something else.

cougie

You could even try one of the cyclocross machines ? Put slicks on it ? They have the conventional brake levers on the tops and also the levers on the drops too.

I reckon you'd probably go for a real road bike eventually - its just getting used to it.

Heckler1974

+1 for drops

Rode a flat bar roadie for yonks (even did a London to Paris on it), just changed to drops and after an initial period of adjustment find it much more comfortable. Drops give you loads more options to adjust it just so, so you can have it (within reason) almost anyway and the bonus with drops over flat is you have a number of positions over them to suit what you're doing at the time (I find being able to get onto the drop bit very beneficial when cycling into a headwind for example).

Alinshearah

I bought a Giant FCR 4 as was afraid of drops and not having my hands on the brakes. The bike is brilliant as a commuter tool. Very fast. However. I must admit that I now wish that I had gone for the drop handle bar option. Now that I'm moving fast through the air, being able to drop down would be an advantage.

night_porter

I too prefer flat bars for commuting and I bought a Fuji Absolute LX (27 speed & carbon forks) and I love it. Although this model isn't available any longer the new model is called the absolute 2.0 and Evans have the 2009 on discount (£449.99) at the moment. It may not have the fancy name of Specialized but they have been making bikes for over 100 years and this is a great bike.

ride_whenever

drops and cyclo-cross levers, all the benefits of flats and drops!

timmyflash

I bought a sirrus in January as my first bike since i was a kid as i was reluctant to go for drops as they seemed a bit 'serious'. Used the bike once or twice a week for commuting (20 miles each way) and also London to Paris. Was easily up to the job, BUT - quickly felt i was missing out by not having drops. Anyway, just picked up my first 'proper' road bike (Comtat Bedoin) on Friday and absolutely love it. Went for a ride on Saturday, and even into the wind, the difference is huge.

So totally a +1 for the drops, but you can have my sirrus for £200 if you like! ;-)

counterculture

night_porter, i alsmost bought an LX a few months back, decent looking bike but there was an issue with my order so i had to hold off til it was resolved and then i got inured and couldnt cycle for 3 months so i stopped looking at bikes for the duration, which was a shame.

timmyflash, where are you and what size is the sirrus, i need a 22" frame, 200 quid is a good price if you have the right bike

timmyflash

SW London. Sorry mate.