Best Cross-bar road bike

trashcan1
trashcan1 Posts: 2
edited April 2013 in Road beginners
Loving the cross bar. Currently own Specialized Sirrus Sport. Looking to upgrade to a lighter cross bar. Tempted by Giant Rapide 1. Anyone out there who would suggest me checking out an alternative brand .. ?

Comments

  • rubertoe
    rubertoe Posts: 3,994
    what do you mean by cross - bar?

    do you mean flat bar?
    "If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got."

    PX Kaffenback 2 = Work Horse
    B-Twin Alur 700 = Sundays and Hills
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    A flat bar is not a road bike IMO.
    Maybe try the Commuting section.

    Thinking we are being 'baited' on this post, but if not just get a Boardman hybrid :wink:
  • keef66
    keef66 Posts: 13,123
    Cross bar was what we called the top tube when I were a lad. I suspect he means a flat barred hybrid type of thing
  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    Nothing wrong with flat bars on a road bike. If anything defines a road bike, it's the inability of the wheels and tyres to handle anything more than mirror-smooth tarmac.
    - - - - - - - - - -
    On Strava.{/url}
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    DesWeller wrote:
    Nothing wrong with flat bars on a road bike. If anything defines a road bike, it's the inability of the wheels and tyres to handle anything more than mirror-smooth tarmac.

    Er, so what would you suggest for riding on UK roads then?
    A CX bike would be the only real option as far as I can see it, and that has drop bars :lol:
  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    Carbonator wrote:
    DesWeller wrote:
    Nothing wrong with flat bars on a road bike. If anything defines a road bike, it's the inability of the wheels and tyres to handle anything more than mirror-smooth tarmac.

    Er, so what would you suggest for riding on UK roads then?
    A CX bike would be the only real option as far as I can see it, and that has drop bars :lol:

    You're getting race bikes mixed up with road bikes.
    - - - - - - - - - -
    On Strava.{/url}
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    DesWeller wrote:
    Carbonator wrote:
    DesWeller wrote:
    Nothing wrong with flat bars on a road bike. If anything defines a road bike, it's the inability of the wheels and tyres to handle anything more than mirror-smooth tarmac.

    Er, so what would you suggest for riding on UK roads then?
    A CX bike would be the only real option as far as I can see it, and that has drop bars :lol:

    You're getting race bikes mixed up with road bikes.

    No I am not (I would say a race bike is a road bike that you ride faster), you were the one who said a road bike is only good for perfect tarmac. What surface do you think you need for a race bike then?

    So what bike is OK for UK roads then if not a road or race bike?
  • desweller
    desweller Posts: 5,175
    I don't understand? A road bike does not definitively come equipped with drops; that's the point I'm trying to make.
    - - - - - - - - - -
    On Strava.{/url}
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Guess you are not going to answer the question then.

    I think having drop bars defines a road bike more than most things.

    I'll have a look and see how many flat bar ones I can find, but am sure they will have more in common with a hybrid than a Dogma.

    Not quite sure how you differentiate between a road and a race bike.
  • simon_masterson
    simon_masterson Posts: 2,740
    DesWeller wrote:
    I don't understand? A road bike does not definitively come equipped with drops; that's the point I'm trying to make.

    Exactly. A road bike is designed for use on the road (funny, that), and some tourers prefer to use flat handlebars; there aren't any brifters available for Rohloff gears, for example. And what about before drop bars came into fashion; do path racers not qualify as road bikes?

    Like many I personally prefer drops (and one of my bikes still has flats; been meaning to change them for a while), but - pertinent to this thread - I've seen lots of bikes that are ostensibly standard modern road bikes, only with flat bars rather than drops, so they definitely exist...

    As for 'road' and 'race', the distinction isn't very useful; what was once a 'racing bike' is now generally referred to as a 'road bike'; when I was growing up the former term was in use, and is therefore the one that I use. Furthermore, there is not an absolute standard that defines what is suitable for racing and what isn't. If a 'race' bike has to be the same spec as that of the professionals either currently or contemporaneously, then we should presumably exclude clincher wheels, for example.
    Retro(ish) TT 2017-
    Fixed TT 2015-2016
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    I did not say they do not exist and of course there will be some, cycling is very diverse and the boundaries are sometimes blurred.

    The two bikes the OP mentioned are practically hybrids as far as I can see (one retailer even called the Giant that).
    The biggest difference to me is the bars and ultimately it is much more of a hybrid than a road bike even though it is actually a basic road bike with flat bars on.

    The OP wanted to know what the best flat bar road bike was. I have not looked into it but looking at the Giant I get the feeling the answer would be to buy a hybrid and change the cassette!
  • rolf_f
    rolf_f Posts: 16,015
    Let's be honest - 'Road Bike' is about as crap a definition of the bikes most of us ride as you can get. To suggest a thin tyred, light framed bike isn't a road bike because it doesn't have drops is like saying a Ford Focus isn't a 'Road Car' because it doesn't have a stripped out interior and roll cage.

    We had it right in the old days. A 'racer' was a drop handlebar road bike. Most other bikes were just bikes unless they were Choppers or Grifters or other oddities. There's more to a bike than the shape of its handlebars.

    Anyway, enough of this! We should be focussing our abuse on the OP for making his first 'sentence' on BR 'Loving the cross bar'.........
    Faster than a tent.......

Categories