Did you change from Hybrid to Drop Bar Bike

First bike a Hybrid/Flat Bar. Have you changed to a Drop Bar Bike?

  • Use hybrid/flat bar only

    Votes: 481 40.9%
  • Use both a hybrid/flat bar and drop bar bike

    Votes: 487 41.4%
  • Use drop bar bike only

    Votes: 205 17.4%
  • Don't/Can't ride anymore

    Votes: 5 0.4%

  • Total voters
    1,175
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doyler78

Well-Known Member
Location
Co Down, Ireland
So often we see people who come on the forums here who are complete beginners, at least during adulthood, who are looking for a new bike. Often they feel intimidated by drop bars thinking that they aren't good enough for one or just think they look strange. They then set their mind on a hybrid or flat bar road bike.

Just wondering about those people that first bought a hybrid/flat bar road bike and how many of them have since converted to a drop bar version (for the purposes of the poll anything which isn't a drop bar counts as a hybrid ie slicked up moutain bikes, etc which are used primarily on road or towpaths - no mountain biking country included as that takes a much more specialised bike)
 

zimzum42

Legendary Member
I use a profile airwing. How am I supposed to vote?

does a bmx as a little kid count as my first bike, or the drop bar racer I got when i was 10 or so?
 

John the Monkey

Frivolous Cyclist
Location
Crewe
I started on my Dad's old hybrid (Raleigh Pioneer Elite) then got an '80s ten speed to see whether I liked road bikes, and it was downhill from there...

The hybrid is my short trip bike, and an SCR2.0 my commuting and fun bike.
 
well being a beginner, i have bought a hbrid, and yes, its cause idont know if id get on with drops- ive only tried to ride one once, and that was when i was a kid.. didnt feel safe, and so have only ever had flat bars... and yes, i can kinda say that i may like to try drops in the future, as long as i get more than a years use of this bike first, i dont think the "other half" will chop my danglies off.... so iwill probably turn into a convert in the future...
 

alecstilleyedye

nothing in moderation
Moderator
zimzum42 said:
I use a profile airwing. How am I supposed to vote?

does a bmx as a little kid count as my first bike, or the drop bar racer I got when i was 10 or so?

yeh, started with a rally chico (flat), then got a raleigh olympus (drops), then various bmx and tracker bikes (all flat), then old steel racer (drop), then mtb (flat) then two more road bike (drops).

i didn't find an option for that :biggrin::biggrin:
 

Maz

Guru
I am still waiting to take the plunge and get a drop bar bike....I have had my Sirrus Elite (would that be regarded as a flat bar road bike?) for a couple of years. It's fast, but I want to get more aero where possible and go a bit faster, on the dual-carriageway etc.
 

gbb

Legendary Member
Location
Peterborough
I probably did the opposite, to my regret.
Always rode 'racing bikes' (Raleighs, Carltons etc).
Maybe 5 years ago, i thought i'm going to buy myself a new road bike (my first..after all these years :biggrin: )
I couldnt find anything in my price range at that time, so spent £375 on a Trek hybrid.....and hated it, probably because it wasnt what i set out to buy, or wouldnt do the job i origionally wanted.

I got my new road bike two years later (and the Trek had hardly been used in that time)
 
OP
OP
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doyler78

Well-Known Member
Location
Co Down, Ireland
I asked the question because this was exactly where I started. When I started cycling 4 years ago everyone told me to get a racer however I just thought they looked strange and awkward and that I would be too slow on them and embarrass myself on it. If I had a flat bar at least I could say well they are all aero :biggrin:

A couple of years after it as I had got much more confident in my cycling and started to find performance gains harder to come by I started to wish I had gone down the drop bar bike though I would always deny that to anyone that recommended them before :wacko:

I am in the process of buying my drop bar and just wondered how many had gone through the same process and it seems to be a quite a common route for older people (in other words not someone who has cycled right through from childhood) coming into cycling to progress through their cycling.

I just can't wait to get out on my new bike. Hopefully in the next week and bring an end to my interminable wait :thumbsup:

If I get on well with my drop bar then my next purchase will be a drop bar winter/commute bike on cycle to work but we'll see.
 

dudi

Senior Member
Location
Ipswich, Suffolk
I started riding again 2 years ago, and bought myself a lovely cheap as chips full suspension bike... it broke after a few months and I was given a hybrid by my brother.
Rode the hybrid about 10 months and then I had a crash, which wrote off the bike and nearly wrote off me aswell...

during my recouperation I bought a new cycling jersey & some shorts.

then My work offered a cycle to work scheme thru halfords, with which i bought my first road bike, a claud butler san remo. quite a nice bike for £300... just as a starter outer to see if i liked the drops. I did!

I still own that bike, and I have also built myself a fixie. I use the fixie for commuting (about 20 miles a day at the moment) and used to use the CB at weekends for longer rides.
I've lent my brother the CB now as we've been getting ready for the London 2 Brighton. I've been using the Fixie for any riding now, anything up to 60 miles so far... love it.

I'm guessing that I'll be bying a new bike soon, and will go for a nice fancy fast machine for the weekend, and keep my low maintenance fixie for commuting.

I'd never go back to flats unless I wanted to take up MTB riding, drops are far more comfortable in my opinion.
 
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