palladio

Hey all, I'm a newbie looking for a stable comfortable bike I can use to commute on rougher city roads, do sidewalks and curb hopping, take on gravel/dirt paths when necessary, and still enjoy some weekend half-centuries on smoother pavement.

I was at first considering either a hybrid or non-suspenstion mountain bike with slicks, but with more reading I am wondering if a cyclocross bike might be the ticket. I have access to a good deal on a Specialized Tricross. Does this sound like it might fit my needs?

Also, I have a bad back and am not sure if drop bars are going to work well for me. Is there some sort of straight bar that would work on this bike without screwing up the handling or geometry?

pmurph

Swapping out the drops is probably not the best way to go. I sometimes get a bad back but don't find that drops exacerbate the problem. If anything, having the drops allows me to change position more, which seems to help my back. If you really want straight handlebars, I'd buy a bike with them already on – a Specialized Sirrus, although not a cyclocross bike, might be an option:

https://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCExperience.jsp?eid=121

You could then change the tires depending on what surface you are riding on. This would seem to be a cheaper way to go than changing the handlebars.

ceej

I agree with the above post. Having drops gives you more positions and places to shift around to. The tricross already has a fairly high rise stem on it, so you might find it to be comfortable as is. But if you are set on getting some flat bars, it is certainly possible. My friend has a tricross with mustache bars on it.

flargle

Straight bars for half-centuries? Yuck. The point of drop bars is to give you a variety of comfortable hand positions.

Read this:
Handlebars for Touring and Commuting

Saddle Up

A straight bar is very much like the top of drop bar without the option of riding on the hoods or in the drops.

knucklesandwich

+1 to what pmurph said. The shifters are among the most expensive components on a drop-bar bike, so buying a Tricross and then converting to flat bars would be fairly inefficient, moneywise. That Sirrus is very similar in geometry beside the bars, and numerous other bike makers are also now making more upscale/faster flat bar style bikes.

LesMcLuffAlot

Well, the dealer may give you his cost for the parts you take off. This may lighten the blow, if you don't want to try and sell them yourself.

threeflys

You can also try a set of moustache bars https://www.rivbike.com/products/list..._tape?page=all I've seen a few cyclocross racers use these...
Chris

threeflys

BTW- Not sure what the deal on the Tricross is, but take a look at the Surly CrossCheck also. They use bar end shifter on their bikes so it wouldn't be a huge deal to switch bars that mountain shifters...
I think the going rate for a CrossCheck is around $1000

acorn_user

If you are set on flat bars, I would go for something like the Specialized Sirrus or Schwinn Super Sport. They are pretty quick bikes, but have some clearance for wider tyres etc like a cross bike does. Another thing to watch for is bar height. Youl can keep the bars pretty high with a stack of spacers if you have a fork with an alloy or steel steerer tube and a riser stem. Also consider the "relaxed road" type of bike like the Trek Pilot series. They have the bars pretty high.