esshook

My family and me moved to NE Ohio and I sold my MTB. I will be purchasing a commuter bike for the hills and am debating on a road bike with drop bars (like my old commuter) or a road bike with straight bars with bar ends. I would prefer drop bars, but am not sure it will be very amenable to pulling our kids trailer when we take them out on joy rides if it is too twitchy. Does anyone have any experience or advice?

Hairy Hands

Pulled my kids many times with a 10k Colnago, and my wife used a Trek Madone. No problems whatsoever. Get the bike that fits your style of riding and then add the kids and go! Any twitchy-ness you speak of would have to do with frame geometry not the type bars you choose.

Spld cyclist

I would take the trailer when shopping for the bike, just to make sure the trailer attachment and bike play well together. This goes for any type of bike, not just road bikes. I have a bike where this is an issue. It's a Burley trailer that hitches to the chainstay and seatstay on the non-drive side. When using that bike, my heel brushes against the trailer mount on every revolution.

EDIT: I didn't really answer your question. I've pulled our Burley with 4 different road bikes and 1 mountain bike. No real differences in control with any of them.

VastCrew

I have a specialized road bike with dropbars and tow the trailer or the WeeHoo and can also mount a seat on the back without issue. Both tow fine and the bike handles well with or without kids! As long as the bike fits you well I would imagine you could control either style bike equally.

esshook

Fantastic! Thank you for your feedback everyone. I decided to follow my gut and get a roadbike, but I actually changed my trajectory a bit. I was picking up pictures at walmart and heard of the Denali and wanted to see if for myself. Walmart had two of them. They also had a Schwinn Empire XL marked down from $249 to $99. So I bought it. It has a lot of no-name components, but I live in a college town and I could easily resell the bike for $100 if it is not a great match for me OR (more likely) will be out less money if it is stolen.

Now my wife and I are looking for a childseat for our 9 month old. We have a burley double trailer to tow the two older ones, but the little one currently doesn't have a place to sit on our bike rides Off to spend more money, but it is a bit easier since I spent $100 instead of $600+ on my bike!

delcrossv

I've pulled trailers on my Motobecane with drop bars and two recumbents. No worries.

jfsaxophone

I ride a steel road bike with drop bars while pulling the kids, and they aren't an issue when I am the only adult. The problem I run into is when my wife is riding with us, and I find myself wanting something upright for the more leisurely, conversational pace. Just something to keep in mind.

cplager

I've also pulled trailers with both a road bike and with 'bents. No problems with either. Get the bike you want to ride and use that.