EZCUSE

I have been getting into road cycling and am looking to upgrade my bike to a carbon frame.

Looking for a flat handle bar road bike since I am fused in my lower back and upright is the best for me.

I know Cannondale has their Quick Carbon 1 and 2 but I was wondering what else is out there. Ideally I would like to spend under $3500.

Any feedback would be much appreciated.

RollCNY

If you are looking for fully built, highest level Specialized Sirrus is carbon, as is The Trek 7.9fx. If looking for frame only, I prefer builds with a longer top tube than I would spec for a drop bar build.

brianmcg123

Trek used to have a carbon flatbar version. I don't believe they make them anymore, but you could get a used one maybe.

GaryPitts

The Sirrus Limited is a very nice bike. Have the LBS put on a set of the double tap flat bar shifters. Worth their weight in gold. So sweet!

RollCNY

If you are open to shifter suggestions, I second GaryPitts on the SRAM double tap, or the SRAM X9 or higher MTB components. My flatbar road bike had 9 speed X9, and I preferred the shifting to 105 (5700) on a road bike I had.

Campag4life

Here's the thing OP. Fast flat bar bikes are somewhat limited in availability. There is a whole genre of roadbikes however with drop bar that is friendly for fused backs and upright riding position. They are called comfort or endurance geometry frames. I ride one as my back and neck aren't very good.
What you can do personally if you want to get real upright, i.e. handlebar above the saddle is place a 17 degree riser stem like a Ritchie WCS stem on a Roubaix or equivalent. A drop bar has more positions than a flat bar. I own both and prefer a drop bar for general fast riding on paved surfaces and a flat bar on dirt or off road.
If you are steadfast about a flatbar, don't buy a Sirrus...get a carbon 29er...like a Niner. Get it rigid on both ends...Niner makes a great carbon fork. Very sweet bike...light and fast...get it 1 X 10. I too like Sram driveline btw for this genre of bike. You can put 23c road tires on it...or has room for wider rubber for rougher riding. If owning just one bike for all kinds of riding equal dose of on and off road, this is my bike of choice. If more pavement riding, strongly consider a Roubaix or Domane or Giant Defy.

Notgrownup

You know i had a Quick for a month and traded it for a CAAD...Have you looked at a Synapse carbon, You can do that with a adjustable angle bar bracket and stem riser and voila...just need longer cable housings and maybe cables for brakes and derailleurs....Think about that for a different solution...I got my CAAD8 with a stem riser and am looking at lenghtening the cables to add the stem riser....

Notgrownup

If you get a Quick, make sure you get it big enough...That was my mistake , not getting it big enough...

DaveWC

Trek 7.7 FX is about $2,000 and OCLV carbon.

Campag4life

What is an adjustable angle bar bracket? What model stem riser do you like?

Notgrownup

I got a 3" stem riser (Delta brand) from my LBS for about $20 and a adjustable angle bar bracket on Ebay for about $25..as you can tell of my riser installed, it's the max height i can go because my cables are limiting me...i would like to add about 6" to my 4 cables to have full adjustability to the bars...It would help me get some weight off my hands...The adjustable bracket goes up like 75 degrees...

Campag4life

Thanks. Nomenclature. What you refer to as an adjustable angle bar bracket is typically referred to in the industry simply as an adjustable stem.
Your bar is quite high on your bike and looks to be well above saddle height which I understand. But if at that height you want more weight off your hands, you may consider a bit more saddle setback to move your posterior farther behind the crank center.
To me, if more rode road bikes closer to the fit you have chosen...particularly as they age and lose flexibility in back and and neck....they wouldn't abandon road bikes for more upright flatbar bikes as an example...what the OP is looking for.
Bar shape is incidental to riding position but many drop bar bikes are too aggressive for some rider's needs and hence the popularity of comfort road bikes.

mynameistaken

I would get the Specialized Sirrus Pro based on your needs. Really nice carbon frame, disc brakes, some ultegra level components. Should be a fun fast bike. Some people will try and tell you the "tops" on a drop bar are the same as the flat bar but that is not really accurate. A flat bar has a much wider grip with a slight sweep angle back towards the rider. Very different IMO.

Campag4life

FWIW the tops of a comfort geo drop bar bike are 'closer in' than the handlebar bar ends of a nominally set up Sirrus flat bar bike. This is because as the hands move closer together they extend in reach. Those that play in the mtb arena know that a wide flat bar increases reach because the hands are wider apart.

RollCNY

I agree with what you say, but think that much of it has to do with how bars are "nominally" set up, and with you can do with them. If you have a specific goal, you can find flat bars with much more variety to accommodate specific goals. With me, I was not favoring a back, but more shoulder, elbow, wrist, and would cut my flat bars as short as the controls would allow (around 550-560 mm IIRC), and I did not want swept back bars, so I would get flat in one plane, 3 deg on the other, and would rotate the 3 deg toward the ground. Coupled with almost 6" of saddle to bar drop, it was very comfortable for my specific plan, and put my hands halfway between hoods and drops on a conventional set up.

OP, the bad thing about flat bar bikes is that you can get almost no professional help in getting fitted, at least in my experience. If people fit you like a hybrid, sitting bolt upright, you will struggle to feel like you are on a "fast road bike", and it may not help your back because your weight distribution will be on your can, and not the pedals. If people try to fit you like a road bike, they will try to replicate hoods, maybe, and it is a hard spot to meaningfully replicate.

What you are looking for is in the no man's land of cycling. If you want a personal trip, go for it. But you may want to look at some of the others' advice to do an endurance road bike set up.

Campag4life

Wow...a 6" drop on a flatbar bike. Did you race at Leadville?
Believe Weins races a big drop on his flatbar mtb...tho not sure its 6".
Agree...all about nominal position of either flat or drop bar.
Wein's race bike below:

RollCNY

Very similar, but again tailored to me. I put my dimensions into CC's fit calculator, and it told me that I was CroMagnon. At 6' 3.5", I have short legs, long torso, and knuckle dragging arms.

As to Leadville, this was the bike that I did group rides on, 50 miles with avg. speeds of anywhere from 17.8 to 19.7 mph. I have a 25 mile training loop, and I could routinely do it in under 1 hr 15 min, which was my goal for years. I also did my longest rides on this bike, 152 miles in one day, 240 in two.

This is kind of why I also get uppity in threads that say a flat bar bike is always slower than a drop bar bike, and that flat bars are always uncomfortable after a few miles.

EZCUSE

Thank you all for the suggestions... looks like I have some serious reading to do as well as trying out different bikes to see what fits my back the best.

I've noticed with my current bike that my hands are constantly going numb. That's with adding end grips for different hand positions and adding an adjustable stem for different rises to fit my back the best. I additionally bought the top end gloves with gel padding but nothing is working. I only ride between 20-40 miles roughly 3-4x a week.

What I can't figure out is if this is the nature of having my back fused and from that having something possibly messed up in my neck causing the numbing in my hands while riding or if it has something to do with being on the wrong bike.

Nonetheless I will check out all suggestions provided. I just want to go fast without my hands going numb.

Hiro11

One other thought: consider an "endurance" frame with a long head tube and swap the bar, stem and brifters for a mustache bar, riser stem and shifters like this:
https://www.amazon.com/Shimano-SL-R77...=vglnk-c587-20

Mustache bars offer a ton of positions and are a sort of midpoint between drop and flat bars.

This is going to be an additional $300-400 on top of the purchase of the bike, but certain shops may give you a discount. Also, it opens up a wide variety of options on the frame.

achoo

If you're looking for multiple hand positions, the last thing you need seems to be a straight-bar bike.

A drop bar has a lot of hand positions. And a drop bar bicycle doesn't have to be set up to have you bent all the way over like you're competeing in a time trial.

As far as numb hands go, in my experience (fused neck, BTW) numb hands can be caused by too much weight on your hands. You fix that by moving your saddle back (and probably down just a bit to keep the distance to the pedals constant). Then you set up your bar where you want it to be.

merlinextraligh

Agreed. A road bike, with relaxed geometry, properly fit to the OP to account for the upright position he wants, and shallow drop handlebrs is actually likely to end being more comfortable and more functional than a flat bar.

GaryPitts

These https://brickwell.com/product/bontrag...g#.Uh_QTz_9W5I are also worth their weight in gold on a flat bar road bike or even a hybrid. I just checked the Trek site and it looks like they're discontinuing them for 2014 So much more comfortable for a 2nd hand position than bar ends. If you can find them and can afford it, get em!

Campag4life

Will just differ with you on this one Roll but we aren't that far apart. I believe a Roubaix style bike beats any flatbar bike hands down unless the road gets rough..then a flat bar wins hands down. I side with the guys that say the versatility of a drop bar offers more positions and comfort on longer rides. That said, I like flatbar bikes and in particular when riding conditions get rougher. Below is my Ti 29er set up for speed. I can put big volume rubber on it and its great for single track so I love the versatility of the bike. Its a fast bike with stretched out cockpit...relatively light...rigid aka no suspension front and back and 1 x 09 with tall enough gearing to hit 30mph. FWIW it is a pretty fast bike but unless I set the bike up yours with 6" of drop which I don't want to...it isn't as light, stiff or aero as my Roubaix also shown below.
But most importantly, not as fast as a Roubaix. I have even drafted TT guys in the 24mph range on the 29er. But it isn't as fast or as comfortable as the Roubaix on 50 mile rides. So unless the road gets rough, I prefer a comfort geometry drop bar bike. Even if riding smooth dirt, a Roubaix to me shod with 28c tires is a better bike because of the multiple hand positions. So I side with the other guys on this one...endurance geometry set up properly is the ticket.

OP in response to your numb hands...if you have a tall enough head tube and you can place the drop bar where you need, it is your fit that is causing your issue of numb hands. As mentioned, you need to move your saddle back and likely your handlebar up. Btw, reach is a bit counter intuitive. Neck and back pain can also be caused if the handlebar is too close.

fietsbob

Here you go https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes...ess/fx/7_7_fx/ the old OCLV tooling and molds getting re used

since Madone is another set of forms to produce the new CF stuff.

Notgrownup

I am just getting back in cycling after a 23 year hiatus...Plus my hand have past wrist hockey injuries and i have diabetes and Rheumatoid Arthritis...My hands go numb withing 8 miles but i love My CAAD8 better than my QUick...I am going to my LBS tomorrow an dgeting new cables so i can put my adjustable risre,,,I feel if i get that on i will be able to put the miles on i want to beyond 25 miles....I am feeling pretty goo about that....