Originally Posted by europa

Trying as many bikes as you can is a very smart move because, as you've discovered, that's when you discover what you do and don't like. I prefer the old style roadies myself - my Europa actually is an 80s road bike while my Hillbrick was based on it. Both bikes have drop bars set at saddle height and both feature a long wheel base with relaxed geometry to give a comfortable and relaxed yet still very responsive ride. These are the sort of things you work out over the years of owning and riding lots of bikes so your first choices can be a bit of a lottery, hence the advice to try as many as you can.


You see many bikes, particularly on the internet, with the bars set much lower than the saddle. This results in the feeling you noticed until you get used to it. The lower the bars, the more fit and flexible you have to be to maintain that position and the more you have to lift your head up to see around you which isn't as good in traffic. Lower bars are, however, more aerodynamic which is why that position is used in racing. For normal riding (and for us older gentlemen) having the bars higher makes more sense - less strain on the body, better visibility in traffic and less need for the aero gains.

The trick is to find a bike that allows you to raise the bars up to where you want them. This can be done with track bikes, they'll just be more twitchy than something designed for the road but many prefer them and set them up for the road, not the track. To achieve this, the headtube of the frame (the bit the forks go through) will need to be higher and this raises the top tube. Forget about having lots of seat tube showing, on my bikes, you can just grasp it with your fist. The top tube can be high enough to lightly touch your privates when straddling the bike without a problem (many of us have ridden that way for years).

So, work out what sort of bars want to use (road drops with brakes and hoods is the best choice but flat bars and risers work well too), work out where you want them (even a couple of inches below the saddle is fine for a young bloke ... and many older blokes too for that matter) and look for a frame that will allow you to put them there.

However, we haven't come to the most important measurement and that is the length of the top tube. This is important because it defines how much you have to reach to get to bars. It can be compensated for to a certain amount by shorter or longer necks (the bit that holds the bars to the frame). If you've got a favourite bike now, measure that top tube length and use it to choose your new mount, otherwise use one of fit calculators or, better still, take a tape with you as you try out different bikes.

It sounds like a lot of mucking about but if you ride a lot of different bikes, eventually it falls into place.

Remeber, riding SS or FG is no different to riding a bike with gears (except for all the gear changing) so if you find a geared bike you really like, measure it and use those numbers ... or, if practical, buy it and convert it.

I can't comment on the Motobecane because we don't get them here. I'm sure others can though.