Originally Posted by
MRT2
That wasn't my point. My point was, you make due with what you have. That is what I would do if I already owned a hybrid and wanted to do the STP or some similar event as a one shot deal. I have no doubt plenty of young people probably can't afford a new bike, or can't justify the expense for a day or two of riding a year.
So you're saying all those who ride flat-bar bikes on long rides do so based on compromise instead of choice. I disagree.
But ride with a road riding club and you meet people who live and breath cycling, year in and year out, and the majority of these folks ride road bikes.
Just to be sure, you mean "drop-bar road bikes"? There are flat-bar road bikes. And "the majority" is not the same as "all."
Once again, I will stick to my advice for the OP that I laid out in
#28 .
I began cycling on a hybrid bike because even though I did eventually want to do long distance rides, I was way too uncomfortable on a drop-bar bike. Luckily, the people who gave me advice here never pushed a drop-bar bike on me. They said if a hybrid felt better for me, I should go for one instead of forcing a drop-bar road bike on myself. Why? Because if I couldn't get used to a drop handlebar soon, I might give up on cycling altogether. Instead, they wanted me to find joy in cycling, on a bike that I felt comfortable with as the starting point.
And that advice worked.