Originally Posted by vatdim

This is an interesting discussion. Where I live, most bikes that you can see around have flat bars. Most new bikes are MTB's, so it makes sense for them to have flat bars. There are a few road bikes with drop bars here and there, but most of them go back to the 80's. Generally, I'd expect at least 4 out of 5 cyclists here to use flat bars. Part of the reasoning behind this probably lies with cost, since you can get a decent MTB or city bike for at least 50% less than you would need for a half-decent road bike. Another part of my theory is that most people around here don't believe you can actually achieve any meaningful speed when riding a bicycle, because it's also not customary to use bikes for commuting.

As for me, I tend to use my MTB which I've gradually converted into a commuter bike with a bit skinnier tyres, mudguards, a rack and some panniers. The bars are flat and I usually don't have a problem with hand numbness when on my commute, since it's only about 16 km round trip. However, I do use gloves now because I used to have problems with that in the past.

Since I got my tourer, I've also done a few commutes on it. I've seen how much faster I can go with it whenever I'm in the drops. It also provides me with a much smoother ride since the steel frame absorbs any road irregularities a lot better than my aluminum MTB. However, I still believe I can achieve better control and better situation awareness when I'm in a more upright position. Therefore I'll continue using my flat bar MTB for most commuting purposes. This lets me reserve myself the pleasure of using the drops for the more relaxed weekend rides, and for outside the city in particular.