Originally Posted by
revcp
That business about 1st Gen aluminum working out the bugs is goofy. In general, yes, aluminum is a more harsh ride. But that comes with a caveat. The bigger the tire, and the lower the pressure, the less the issue. If you ride 35-38mm tires at 40psi, it's a wash.
Count my vote for the more utilitarian bike, which I would say is the Jamis Coda. I love my roadie--a carbon Orbea Orca I built up from the frame--but if I could have only one bike right now it would be either my Surly Troll everything bike (steel) or my Salsa Mukluk fat bike (aluminum), neither of which has drop bars.
Whereas I put drop bars on everything. My Giant Innova Hybrid - switched the bars for drop bars, added cross levers to run it as my winter bike with 35mm shwalbe studded tires. I've had one fixie and a second fixie frame show up in the house - both of them started with flat bars, ended up with drops. I find drops FAR more comfortable, and one ride on the fixie coming home into the wind without being able to get into drops made me switch it out. I just built up a bike to try out some newer stuff (10sp 105 STI, disc brakes, etc), but right now my favorite bike is drop bars and downtube shifting. Bar end shifting is second place. Like I said though, I haven't really ridden one with integrated shifting yet.
I do agree on one thing - I like utilitarian bikes - steel and rack. Just prefer drops.