Originally Posted by
Sirrus Rider
Actually, I respectfully disagree. There are many factors that determine whether or not a bike will work as a commuter. if the roads are bad he might find himself wanting a mountain bike or if hand pain is an issue merely modifying the hybrid with dropbars. My initial commuter bike was a hybridized mountain bike (and it still is); however, I've opted to pick up a backup bike which is a Specialized Sirrus hybrid. Why? the mountain bike is great for moving extremely heavy and bulky loads, but it's geared it too low for making good time. Secondly, although drop bars are good over distance flat bars are useful for hanging lights, computers, etc. and for keeping one's head high while in traffic so for the time being I have opted to stay with flat bars, but sometime in the future I may consider North roads. At no time have I ever considered commuting all my road bike because I find the geometry and the positioning on the bike too "whippy" to contend with in city traffic.
Retrofitting a bike with drop bars is not so simple unless it's a single speed or fixed gear. There's the shifters to deal with. If you want to add drop bars with real road shifters after the fact, it's going to cost you.
What kind of road bike/bars do you have? I've got plenty of room for both a computer and lights on mine and the only sense of "whippiness" I get is when I'm using the aero bars that are on one of my bikes. I ride a flat-bar MTB in the winter and a bike with drops the rest of the year, - in city traffic. I find the road bike to be much more reponsive in terms of handling so I don't understand the preference for flat bars (for handling) unless you need additional leverage for jumping curbs and whatnot (which you're not going to do on a roadbike anyway).