Clmason

Does anyone here ride a Specialized Sirrus or similar flat bar hybrid road bike?

I've never ridden a true Road Bike. The seating position does not look comfortable and I'm assuming i won't be able to ride for very long at 5'10" & 250 lbs.

The Specialized Sirrus looks like a nice blend of up right flat bar riding with a more of a road bike component setup.
Curious if any of you have a similar bike and how do you like it?

I currently have a Specialized Crosstrail and i have never gone on a trail yet, so it was not the best purchase for me though i have logged ~400 road miles on it. The suspension fork and fat wheels are not giving me any benefit beyond stability.

Wilfred Laurier

your cross trail can be made into a flat bar road bike
by changing to narrower higher pressure tires
flat bar road bike is a marketing term
designed to remove the stigma from bikes formerly known as hybrids
but in reality
flat bar road bikes are what used to be called
performance hybrids

also
your impression of road bikes with drop bars
is contrary to most peoples experience
even clydes

if a bike fits you properly
then drop bars allow multiple comfortable hand positions
that make long rides much more comfortable

stephtu

Agree. I think in the long run most people are happier with drop bars and the multiple positions.

The key is to make the effort to change the stem so it gets the handlebar as high as you need it, not just accept the default stock stem & position as the bike ships/on your test ride, which might well be too low for you. With a stem with enough rise and proper length, keeping spacers under the stem, even a stem height extender if necessary, there's no reason you can't get a completely identical position to riding a flat bar bike, but with added ability to move your hands around. If you feel comfortable on a particular flat bar setup, measure the drop between top of saddle and the bar, and the distance from saddle to bar, just duplicate that to around the hood position of a drop bar. Start with stem flipped up and keep the spacers underneath, if still not enough then swap to stem with more rise.

Also pick so called "endurance" geometry road bikes if you like the more upright position, they start with a higher head tube to begin with, sometimes also slightly shorter top tubes.

DW0378

I ahve to say I am also about 5'10 but s30 or sho pounds and had the same road bike fear as you. However after a few test tides I bought one and found it was no where as uncomfortable as I had expected. I would would not compare it to sitting in a lazy boy but its not like sitting on a block of concrete either.

Clmason

Thanks all. I will test a road bike and see how it feels.

sstorkel

I was riding a drop-bar road bike at 5'9" and 220lbs. Road bikes with endurance geometry (ex: Specialized Secteur) are quite a bit more comfortable than those with racing geometry (ex: Specialized Allez). For the first few months I was back on the bike, I used a stem with a more upright angle. Once I lost a few pounds and gained some flexibility, I went back to the stock stem...

scarleton

I moved from a straight bar at the beginning of this season to drop bars and am very happy. There is a catch, 70% of the time on the hoods, 25% on the middle of the bar, 5% on the corners, and in the drops only when I am trying to be aero.

Because of this, I think my next bike, which will be a touring bike, will have trekking bars on them. They give lots of hand positions and I think I would end up using them all more then what I have on my current drop bars. The other thing is I will sit up a bit more. So... Something to consider...

Willbird

I started at 280lbs and 5'8"......a hybrid was all I had, looking forward to picking up my new road bike, maybe tmw, or the next sat (hope tmw if the mailman brings our $$ tmw).

But being locked into basically ONE hand position is literally a PITA :-).

Bill

sstorkel

The question is: do you really need more hand positions? Personally, I've never understood the attraction of trekking bars. My touring bike uses standard drop bars. They had all the hand-positions I needed to ride 450-miles from San Francisco to Los Angeles...

Willbird

Well the whole "hand position" thing really boils down to "body position" IMHO.....if you only have one hand position more or less you only have one body position, two if you count pedaling standing or seated.

practical

I don't agree with this. I agree with the OP and so do many people I know. The drop bar position is uncomfortable and the drop bars themselves really hurt my hands. I may not be more "areodynamic" with a flatbar, but my view is superior and I ride longer.

practical

I really don't understand this idea that flatbars only give the rider one hand position. I move my hands around a lot and with bar ends, I have even more hand positions. In addition, if you use ergon grips, your hands will stay more comfortbable longer than if you're gripping a narrow bent pipe covered with cloth tape.

Willbird

I must confess I have not added bar ends :-).....and I do have ergon grips, but with twist shifters there is only one "in control" hand/body position, where with drop bars I will have two :-), and with aero bars there would be 3 with some of the flight deck type setups ?

and with the hands on tge brake hoods where many people ride there is no gripping a tube wrapped with clothe tape :-).

everybody should find what they like and enjoy, but I bet I will not be longing to go back to my flat bar hybrid :-)

stephtu

The *default*, stock drop bar position might be uncomfortable to you. But with the right combination of stem and spacers, there's no reason a drop bar can't be set up just as upright, just as comfortable, with the exact same view. You can set up a drop bar so that your hand position on say the hoods is the exact same distance and height relative to your saddle as your hands on a flat bar bike. Shouldn't your body position then be basically identical?

That's why they make so many different stems sizes and angles. No one forces you to ride with 10 cm of drop like a pro racer, you can set up drop bars even with the saddle or even higher if you want. If the height & distance is set right, along with your fore-aft weight distribution, drop bars shouldn't be uncomfortable at all.

Clmason

Pardon my ignorance. if you set up drop bars with a siimilar height as a flat bar for comfort like you are describing, what is the value of the drop bars? I thought the point of drop bars on the road bikes was for aerodynamics, less wind resistances. That was the point of my original post, I'm not sure I can be comfortable leaning that far forward. My knees may hit my stomach or feel too cramped to go for 2 hours+.

dagray

on my 30 year old road bike the seat is almost level with the bars (drop bars) and the frame is tall and long (Centurion LeMans 12 speed) which is more of a touring geometry, on my new road bike (Raleigh Revenio 2.0) the seat is a good six inches higher than the bars, but the frame is more compact.

I also have a Raleigh Talus 29er mountain bike with the standard mountain bike bars.

Of the three I prefer riding the road bikes as they are more comfortable to me for longer rides. Partially due to having what I perceive to be more hand positions, and partially due to the weight difference of the bikes and the rolling resistance difference of the bikes.

I can see flat bars on a road bike and could see how some might prefer them, me? well I prefer drop bars on a road bike and flat bars on a mountain bike.

stephtu

Hand positions, as stated before. For one thing, I feel more comfortable (wrists in particular) most of the time with my hands in a neutral position (palms facing one another, rather than pronated facing the ground on flat bar/the tops of a drop bar), on the hoods or the ramp behind the hoods. This can be achieved on a flat bar with bar ends, but on the bar ends you aren't in position to work the brakes/shifters, plus being on the end they tend to be a wider position than I'd like. Also, even though you may spend the majority of the time fairly upright on the hoods, you still can get more aero on the actual drops/hooks for short stretches if facing a headwind or wanting to go faster for some reason. You also have a choice of how upright you want to be at different points of the ride, sliding back from hoods->behind hoods->flat tops, whereas with a flat bar you can only control angle by how much you bend your elbows, and what's comfortable for your back might not agree with what's comfortable for your arms. If I still had a flat bar bike and wanted to go long distances on it, I'd definitely go for something more like the trekking bars mentioned above, if really against drops.

MRT2

Well said. I rode a flat bar hybrid from 1997 to early 2012. It was and is a fine bike, though a little heavy by contemporary standards. Very versatile bike that could transition from dirt roads to pavement. Fairly comfortable too. But the flat bars limited the hand positions, and more importantly, body position.

Today's performance hybrids can be as light as road bikes and have comparable road gearing, but the drop bars still offer up to 5 different hand positions, where as even with bar ends, you have, at best, 2 hand positions on a flat bar bike.

The thing is, it isn't an either/or thing. If you have drop bars, there are many variations, widths, even flared out bars like these.https://salsacycles.com/components/ca...rs/woodchipper

If you have a hybrid or mountain bike, not just trekking bars, but you can even try something like these.https://store.velo-orange.com/index.p...crazy-bar.html

GravelMN

I am of the opinion that bike geometry and setup is far more important than flat-bar vs. drop-bar. I have a drop-bar endurance road bike and a flat-bar touring/gravel grinder and both are extremely comfortable and I've done multiple centuries on each of them. Once I put Ergon GR2 bar ends on the flat bar, I have the majority of the same hand positions I have on the drop-bar as I ride 90% of the time on the tops or hoods/bar ends anyway. As far as "going aero" in the drops, check out some of the more recent wind tunnel research that suggest that riding the hoods with your elbows more bent is actually more aero than riding the drops, which makes both the fore and upper arm more flat to the wind. These results are a matter of contention as some other studies show the opposite, but regardless of the final results, all the studies show that drag from going aero from the tops, hoods/bar ends or drops is much closer than had been previously thought. If you are going to use flat bars for a "road" bike, I suggest narrowing them and adding a good bar end (like the Ergon GR2) to give you approximately the same hand position on the bar ends that you would have on the hoods of a proper width drop bar.

Fangowolf

Clmason look at a trekking bar. That is what I use. I put two bar ends as far as I could move them out and an interrupter brake for the front brake. With a trekking bar you can tilt it however you want. You can go from a short drop all the way to a second level higher. I guarantee their drop bars don't have as many hand positions as my bars.

cycling705

Excellent thread - I appreciate everyone's feedback.

I posted the content below on another thread, but it actually fits better here so I'll make a slight adaptation for context purposes, and pose the same question here.

Like the OP, I'm considering a bike purchase and am caught in between a performance hybrid and an "upright" road bike like the Giant AnyRoad 1 (pic below). When I test rode the AnyRoad I liked it, but it wasn't as comfortable as I was hoping (from a reach standpoint).

Although the geometry is already more upright than most road bikes, is there a way to get the handlebars even closer / higher? For me, the large is the right frame size (from a knee / leg clearance standpoint), but the reach put a slight strain on my back. The medium was too small / tight.

What can be done (if anything) on the AnyRoad to get it more comfortable from a reach / handlebar standpoint?

For example, on the straight-bar performance hybrids (Giant Escape, Trek FX, Specialized Sirrus, etc.) you can use an adjustable stem, or a stem with a high-degree rise. Is there something that can be done on road-type bikes (like the AnyRoad) to give it a similar effect (even more upright)?

Thanks as always to everyone for your responses.

Wilfred Laurier

The same upright and/or adjustable stems found on hybrids and flat bar road bikes can be installed on just about any drop bar road bike. Ask the shop where you test rode the Anyroad if they can swap out the stem to one that meets your desires. It is a 5 minute change that might make it the absolute perfect bike... or it might not... there is only one way to find out!

Fangowolf

I've put the curved away from the seat, but rotated 180 and it shortens the reach. You can't see it, but there is an interrupter brake out in front of the left side for the front wheel brake.

cycling705

Thank you, Wilfred. That was very helpful - I didn't know that. Two other quick questions (if you don't mind):

1. In your opinion, is the geometry of the AnyRoad conducive to a more comfortable ride than the performance hybrids?

2. I didn't see this until just a few mins ago, but in an earlier post (in this thread) @stephtu mentioned three different options for a more comfortable handlebar position:

a. A stem with enough rise and proper length.
b. Keeping spacers under the stem.
c. A stem height extender (if necessary).

...are you able to briefly explain the differences in these, specifically between b. and c. (or point me to a link that would help)? Do all three accomplish the same thing, or are there subtle differences?

Thanks again for your help - it's tremendously appreciated!

Wilfred Laurier

1. Comfort is relative, and every rider has different needs. But if a standard upright bike (as opposed to a recumbent or other non-traditional styles of bikes) is close to comfortable then the differences between different bikes - even ones that appear to be very different - are actually very slight, and a changed stem or handlebar or seatpost can make the differences insignificant.
The main difference between the Anyroad and a performance hybrid is the drop handlebar, which allows multiple hand positions to prevent fatigue on long rides. In the end, this is a decision you must make based on your riding and position preferences... in short, whatever you are most comfortable on. Also keep in mind that if the bike is only a wee bit off the 'ideal' for you, you might get used to it, or have slightly different preferences after a season of riding.

2. a) A different stem is the first and easiest strategy. Either an adjustable or one that fits your estimate of how you think you want your bar position to change. Most LBSs will swap out stems at little or no charge when the bike is new in order to get you fitted properly.
b) Keeping spacers under the stem is only an option if the bike comes from the factory with a bunch of spacers, or if you are buying a custom assembled bike, or installing a new fork. The Asian factories cut the steerer tube of the fork during assembly so generally there is only room for a couple of spacers. You don't generally have the option of calling the factory and requesting a bike be assembled with an extra long steerer tube.
c) A stem height extender is usually reserved for when you want the bars much much higher than you can get with a stem change. And you can get stems with quite a lot of rise, so if you feel the need to go to an extender, some might argue that the bike is not a good fit to start with.
But the whole process should start with experimenting with stems and discussing options with your favourite LBS.