Who commutes/runs errands with a road bike? For me, road bikes are the most comfortable but I wonder if I can maneuver as well and react as quickly as I need to.

I do. Mine is maneuverable enough.

If your roads are not covered with pot holes, road bikes work fine for both commuting and utility rides. They can handle just as well as any other bike and better than some.

I use to have both a commuter/mountain style bike and road bike, and I'd generally switch between the two.
However, since I've discovered more off road pathways in the city to get from Point A to Point B, I've gone 100% back to my commuter/mountain. Plus many roads here can be disgusting to ride on, on any bike, let alone a road bike.
Plus, I just prefer the ride I get on my mountain/commuter bike.

I would say that if you had to carry stuff for your commute or if you were running errands where you needed to pick up stuff, then a road bike might not be a good choice. A touring or a cyclocross bike like a Trek 520, Bianchi Volpe, Surly LHT & Cross Check would be good bikes for doing this. I have a Specialized Tricross Comp that has a rack on it so I can commute and not worry about carrying stuff, but can also ride on fairly fast weekend rides with it.

Before I retired, I rotated all my road bikes for commuting but in the Winter, my main rides were touring bikes. My one mountain bike was only used for commuting when it was icy/snowy out or for rides with the grand kids. My best road bikes are only ridden in the Summer when its dry.

All of my bikes are either road bikes or fixies converted from road bikes. They are all plenty maneuverable. I would not ride anything else in city traffic.

thanks...good to hear...a touring frame makes a lot of sense : )

A touring bike is a road bike. Likewise a cyclocross bike is a road bike.

I switched from hybrid to road this year, will never go back. As long as the pavement doesn't look like the surface of the moon you'll be alright, and faster.

I use a bike-boom era (1980) 10-speed road bike for all my commuting needs. It has 27"/1-1/4" tires which are skinnier than most 26" tires but not as hard-core small as some of the road-bike tires I see.

I've carried some significant loads on this bike with no problems. Obviously staying alert and avoiding potholes is a must, but I've hit one or two and didn't damage the wheels, or pinch flat so they're not super fragile either.

Most of my morning ride-in is all paved MUP or roads, however in the evenings and on just-for-fun rides with my gf I quite often take it onto the loose gravel/packed dirt paths in the area and haven't had any real problems. Just make sure you know to expect the front wheel to slide a bit on things like gravel and adjust your cornering style accordingly.

Exactly what I was going to suggest. A touring bike is a great compromise. It's a road bike, but a bit sturdier and with slightly wider tires so it can take the bumps a little better.

I have a Trek 520. I originally got it because I wanted a road bike, but my arse ain't small, so I wanted something sturdy. Now that I've moved to a community that is more bike-friendly, I'm finding its an excellent commuter bike.

I alternate between my two road bikes for commuting. In fact, I sold my MTB last summer because I never used it.

I started out on a road bike> switched to mountain bike with drop bars> mountain bike> touring bike with flat bars> hybrid> finally a 'flat bar road bike'. I think the flat bars are easier to handle, but you can learn to ride drops safely and maneuver well. I liked the drops for speed and splitting lanes (narrower). I switched to flats because I was getting into Mountain biking. I only could afford one bike and preferred flats off-road. I found on the road that I could go fast enough and split lanes with flat bars although it is sketchier.

From your post, I guess you are mostly concerned with the riding position, more than the narrow tires or frame geometry. I used drop bars for mountianbiking for a while, you can ride on roads or off-road with either type. There maybe more advantages to drops, but I prefer flats with bar ends. Most commuters use drop bars on road or touring bikes.

Maybe I don't understand the question. As a general rule, bikes with road-type geometry - race, sport, tour, CX - are more maneuverable at the same speed than MTBs, i.e, they respond more quickly to steering input. The MTB will handle the pothole better if you hit it, but the only reason you might be more likely to hit the pothole with a road bike is that you're moving faster.

Bike handling, like everything else, is about personal preferences and compromises.

If you like it, it's maneuverable. If you don't like it, it's twitchy.
or
If you like it, it's stable. If you don't like it, it's unresponsive.

Personally, I'd prefer to avoid the pothole in the first place. So I ride a road bike to work.

I've got a "leftover from the bike boom" 10-speed road bike, and like it for what commuting I do.

As for the drop vs. flat argument... I go for the best of both worlds. Seeing as my bike is all leftover bike boom stuff, it's got the requisite suicide levers. Cross/inline/interruptor levers are a better choice, though, but the same idea - brake levers on the top of the bar. Ride it like a flat when you need to be upright, ride in the drops for speed.

I'm learning a lot here! Since I can only afford one bike right now, the fatter tire capability and solidness of a touring bike sounds good, and will allow me the multiple hand positions I want as well as more comfy riding for me on longer rides out of the city on weekends. I don't expect one bike to be good at everything, but this seems like a good compromise for now. In the end I agree with Caloso..trust the intuition and personal preference. I've got to keep trying out options cause I'll recognize it when it's right. Thanks all...

I was using my road bike (my only bike at the time) to commute on, but will be "saving" that for group/recreational rides now that I've got a fixed gear to beat up on....

I do.

I sometimes borrow my wife's old road bike. It is very inconvenient to use, because it lacks a chainguard, rack, and fenders. It's also not well suited for riding in office clothing, and the need to change cancels out the speed benefits on my fairly short routes. Also, there are not enough places on my route where I need the drops. However, it manuvers perfectly well - it's a fine bike. The narrow tires even work fairly well in snow, as long as it is no more than a few inches deep and wet enough that they can bite down to the pavement. If I had a long, fast commute, it would be ideal with a few modifications like more durable tires. My hybrid has the same hassles without the offsetting benefit of speed. For a lot of commuting situations, a road bike works fine.

Paul

Any bike that suits your personal preference and fits your need is a good commuter bike. I needed a bike that can take a rack and panniers, and one that can get me efficiently to and from work on a commute that's about 28 miles round trip. For me, that was a Trek 1200 road bike. I've been known to use my old Diamondback outlook (converted to a rigid hybrid with some mild upgrades) as well. Both work fine.

The beauty of bicycle commuting is that it's more of an art, subject to personal taste, than a hard science. Bicycle commuters as a whole borrow tricks, tools, equipment, and philosophy from basically every other type of bicycling. We put them in a big crucible, mix and mash them up, and pull out a magical solution that fits our individual needs.

The only law to bicycle commuting is that you commute on a vehicle that in whole or in part relies on human power. Scientifically speaking, the vehicle should be strictly human-powered and have two wheels (bicycle) however, I won't shun people who use trikes, velomobiles, fuel/electric assist, unicycles, or the like.

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Post of the Day.

Rack, panniers, fenders, and 23 mm tires. I love my Salsa La Raza.
Form follows function, but it also follows personal taste. It is not very hard to modify a road bike into a very nice high speed commuter.

Unless you do plan to do some loaded touring, I think one of the "sport touring" road bikes might be more suitable. They are lighter, can usually easily accept 28mm tires or wider (if they have cantilever brakes). These are the current heirs to the old 10-speeds some of us started out with in the 1960's and 70's. I'm retired and so I don't commute, but if I did, it would be on a road bike. Why be saddled with extra weight and inefficiency when you don't have to? And why shouldn't commuting be a pleasant ride on a nice, reasonably fast, responsive bike? Properly fitted, I don't see why it would be any less maneuverable. Reaching the brakes isn't a problem nowadays what with most people riding on the hoods anyway.