Handlebar Opinion, Please
 

Okay, so this is my bike:

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3158/...18fc8b38a3.jpg

I bought it refurbished from a shop I specifically wanted to buy from (I MC'd a fundraiser for them a few years ago and it didn't go great, but they paid me anyway, so I wanted to give them my business, dig?). I love the bike, it's fun to ride, and so forth and so on. However, I'm not sure how I feel about the handlebars. I really wanted more traditional drop handlebars because I like to ride fairly far and fairly fast. However, everyone I talk to says these look really sharp and that they'd keep 'em as is.

So...do I keep them or change them? Is it ridiculous to ride a bike like this with clipless pedals and shorts and jersey and such? Would it be madness to do, say, a century with them? Should I just save the money I'd spend on switching and use it to buy a more road-bikey bike in the future?

Opinions, please.

It can get expensive quick swapping other bars for drops. I'd save some money, add a rear rack, mirror and lights, maybe fenders, and that bike would make a mighty fine commuter.

I'd put the money I saved in not swapping to drops on this bike into savings for a road bike. The geometry of this one says touring bike to me.

Who cares how they look? You obviously aren't satified with them. I can't tell from the pic, where are the shifters? They look to be handlebar mounted? This could cause complications in a swap to drops.

No, they're downtube, so all I'd have to worry about is new brake levers, I think. I'm definitely leaning towards changing to drops. I just feel goofy really cranking on something with flat handlebars, you know? Probably absurd, but...

According to what I see in the picture, the shifters are neither handlebar nor downtube...

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v1...keShifters.jpg

Those are stem shifters, I think.

My vote, go with a flipped Albatross.

Jesus, you're right. I blame the booze for me not remembering my own GD bike.

It's your bike do what you like with it. It's fairly apparent that this is not a historically significant bike so modification will not impact it (not like it hasn't already been modified). I'm willing to bet that that thing started out with drop bars and was fairly low end when new.

If it were me I would take the suggestion of putting rack and fenders on it and then set some money aside for a dedicated road bike.

I like it the way it is, but who cares what other people think about it? If it's uncomfortable I'd change it, but putting a lot of money into old bike like this gets into diminishing returns I think. Either kit this guy out for commuting like other have said, or save up for a road bike.

Oh, totally. I'm under no illusion that I'm dealing with a real top-notch bike. You guys are starting to make some sense, though. Maybe I will use this for bombing around the city and getting to work and save my pennies this winter so I can get a "real" road bike for longer rides come springtime.

Putting clipless pedals on this as is wouldn't be totally ridiculous, right? I have road shoes for spin class anyway, so I figure what the hey.

No not really. If I went clipless on the particular bike I would go with Shimano M424s so I still could wear regular tennis shoes when I so chose.:thumb:

Those are exactly the ones I was thinking of using for exactly that reason.

Well if they are on the stem, just buy some drop bars (make sure you get the right clamp size, probably 26 mm or 25.4 mm) some brake levers, and bar tape. Maybe brake cables and housings.