Drop bars and flat bars?
 

I just picked up my first hybrid/road bike last week - I bought a Trek 7.2FX (Livestrong edition) - I really like the bike. I wanted to get more into road riding but having an 8 year old son I couldn't give up the ability to go off-road as there are some parks and dirt tracks we like to ride on occasion together. My thinking was that I'd use this bike for a year or 2 and save up to get a dedicated road bike. Well, after about 40 miles on the 7.2 I'm wondering if I should have just gone the full road bike route, specifically because of some of the hills in my area. I also like the riding position with flat bars better than drop bars and having the brakes accessible that way as opposed to being lower on the drop bars. Drop bars are obviously better for the hills though and while I do have bar ends which I really like and they do help - I believe I saw on a forum that someone had drop bar attachments for flat bars - Does anyone have experience with them? Is there any version of this which incorporates an upper bar end as well as drop bars.

I'm not sure that its drop bars that help with hills. Better gearing will help, and that will be easier in hybrids than typical road bikes. Weight will help too, but that is just a factor of how much you spend. You can get really light, carbon hybrids too.

I think you want a cyclocross bike which is a road bike that can accept knobby tires. I don't really see much advantage to those clip on drop bar attachments on hybrids.

The hills will get easier the more you ride and build up your endurance, and it's not so much the bike!
If you will be using the bike on trails also, then keep the bike you have, and get another that is dedicated just for the road.
There is no such thing as too many bikes!

A company called: Origin 8 makes a set of "drop bar ends", that can attach to the end of a set of flat bars! I've not used them, I don't care for drop bars much but others have, check them out at your local LBS. :)

I saw those - Amazon has them for $20/shipped.. it might be worth it just to try it out..

Think about weight and bikes a bit more and you'll realise that it's the total weight of you plus your bike that needs to get up hills.
Let's assume a 150 lbs rider and a 25 lbs bike ... the total is: 175 lbs.
Now assume a 150 lbs rider and a 15 lbs bike ... the total is: 165 lbs.
The difference between a 25 lbs bike and a 15 lbs bike is probably $3000 ... the difference in total weight is only 6%.

Sure ... a lighter bike will help you get up hills faster ... but simply training a bit more and improving your technique will have a much bigger improvement than shelling out $1000.

thanks for the feedback, yes - $1000 is not worth the effort of avoiding training... I did get into this for fun and health - not to spend more money (which I undoubtedly will!)! My whole thinking with the drop bars was more for leverage.. I could be wrong (and I usually am) but it just seems like that lower position just makes for a stronger peddling position which helps with steeper hills.

There are mid cable connectors, that unscrew to separate the cable, with out cutting it.

three of those , 2 gear and one brake and 3 more cables, the connector uses the ball ends
for the lower section, will let you exchange the while handlebar assembly.

bars, stem,levers, the works. just build up two complete sets.

when I added bolt on drop bar ends to my hybrid it was immediately obvious that the angle of the bars caused my arm position discomfort. the ultimate solution was coverting to drop bars. my hybrid with drop bars is pretty cool and very comfortable. I used it as my main commuter year round for well over 12 months. I have a road bike now but can't bring myself to sell the roadified hybrid commuter. besides, who would buy it?

The inverse is true, though.
Look at pro races and you'll notice how riders use the tops of their handlebars when climbing.
The more upright position will in fact give you more power output and will let you use more muscles to climb.
The only thing going lower is good for is for aerodynamics, which make you faster overall but it doesn't matter that much when climbing.

That makes sense... I actually went out last night on the same hill that gave me trouble last week and just tried a different approach.. gearing (like treadtread mentioned).. That made a world of difference. The first time I was trying to power through it and wore myself out.. this time I just slowed it down and kept in a gear which allowed me to keep a constant pedal rotation...

The drop bars aren't the answer for me (which is good, I guess).. now to decide on tires.. :)