Hi-

I am looking at 3 different types of bikes for casual rides with the occasional longer ride on weekends. I live in NYC and bike mostly in central park and around the city.

I am considering:

1. Vintage Road bikes (plenty of soul plenty of supply here in the city)
2. Drop Bar Road Bikes
3. Flat Bar Road Bikes

I am pretty torn. I found a used Motobecane Cafe Century (Flat Bar) for $450 that I may pickup but Im concerned about re-sale and if thats the right choice. I've looked at a bunch of restored Vintage Roads for around $300 and have test driven them. Downtube friction shifters are pretty fun!

Any suggestions? Im NOT a hardcore biker... Just want something versatile, fun, quick.

For me, drop bars are vastly more comfortable for any riding longer than 20-30 minutes. Flat bars offer somewhat better control for hopping over curbs and similar obstacles. I wouldn't miss a flat bar bike if I didn't have one.

Yeah mate get a drop bar. I no longer ride my flat bar. Nothing like the feeling of being in the drops down a winding decent.

The advantage of drop bars is that they provide a lot of different places to put your hands. Changing your hand position reduces fatigue in your arms, your back, your sit bones, etc. When you're battling into the wind, they provide opportunities to "get low".

Note, of all the myriad hand positions that drop bars offer, only two of those positions give you quick access to the brakes. Riding in NYC, that may (or may not be?) a big deal for you.

Some people find drop bars uncomfortable. Drop bars are more sensitive to proper bike positioning than other handle bar styles are. If you can't comfortable reach a lot of the positions that drop bars offer, than they don't do you much good.

I'm used to riding drop bar road bikes; my hands just naturally move around on the bars through various positions. I'd feel lost if I couldn't do that, and I feel that many on these forums would say the same thing.

So it comes down to you: are you willing to spend some time in getting your position on the bike comfortable in all the manners that drop bars provide? Are you planning on long-enough rides that switching hand positions becomes necessary?

Remember, flat-bar road bikes were invented for a reason; not everybody likes drop bars.

You can get a flat-bar bike with bar ends. They will give you some variety in hand position, which will help tremendously on longer rides. You kind of have to try it for yourself. It's hard to say with anyone who's not ridden for a long time what he will prefer. With more time on the saddle it will become more clear what you like and don't like.

Test ride both types of bars as long as you can. I lean toward drops for the wind fighting ability. It's 1 free mph.

I don't own any flat bar bikes, outside of my off-road mountain bike. I ride road bars, and really like riding my only downtube shifting bike. Rode it ~60 miles this weekend. But...

If I were a city rider, I would choose a flat bar with modern integrated shift/brake levers. Upright position and ease of controls would be my dominant criteria. If I were to choose the drop bar, I'd still shy away from downtube shifting. Having a hand off the bars doesn't sound wise to me. Anything can happen in your environment.

The compromise might be a cyclocross bike with wider tires and STI shifting. If it were me, I'd probably go whole hog and get the disc brake option. That way, it'd be all weather, could handle poor road surfaces, and could haul gear on a rear rack. My two centavos...

As you're looking something versitile, fun, and quick, it sounds to me like a flat bar bike might suit you. I find my hybrid comfortable for rides up to 2 hours, and any longer I would definitely want to use my road bike. But for the times I'm commuting or just riding around, or on gravel or roads that are slightly rough, I really like my flat bar bike and I don't mind that it's a little slower.

I ride an inexpensive drop bar road bike with a pretty aggressive posture (handlebars several inches below seat). I've ridden it on group rides up to 2 hours. Longer would probably be pushing it. I also did not like having only one hand position, so I quickly got some ergon grips with bar ends, AND some clip-on aero bars (not for use in groups!). I now have many grip options:
-Grips - Max control for braking an shifting
-Bar ends - most comfortable for long-term cruising
-Down on aero bars - Max speed, least wind resistance
-hands on elbow pads of aero bars - most upright for recovery, ease of breathing.

All that said, I'm looking for a new drop-bar road bike. I used to have an old vintage motobecane with only one brake and only a front working derailler. I liked it, but was convinced by my wife I needed something safer. If I had it to do over again, I would have kept it and rehabed it.

I don't think you can go wrong either way. It's going to boil down to a matter of personal preference for drop bar vs. flat bar. There's no right or wrong answer here. For the prices you are talking about, I don't think you should worry about resale. Find a bike that you really like, ride the hell out of it, and forget about what you can get for it on CL.