Flat bars or dropped on a Raven

[stutho]

This is now a very old thread but I thought I would add my 2p.
[rant mode on]
It bothers me that some people are choosing a flat bar not due to ergonomics but the aesthetics.  Yes I do realise that the Rohloff does not look 'right' with drops.  Yes I think that the ergonomics of changing gear is better with a flat bar.  However the overall ergonomics (at least for me) of a drop bar is far superior.  I find drops more comfortable, much better for climbing and more aerodynamic than flat bars.

There are times that I (personally) would go for a flat bar. If the bike was going to spend the majority of it life off-road I would want the increased leverage and faster gear change of a flat bar.  Alternatively if I was regularly commuting through heavy traffic a head up position and increased visibility would switch me to a flat bar.

To those that are happier on flat bars anyway then all this doesn’t apply. BUT if you would normally be happier on drops than a flat then I would think very carefully before switching to a flat just because the Rohloff prefers it.  I believe your riding position in more important that the fastest possible gear change or the ‘look’ of the bike.
[rant mode off]

For those that are considering drops a piece of advice Dia-Compe 287v brake levers are dreadful I wish there were an alternate lever for V brakes.  I haven’t tried a travel agent but I have also heard bad things about them.  My advice is to go with cantilever instead.  (If anyone from Shimano or Avid read this please tell you design department to design a drop brake lever for V brakes they will have at least one sale!)  

[stutho]

John this email isn't aimed at you however 2 questions

• If there was an integrated Rohloff shifter would you then want drops?
• If there were no such thing as integrated / bar end shifters  and we were all still using shifters on the down tube OR grip shifters would you then want you Nomad to use a grip shift?
 

To me it seams strange to specify a bike on the basis of the best shifter position rather than the best riding position.

Caveats worth mentioning.  I own a Raven Sport Tour (NOT the same as your Raven Tour). I don’t know if you are athletic or not but I defiantly like to get myself up to sweat every time I cycle.   If the pace was slower I am not sure the bar would matter so much.

Final It doesn’t matter what you or I say (or think is best) as long as any newbie think carefully about their decision then I am happy.

[Steve Lord]

I'm the OP on this thread, I just looked at my original post - I should have gone with my instincts and stuck with drops, sad to say, though my dissatisfaction with the flat bar setup only emerged on a long tour in East Tibet - comfort becomes almost the ONLY thing when you do 8-10 hour days in hard conditions like that. Around town, the Raven's been great, of course, and I had no complaints on an earlier tour in summer holiday conditions on Germany's Baltic coast. But grinding up long passes in China, I spent far too much time in the noisy lower gears of the Rohloff.

At this point I don't know whether to shell out for a cheaper drop bar bike such as Dawes' Ultra/Super/bog-standard Galaxy in addition, or part company with the Raven to fund that. I think my days of touring off-road are close to an end, so I would like to go back to that smooth drop bar touring bike feeling rather than the 'expedition' bike I opted for.

[stutho]

Hi Steve - are you sure you couldn't convert your Raven to drops?  I believe freddered did just, that with mixed results, maybe you should PM him.  I know the shifter location is a particular problem when you do this conversion, as the normal accessory bar will put the shifter to far forward.  Solutions would be either the hubbub bar end shifter or my unconventional approach of using a Minoura space grip.  
It may also be worth speaking to SJSC about 'upgrading' your frame.  SJSC are normally very reasonable about such request and it might well be a lot cheaper than you think especially if you are prepared to do the strip down and re build yourself.  It would also give you the opportunity to switch to the Raven Sport Tour if your interests have now move away from off-road / heavyweight touring.

All the best,
Stuart

[Steve Lord]

Thanks for that. THere are a few other things I'd also have to do (sorry this is a bit OT) - switch to a saddle that lays back further- the B17 just didn't work out this time around. I'd try a Specialized BG - it worked for me on my last bike. And the stem needs to be swapped for something shorter. But also, going further OT now, I rather miss 700c too. That's indeed another story, but I think for taller people and of course road tourers, those wheels make lots of sense. I'm not faulting the Raven, just my thought process in choosing it.

John's Audax also looks a great choice- I see he solved it by buying both types of bike!

[Swislon]

I think its horses for courses. I have yet to have any experience on a Raven, RST due this Saturday. If I was just road riding, audax or touring I would want drops. If there wasn't a more elegant solution than current (functionally elegant) I wouldn't go for a Rohloff. I might not even go for a Rohloff even if there was a suitable shifter.
But I am hoping the RST is perfect for my intended use and for that I want straight bars. We have taken our tandem on bridleways etc, it has drops, and to be honest it is hard work keeping the hands on the hoods, close to the brakes. I'm alot more tired when I get back. On the road though it is brilliant.
So for me it is intended usage and the best riding position for that usage.

[goosander]

I did consider getting drops for my RST as I can appreciate the benefit of multiple hand positions, but having never actually owned a drop bar bike before so I ended up sticking to what I know and got flat bars.

Now that my RST has arrived and I have had a chance to ride it a bit, it strikes me that the need to move your hand to change gear on a drop bars is not really any different to flat bars, just that you need to move it a bit further.  Although the rohloff shifter is at hand on flat bars, it isn't quite as at hand as with deraillieur shifters.

On my old bike which has gripshifters, the shifters are only slightly larger in diameter than the main part of the grips so it was natural to ride with your hands on the shifters at all times.  This meant there was no need to change hand position to change gear (and the same is true of MTB thumb shifters).

My RST has ergon grips which have a more defined hand position that conventional grips, which coupled with the fact that the rohloff shifter's larger diameter and triangular shape does not lend itself to being used as a grip means that I have to make a definite hand movement of an inch or so to change gear.

I'm somewhat tempted to fit a cheap set of drops and bar end shifters to my old bike just to see how I get on with them, and if I like them I might change the RST to drops.