Flat Bar Vs Drop Bar Road Bikes | Comfort, Speed & Ease

If you're wanting to get into cycling, then you may be wondering what kind of bike you should get and what is going to best suit your needs. In particular, a drop bar bike like I'm riding or a flat bar bike like James has got there. In this video, we are going to go through the differences between the two. We're also going to go through some experiments so you can make an informed decision about which one to get. To do this, we've got two bikes from our partner Orbea. They're both nice vector models. The first thing we're going to highlight is the difference in position between a drop bar bike and a flat bar bike. To do this, we're going to do some extremely high-tech special effects to show you the difference in position. As you can see, the flat bar bike puts you in a more upright position. This can be more comfortable for beginners because it requires less flexibility. It can also be more conducive to riding with a longer and lower at the front. This is more aerodynamic, meaning that you should be able to go faster for the same amount of effort. It does require more flexibility though, but it also helps lower your center of gravity to help cornering. Right, should we go and do it, mate? The drop bar offers three different hand positions, the hoods, the drops, and the tops. Most riders spend most of their time on the hoods, but the drops are used for getting more low and more aerodynamic and is also good for sprinting and descending as your hands feel more secure and tend not to bounce out, whereas the tops are used as a change of hand position as it can be more comfortable and more upright. To assess the relative merits of the two bar types, we've devised some incredibly high-tech and sophisticated experiments. We have. Right, experiment one. For this experiment, we're going to try and assess the difference in aerodynamics and therefore speed you can travel for the same effort on the two different handlebar types. To do this, we're going to ride down this two-kilometer section of road as fast as we can on both bikes, and then we'll see which one we did it in the quickest timing. Sounds like a good experiment, mate. I reckon let's do it. Let's do it. Here we go. Three, two, one, go. 2K is a lot longer than I thought. Already, I can feel much wider, much less aero. All I want to do is get low. Three, two, one. Yes, it's fine, yes. How about you? I mean, all efforts are hard, aren't they? What did you find the position? Yes, I felt nice. This has got a 40-centimeter bar in it. I can get nice and aero and narrow. I struggled. My body was just telling me just to try and get lower. Going quick didn't feel nice, to be quite honest. Let me try that bike and- Yes, let's swap. See how we get on. Let's swap. Go. Straight away, it feels more comfortable at high speeds. You can get in this low, narrow, aerodynamic position. I've got the results here on my phone. I did the drop bar bike in 2 minutes, 49 seconds at an average speed of 43 kilometers an hour. Not bad. Your drop bar run, you've beaten me. You did it in 2.41 with an average of 45 kilometers an hour. All right, mate, that's good. Then on the flat bar bike, I did that in 3 minutes 10, so about 20 seconds slower almost. That was an average of 37 kilometers an hour. You did it in 3.04, which was an average of 39 kilometers an hour, so you beat me again. By like six seconds. But that's because I held you up at the- Yes, I think that's definitely going to play a little bit of a part. Yes, that's why. That's definitely why. As you can see from the results, the drop bar was definitely fastest for both of us, but that's to be expected as the drop bar allows you to be in a much more lower and more aerodynamic position. Going fast might not be the priority for you, but if it is, then the drop bar is the winner. The drop bar bike's great because the three different hand positions offer really awesome versatility. If you're thinking about doing longer rides or perhaps even your first sportive, then if your wrists, hands, or arms start to get a little bit tired, you can get relief and comfortable again by just changing your hand position. It's funny you say that because the flat bar does only offer one hand position, but it's actually really good for short, more urban rides. Because it's shorter, wider, so it's more comfortable, and it's more stable. It's really good for weaving in and out of traffic. It's really good for nimble riding, really. Yes. Do you know what, Ry? I think we need to do another experiment to assess the nimble steering of the flat bar versus the drop bar. Ollie, I think that's a really good idea. I think we should call it the agility challenge. Yes, the agility test. It's like crufts on bikes. Experiment two. Experiment two is the agility test. Me and James are both going to ride at speed through this slalom of cones. Fitted to each cone is a high-tech and highly sophisticated hit detection mechanism. We really have spared no expense in creating this experiment. We're both going to ride through the slalom course, round that mini roundabout, and back through. The start and finish is here. We're going to time each other on both of the bikes, and the fastest time is the winner. You incur a five-second penalty for every egg or hit detection device that you hit. Let's get on with it. I'll time you. You ready to go? Yes, I'm ready. Flat bar bike. James, three, two- I'm nervous. One, go. Right, I'm clipped in. Taking it slow, little slow. Through, I'm through. Round the roundabout. Oh, no. Off balance. There we go. Clean run, 17 seconds. Now it's Ollie's turn. He's adopted the drop bar bike. You're all ready, Ollie? Yes. All right. Four, three, two, one, go. 14, 15, 16, 17, 18. Oh, egg down. Oh, he missed that one. Stop with a time of 22 seconds. James up now on the drop bars. Will you count down? Three, two, one, go. And go. Oh, no. He's not clipped in. Oh, oh, oh, oh. Oh, I've lost a few eggs there, so it's made it a little easier. Ouch. You haven't even gotten to the gate. Oh, I hit that one as well. Right, 20 seconds of time penalties. 43 seconds. Nice. Oh, oh, no. Through the first corner, through it nice and clean. Nice little balance there. Through the tight one, back through, and he stops in a time of 23 seconds. I think next time I have to race through eggs, I'm going to go flat bar. Yes. There you have it. Agility challenge done. Completed it, mate. So now time for experiment three. Finally, we're going to look at stability and the balance of each bike. Now, this is actually how NASA tests bikes. It's that accurate. Seriously accurate. So we're going to try on these beams to ride across them without falling off. That's right. The wooden beams of death. He's over it cleanly. Now it's where the difficult bit, lining up the bike. Oh, no. Just bails on that second beam. One more try, mate. Here we go. Last up. The first beam, done cleanly. Lousy Williams up next on the wide flat bar bike. Oh, I bailed it. It's tough, man. It's tough. Oh, man. That was hard. Yeah. That was rubbish. All that's proven to me so far is that my bike handling doesn't work. So now we've swapped bikes and we are going to, I mean, you're going to have a go on the flat bar and I'm going to have a go on the drop bar. Yeah. Hopefully that'll be easier than what I just did. Well, let's see how you get on. Do you want to go first? No. Right. He's over the first beam. It's the second one. That's the difficult one. It's balancing the bike, trying to straighten up for the second beam. Oh, second attempt. Over the first beam, nice and easy. On to the difficult part. Last attempt. Over the first beam. Straighten up the bike. He's going quick. Oh, so close. Right. Now it's my turn to have a go on the drop bar. Yeah. Not really looking forward to this one. Good. Just a bit. Yeah. Let's see how we get on. He's up the first beam. Oh, I think it's pretty clear that we could both, especially myself, work on our bike handling skills a bit more. Even so, I wasn't able to complete the beams properly. It definitely was more stable on the flat bar. I'm not just saying that. I've definitely found that easier. I completed it just about on my third run on the flat bar. On that, it was very difficult. I managed to shin myself on the pedal as well. Yes. Definitely, if you're getting a bike for weaving through traffic, then this is definitely the bike for you. If you want a bike to ride over beams, and you've got a choice between either this bike and this bike, and they're your only option, then that one's better. There you have it. Our experiments are complete. Yes, but it is worth factoring in that if you are coming from a mountain bike background, then the flat bar might seem a lot more familiar. Yes. Also, some people can be intimidated by the look of a drop bar bike, but we'd say absolutely don't be intimidated by the look of it. If you fancy we're getting one, get one. The other thing we should stress is that there's no right or wrong answer here. We're not saying one's better than the other. Both are great. They're just different, and they have different advantages and disadvantages. And that's it. If you have enjoyed this video, then please give us a thumbs up. If you have got some friends that are new to cycling, then why don't you share it with them? Yes. If you're looking for another video to watch, then why not click here for a video on how to use clipless pedals?