What To Expect When You Go From Flat Bar to Drops

Going from a flat bar bike to a drop bar bike (the one with the curved handlebars like ram horns) can be one of the most different (yet challenging and major!) changes you can make.

Not only is your centre of gravity and weight distribution affected (you will probably notice this first!), but the shifters and brakes are also different (especially if you’re also going from a rim brake to a disc brake!).

Whether you’re completely new to cycling, or whether you’ve been riding a while and have – for whatever reason – decided to buy yourself a drop bar bike, here are a few things to expect.

1. SUPERMAN ARMS

You can expect, at first, to feel like you’re in Superman position with your arms out in front of you! Of course, you shouldn’t feel as if your arms are so far out in front of you that you can’t control the bike or balance while pedalling, but you will feel a noticeable difference in the way your upper body is positioned.

I remember the first time I rode on my drop bar road bike, I felt so weirded out! Like, where are my brakes and how do I change gears?!

A top tip is to always ensure you are fitted to your bike correctly as you are meant to be leaning forward from the hips, but if your bike is too long for you, your hands will too outstretched and it will make it difficult to indicate or even drink out of your bottle without feeling unstable.

2. FEEL FASTER!

If you are on a flat bar bike and wonder why road bikes speed past you a lot, it isn’t necessarily that you aren’t as fit or strong as them. In fact, many times newbies on a drop bar bike are surprised by how fast they can move along.

Flat bar bikes simply have a different geometry which creates more drag and wind resistance for the rider and often have different gear ratios which make them slower than road bikes. Trust us, you will “get it” as soon as you try a drop bar bike!

3. RIDING IN CLOSER QUARTERS

When getting used to all of these new things, the last thing you want is to be crowded, trapped or under pressure. It’s just like trying anything new. Remember when you learned to drive a manual car? Hill starts and using the hand brake? There’s always a period of time when you are a bit freaked out by it all.

When you transition from a flat bar bike to a drop bar bike, its completely natural to feel a bit more anxious of riders around you… especially because with your arms tucked more closely at your side, instead of elbows flaring out to the sides, you’ll actually find you’re capable of riding much more closely side by side with other riders than before.

A lot of road bike group rides will say that ‘flat bar bikes not allowed’. This isn’t a judgement on your fitness,bike or ability, it’s for safety reasons. If all bikes are the same, each rider can ride behind the other in a tighter formation making it easier to navigate traffic. We recommend getting used to your road bike on bike paths and/or velodromes prior to joining group or bunch rides… especially if you are learning to clip in at the same time.

4. YOU CAN EXPECT CLIMBING TO BE EASIER!

Again, due to the different geometry and other characteristics of flat bar vs drop bar bikes, climbing is going to feel a whole bunch easier. If, however, climbing feels like a real struggle and you can’t even get your legs spinning around, you may be in need of a different gear ratio which is right for your current level of fitness.

WHAT THE HELL IS A GEAR RATIO?

Put simply, it’s the gear range you achieve through the combination of your cassette (the ones at the back) and the chainrings (the ones at the front). As you know, when you are riding along on the flat, you can click up and down the gears to make things easier or more difficult to pedal depending on the terrain.

When you are climbing, you are mostly restricted to the ‘easy’ gears – larger cogs at the back and the smaller at the front. But what happens when you run out of gears and you simply can’t push any harder?

Check out our Climb Like a Mountain Goat E-Book for more on gear ratio.

5. GEAR SHIFTERS ARE IN A DIFFERENT PLACE

Many, if not most, flat bar bikes have shifters that are below the handelbar grip that you use your thumb to click up or down (below right). Others may use twist shifters (such as many city bikes, below centre) and some older models may even still have shifters on the downtube (below left)!

When switching to a drop bar bike, you will suddenly find that the shifters appear to be... missing?! When, in fact, they're tucked seamlessly behind the brakes (which we will come to next). On most, these shifters are on both the left and right side and take some getting used to (and remembering which one makes it easier or harder to pedal!).

My first drop bar bike was so confusing! I had NO IDEA where to change gears. It took a bit of practice to sweep up and down the gears comfortably AND remember to shift the front chainring to avoid crossover as well.

6. BRAKES ARE DIFFERENT TOO

Once you have discovered the location of the shifters, you'll have also discovered the brakes because they are the same lever - but instead of sweeping sideways to change gear, you pull the whole lever toward you to engage the brakes.

Fair warning, if your current bike has rim brakes (ie a  brake pad that grips onto the rim of the wheel to slow you down), you will definitely notice a difference with disc brakes, which most bikes now have these days. 

Disc brakes will give you consistency in braking (even in inclement conditions) and much more control over just how much brake force you are applying. This means you’re actually able to brake “a little bit” without losing so much momentum that you can’t quickly accelerate if you need to. It also means that it's easy to grab a big handful of brakes accidentally if you're used to having to apply a forceful squeeze on your rim brakes.

The moral of the story here is: make sure you practice a little with the brakes before doing your first alpine descent!