I've had my hybrid just over a month.. already want a road bike!

[PamNY]

Zen, you are one heck of a role model.

[Zen]

That can be taken two ways, you know

[TrekTheKaty]

I want to go to Zen's house

[Cataboo]

it does appear to be a short person bike paradise.

[sarahspins]

Great, now I need 5

Kidding.. hopefully swapping out bars will help me a lot

[Cataboo]

*cough* I need 4. Zen's aurora is convincing me I need a 5th though

[Geonz]

Okay, I'm also a five-bike woman (and, um, that's the starting lineup), but it took more than a few months - my addiction's been around for a few years

Still, "skinny tired" is relative. Going from 32 to 28 makes a *big* difference. I have 25's on my 7500FX - it really is basically a road bike with flat bars - but you'll want to make sure you can get those tires on the rims if you try that. (The 25's from my Xtracycle did not fit on the Gazelle wheel so I did my long tour two weeks ago with a 35 in front -- but a commuting 35 and I ended up liking it a *lot*... I get nervous on downhills but with htat fat thing in front 33 mph felt more like 20.)

I guess the question is: what is it about the road bike that you want? If it needs to be lighter *and* more aerodynamic (or more hand position options) *and* with skinnier tyres... yea, I'd say it's saving up and shopping time.

[sarahspins]

I guess the question is: what is it about the road bike that you want? If it needs to be lighter *and* more aerodynamic (or more hand position options) *and* with skinnier tyres... yea, I'd say it's saving up and shopping time.

Mostly is the extra hand positions with drop bars... being more aerodynamic and faster would be nice too, but it's not the big thing for me right now... I don't think I ride fast enough (yet) for any of that to matter a whole lot.. but I'll get there

[Cataboo]

Look on soma's website... Soma has a few different shapes/types of handlebars that will work with mountain bike shifters... I think the sparrow is one and like the urban pursuit is another. The website descriptions specifically say that they worked with mountain bike shifters (which I think is what your fx has)

If you get those type of bars, you don't have to change your brake levers & shifters and it won't be very expensive, you'll have a few different handlebar positions as well.

You can also look into butterfly or trekking handlebars, which again add positions... and don't need different shifters.

[sarahspins]

Hmmm... the sparrow looks interesting, the urban persuit says it won't work with MTB shifters/brakes though..nothing else I'm seeing on the soma website that looks promising says it will work either.

I have a stupid question though... would you use grips on the sparrow or tape it? Is that just preference? I'd probably want to tape it if my intent is to give myself more hand positions, right?

[Cataboo]

You'd want to tape it. The sparrow's a modified mustache bar. Maybe check veloorange.com for their handlebar options. I know I'd been looking into a few different ones that take mountain bike shifters, because I'd bought a set of mustache bars & been pissed that the mountain bike shifters wouldn't fit on them.

I'd been looking for alternate handlebars for my commuter - but at the end of it all, I cheaped out and just put bar ends on it to give the bike another handlebar position.

These are some trekking type bars that I put on a friend's mountain bike because she wanted the option of being more upright & more hand positions:
http://picasaweb.google.com/ImmunoGi...52083765056450

We wrapped her bars & put grips on the end. but that's personal preference. I'd just wrap the soma sparrows if you get them.

But that style of trekking handlebar rotates - so you can put those C's on the end in various different positions - Helfzig (i think... I am probably mispelling her name) has a thread on here where she put some on her bike and she put the C ends towards her on the bike... But if you put those ends so they point away from you - they give you a hand position that lets you reach forward a bit and be more aerodynamic.

You can also grip anywhere on those bars you feel like.

[sarahspins]

I think I may go with the sparrow bars since it seems the most cost-effective option... if that doesn't do enough for me I may look into other things

[Cataboo]

Let me know how you like them. It may convince me I need to spend the $30 or whatever to stick them on my commuter.

[sarahspins]

Hehe.. well it's more like $40 with shipping, but yeah, I'll definitely update when they're here.. hopefully next week

[Loraura]

Clamp on bull horns help with the hand positioning, and even a little with wind resistance as you stretch further out if they are angled outward.

I replaced my flat bar handlebars on my Giant FCR with some stoker bars. Getting the brifters on was a feat, but it was very functional.

YOu can see it hanging upside down in this pic (the red Giant):



That kept me happy for a good while. I ended up buying a drop bar road bike after about a year.