The thread title is "roadbike curious" not drop-bar curious. I ride a Bruce Gordon Taiwan BLT with a drop bar. It's like an original Sam Hillborne -- basically the same geometry, and a frame that weighs 2700 grams by itself. It's stiff to carry a load on rough roads. I've ridden it with road wheels and 30 mm tires and it's fast and efficient that way, but it's not a road bike. At least the geometry is made to work with drop or flat bars.
The Platypus frame is made for swept-back bars, and the stem will need to be comically short to get a reasonable riding position. I'm repeating this this photo from the between-sizes thread -- it shows the difference between drop and swept-back bars on the same bicycle. When you think that the top tube length changes maybe a couple cm between frame sizes and here the hands move forward > 10 cm to go from Northroads bars to drop, it's a big deal. cheers -mathias [image: dropvnroads.jpg] On Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 8:36:15 AM UTC-4 Johnny Alien wrote: > Yeah thats a big haul too. New wheels, cockpit, brake setup, gearing > (potentially). New road focused bike is 100% the way to go. :) > > PS: I would feel the same way about getting a bike that would then need a > cockpit overhaul automatically like that. A good deal gets to be less of > one when you have to throw down a bunch cash on top of it to get it the way > you want > > PPS: This has inspired me to get a road frame to replace the Roadini that > I was unable to build up last year. Not a Rivendell but Riv adjacent. > > PPPS: When you keep adding postscripts should you be adding extra P's the > way I did it or you you at extra S's? It seems like Post, Post, makes more > sense than Script, Script.....if that is indeed what the S stands for. Its > been years since I have been in school or actually wrote a real life letter. > > On Thursday, April 25, 2024 at 1:17:29 AM UTC-4 Joe Bernard wrote: > >> Putting myself in Leah's place to answer your question, if I had her >> plethora of Platys I would choose a new/different bike for drop bars >> because it would be more interesting. Popping drops on one of my Platys >> with wide tires and a dynohub ain't gonna do the roadie thing for me. >> >> Joe Bernard >> >> On Wednesday, April 24, 2024 at 6:39:13 PM UTC-7 ttoshi wrote: >> >>> --What if I flip the question on its head and say could I do club riding >>> with my Cheviot, and what would I gain from getting a road bike? >>> >>> I've not ridden a Platypus, but I would assume that it would be similar >>> to a Cheviot. >>> >>> If I stripped down my Cheviot, then I am confident that I would be >>> perfectly fine on club rides. I have Albastache bars, and basically use 2 >>> positions. My brake levers are on the curves up front and it is probably >>> similar to my drop bars. I have an upright position at the end of the bar >>> where the bar end shifters are. I think rides up to a century or 200k >>> would be fine. I think I might prefer a drop bar for longer rides because >>> I have more hand positions that I use (I'm sure there are more usable >>> positions on the Albastache, but I don't use them...). >>> >>> For my drop bars, I found this site to describe various hand positions: >>> https://www.roadbikerider.com/dropped-bar-hand-positions/ >>> >>> I probably use position 3 (curves of the flat front bar) for 45% of my >>> riding. 30% in position 7 in the drops and the other 20% in position 9 >>> (end of drops) and 10% on the flats or in the hoods (2,5). >>> >>> I actually don't use the hoods too much because I set up my drop bars so >>> that I am most comfortable in the drops and a bit stretched out when my >>> hands are in the hoods. >>> --I would definitely recommend TRP levers if you want to brake from the >>> drops because they are angled out to make it easy to grab when you are >>> braking from the drops. >>> >>> Aside from more hand positions with a drop bar, there would be more >>> responsive steering from the handlebar. I think that if I had a bmx setup >>> without brake or derailleur cables, then I would be able to spin my front >>> wheel 360 degrees without falling on my Cheviot. >>> >>> If I tried to spin my Roadeo front wheel 360 degrees, then I'm pretty >>> sure I'd fall flat on my face as I angled the front wheel too far to the >>> left or right. >>> >>> My Roadeo has the best handling via steering input. This responsiveness >>> to steering gives me better descending capabilities when going down curvy >>> roads. I wouldn't otherwise need the responsive steering if I didn't >>> descend hilly/mountainous roads, and would be perfectly fine going slightly >>> slower on my Cheviot. >>> >>> If I had a racing Platy/Cheviot: 1. Albastache bars to have the hand >>> position with the brakes up front to tuck down in the wind. 2. Supple >>> sidewall tires. Yes there is a greater risk of sidewall damage, but if I >>> store my bike indoors (I do) and do periodic inspection of my tires (I need >>> to do this before big rides for sure), then I am comfortable with the risk >>> benefit tradeoff. The improvement in ride quality and speed was tremendous >>> for me. 38-42 mm is ideal for me (Hetre EL or Babyshoe pass EL or parimoto >>> 38 mm are tires I have used and are wonderful). I think Jan >>> Heine/Compass/Rene Herse's research showed that 42 mm supple tires are no >>> less efficient and can be more efficient than 28 mm road tires. >>> >>> I wouldn't worry about the weight of the bike unless I was just hanging >>> on by a thread and needed to lose a pound or two to keep a margin of >>> comfort, or unless I were actually racing (I don't) and seconds might >>> really count. Besides, I know there is a certain amount of satisfaction >>> when a racing Platy keeps up with the carbon fiber pack! >>> >>> Toshi in Oakland, CA >>> >>> -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "RBW Owners Bunch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to rbw-owners-bunch+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/rbw-owners-bunch/9c295c37-4ff6-4502-9427-6e0564b90415n%40googlegroups.com.
