Converting flats to drops?

[Comacchio]

Is it possible to convert my current hybrid from a flat bar to drops? If so what sort of ball park am I in £££ ? Getting really sore wrists on longer rides and reckon the extra positions available on drops would help me out. It's a 2019 Merida Speeder 300 with SRAM Apex 11 speed groupset with Shimano BR MT200 hydraulic brakes.

I suspect the answer is 'not cheaply' or a flat 'no' but I'm nowhere near even competent on this stuff yet. Pictures below for pictures sake..













Cheers,

[magpie215]

Set of ergo grips with bar ends is another solution.

[magpie215]

Something like this

[woots787]

Those grips are exactly what I did and it helped loads. Also consider bars with more sweep. Generally drop bar bikes tend to have shorter top tubes for a given size than flat bar. Plus hydraulic drop bar brake/shifters are so expensive you'd be as well putting the cash into swapping for a road bike.

[Tall_Paul]

Yep, your main cost will be in a set of hydro drop bar brake/shifters.

You're looking at about £350 for a set of hydro Apex 1 drop bar shifters and brakes (you'll need sram post mount calipers to replace your shimano ones), plus a bar & bar tape, and new mech cables - so probably £400 at the very cheapest.

Looks like that's half the RRP of the bike.

[gangzoom]

I've looked at this before, it's too expensive to justify. Instead I've just ordered some £15 clip on aero bars for my hybrid.

[Evanivitch]

You could swap to a butterfly/multibar handlebar, they're quite commonly used by adventure/bikepacking riders as you can shift to all sort of hand positions.

[mikeiow]

Evanivitch said:

You could swap to a butterfly/multibar handlebar, they're quite commonly used by adventure/bikepacking riders as you can shift to all sort of hand positions.

I think converting to full drops would be. A big expense.
I’ve considered these butterfly bars myself.....not so sure how well it would go. Anyone use them?

[Evanivitch]

mikeiow said:

I think converting to full drops would be. A big expense.
I’ve considered these butterfly bars myself.....not so sure how well it would go. Anyone use them?

I've not used them myself, I straight-bar'd 2000 miles, admiring all those that had extra hand places...

[dontlookdown]

Bar ends are what you want. More hand positions but keep the same bars. I have them on my flat bar bike and there is not much in purely wrist/hand comfort between them and drops.

[Barchettaman]

https://cycletraveloverload.com/best-swept-back-ha...