Ollie: For many people who are considering buying their first bike, they're often faced
with the choice of either a flat bar, like that, or drop bars like this. A flat bar often
feels like the obvious choice, whereas drops feel like they're just for serious races.
Si: Question is though, are you a disadvantage if you have a flat handlebar? Can you go as
fast? We are going to find out. [Music]
Si: Ollie. Ollie: Holy smokes. That's not a hybrid, that's
actually cool. Si: Yes, hasn't it covered well? Just like
the bike that Ollie's on, it is an Orbea Orca, just with a few key modifications, one of
which, crucially, is a flat handlebar. Now, as I said, both of these bikes share the same
Orbea Orca frame, so it's identical in terms of geometry. It is a road bike, but actually,
that's often the case with entry-level hybrid and road bikes as well. They can share the
same frameset. The difference is that the hybrid version has the flat handlebar.
What that means to you as a rider, is the bike is a little bit shorter and often a little
bit taller, so it puts you in a more upright and potentially more comfortable position.
It also perhaps gives you a little bit more confidence on the bike, partly because you
can see where you're going without having to resort to looking through your eyebrows.
Then lastly, that wider handlebar can often give you a feeling of greater control as well.
What you may like though is outright speed, although, that is, of course, what we're here
to find out. Ollie: By comparison, the drop handlebar has
been the choice of races since around the 1920s having been invented by none other than
Percy Stenton from Ardwick, Manchester. The big advantage is that it offers three main
different hand positions. This is great when riding on long rides because it means you
can still keep comfortable by changing up your hand position from time to time, but
also those three positions have distinct advantages. Being in the drops allows you to lower your
center of gravity. It's great for getting more aerodynamic on the bike when you want
to ride fast and maintaining control on descents and in corners, riding on the tops, is great
for climbing because it allows you to sit up a bit more and open your chest, and riding
on the hoods is just great for pretty much everything else.
Si: Of course, every road racer on the planet uses drop handlebars, but when you look at
them they are weird, aren't they? Ollie: Yes, I guess they are but they're comfortable,
very comfortable. Si: They are comfortable, I'll give you that.
Ollie: The big thing is you what's going to be fastest in our race.
Si: Where's your money? Ollie: Controversially, I think it's going
to be quite close. I don't think it's going to be much in it. I think this will be slightly
faster, but I don't think there's going to be much in it.
Si: That is controversial. I think that road set up we're going to win hands down. Much
as I love the streetfighter look, that's the faster bike.
Ollie: Let's see. We're going to run an eight-kilometer time trial and see which bike is faster. Simple
race, fastest time wins. Let's do it. Si: All right, Ollie, you ready for this?
Ollie: Yes. Si: Enjoy it. It is a fantastic day for a
bicycle ride. Ollie: Beautiful weather.
Si: Yes, okay. I'll count you in. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
[Music] I've got to say I'm so excited about this.
I love the look of this bike. I'm not sure whether it's just because as a kid I dreamt
of mountain bikes and this looks faintly reminiscent of a '90s mountain bike, but just a heck of
a lot cooler. I don't think it's just me actually, our mechanic Peter, whose forearms incidentally
look strangely like mine, when he was building up this bike, he was raving about it. He had
a huge amount of fun and he too likes the look of it. Make sure you let us know what
you think as well. We'll put a poll in the app, but this video is, of course, not about
how cool this bike looks, but how fast it goes. I better put it to the test. All right,
let's do it. [Music]
I'm trying to tuck my elbows in as best I can, but riding fast into a headwind is definitely
not what hybrids are made for. [Music]
Ollie: Drops are good for sprinting out the corner as well, getting some nice sleeve ridge
but staying low. [Music]
This is the finish and we're done. [Music]
How's that? Si: My arms hurt. I know I don't have the
biggest strongest arms in the world, but having them bent like that. My arms hurt more than
my legs. It's a lot of fun, that slightly minging lane that's covered in crap and water,
it felt like I was riding a mountain bike. I absolutely hooned it down there. How is
it on that? Ollie: Well, it's a road bike and we are riding
on the road, so it felt pretty good. I was pretty at home with it, but interesting, the
comparison between what you're saying about your arms getting tired, on the drop bar like
this, if your arms do get tired in one position, the beauty of it is you can just change position
and then your arms feel all right again. That's good, but I'm intrigued to try that because
of what you're saying. There is that horrible little technical gnarly section that's covered
in crap on the road and, yes, the wider bar, I want to see how that feels.
Si: I reckon it'll put a grin on your face, Ollie. Anyway, let's change some pedals. Knock
yourself out. Enjoy it. Ollie: Let's do it. Well, hopefully, I don't
do that. Si: No, sorry. Don't knock yourself out. Don't
break a leg either. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.
[music] Ollie: What Si hasn't factored in is that
I'm going to be a bit unorthodox and hold on to these bars like this. This is what you
see cross-country mountain bikers do in order to try and get more aerodynamics. I'm almost
in a time-trial position doing this by making my body much smaller. Yes, it's not as comfortable
as a drop bar bike, but you can still get aero if you need to.
[Music] Si: Effort number 2, 12 minutes something
of pain. I might not look it, but I feel like a torpedo in comparison.
[music] Ollie: Now, it's on this tight and twisty
lane on our test loop that with the technical things I've got to avoid on the road and the
little twisty corners, but having the nice flat bar should be advantageous.
[Music] Si: Never gets easier, you just go faster,
isn't that what they say? Right, Ollie, is a street fighter the future of road cycling?
Ollie: No. I'm not going to dismiss it. It's its own thing. I just was amazed at how much
fun this was to ride and the added stability you get from a wider bar is noticeable over
a standard narrower road drop bar. Si: Yes. I'd agree with that actually. This
stepping back onto this is like coming home. It is my bike, I put a lot of time into it.
I didn't really feel like I wasn't confident going down the technical stuff, but it just
feels so much, I don't know, it just feels nicer, doesn't it? When you're batting along
as fast as you possibly can, but we will go back to the studio before we crunch our data.
Let's not beat around the bush. It's absolutely minging out here.
Ollie: Oh god. Let's get in. Let's get a brew. We're back in the warmth and safety of GCN
megabase and we've got the results. Si: Yes, we do. Can I just say, first, Ollie
you have scrubbed up remarkably well. I still feel like I've got half the road in my eyes
but you look remarkable. Anyway, the results. Can I go first?
Ollie: Go for it. Si: I was 55 seconds faster on the road bike.
I'll be honest that hasn't taken me by surprise. I felt faster, particularly going out into
the headwind section where my body was just a little bit narrower. It's mainly just tucking
those arms in. What about you? Ollie: I was 58 seconds faster-
Si: Wow, so even faster. Ollie: - on the hybrid bike. I was swinging
the opposite direction. Si: What?
Ollie: Yes. I know that may sound as a shock, but I did cheat a little bit.
Si: You took that shortcut on that [unintelligible 00:10:19]
Ollie: I did take a shortcut, but I tried on the straighter, faster sections, I was
occupying an aero-tuck position on the hybrid bike by holding on next to the stand and getting
really narrow and aero. It made me a lot faster. Si: Sneaky.
Ollie: The reason why I did this was because I wanted to investigate but also potentially
illustrate, which it has done, that in terms of making yourself more aerodynamic and therefore
going faster for the same effort, the biggest impact, the bigger factor in that is not the
bike, it's you and your body position. Si: Absolutely, because in of themselves,
the bikes are fairly evenly matched, aren't they? In fact, the streetfighter has marginally
deeper wheels because they look really cool, but actually, the bikes themselves is the
fact that the flat handlebar puts you in a wide arm position which acts like a scoop,
doesn't it? An air brake. Ollie: Yes. If you were to ride them as they
are intended in the natural ergonomic position, yes, the sitting more slightly upright into
the wind and wider with your arms, is much, much slower on the hybrid bike than the position
on the road bike. We have to add the caveat, getting into that position that I was in,
I was contorting myself. It's not comfortable. It certainly isn't sustainable for me and
probably a lot of other people for a long period of time, and it's much less stable.
You have far less control holding onto the handlebars in that way.
Si: It's basically not safe, is what you're saying. What you could do if you have a flat
bar bike and you want to go as fast as possible, you could get a set of clip-on Aero bars,
couldn't you? That mount near the stem and that put you in that position, but actually
gives you something solid to hold on to. Ollie: Yes. It's a very good point. You could
do. Si: If you can't afford a drop-bar road bike,
you've got a flat bar road bike, then that is a very, very good shortcut to going as
fast as you possibly can, isn't it? What I would just like to say, Ollie, as well is
that if I were to buy a bike for buzzing around town as fast as possible, looking as cool
as possible and doing skids, I would definitely, definitely build up a streetfighter bike because
I think it's great. Ollie: I think it's proper cool. I really
like it and it is fun to ride. Si: There we go. Not only today have we done
a little bit of science, we've also looked as cool as we possibly can Ollie.
Ollie: I've-- [sighs] Si: Job well done. If you've enjoyed this
video, please give it a big thumbs up. [00:12:41] [END OF AUDIO]