HybridTourerFlatBarRacer sort of bike help required..?

[mow]

Having ridden my old Dawes hybrid for around 1500 miles with great comfort but poor pace I felt it was time to get back into drop bars. (a previous Dawes galaxy owner in my youth)
So I splashed out on a Ribble Audax road bike and realised within days it was too small for me and became uncomfortable after a few miles with all that bending over stuff although it was fast and nice to ride at first.

So now both bikes have been sold on Ebay here's the decision to be made...

Do I go for a faster lighter higher spec hybrid for example Hybrid 1 or Hybrid 2
Or a flat bar racer for example Flat bar 1 or Flat bar 2
Or a lightweight tourer like Tifosi (fav looking) or Ridgeback although I beleive I should be looking at steel rather than alloy for these?
Or last thought was to find an old Galaxy or such like and put some shiny new bits on it.

Or is their something else I should consider (foreign makes or alternative uk manufacturers or different style)...?

Thanks mow (no wheels)

 

[hotmetal]

Well, if you originally liked the sportiness of the Ribble but got the wrong size, you could do worse than check out a Specialized Secteur, which is quick but not extreme geometry as it's designed for longer rides. They come in various price points roughly where you seem to be at and are quite nice looking (subjective I know). The Secteur Sport in white with a carbon fork is under 10kg and £650. How important are mudguards and pannier braze-ons for what you intend to do with the Tifosi?

 

[mow]

How important are mudguards and pannier braze-ons for what you intend to do with the Tifosi?

I suppose not essential, I'd like to think I would be an all weather cyclist hence the mudguards and like the flexibility of fitting a larger bag hence the rack mounts. But in all honesty that would probably be 5% of it's use with 95% being sunny Sundays or long weekends with only my wallet to carry for pub lunches..!

I am worried about going "backwards" to another hybrid style bike so will probably focus on the so called flat bar racers or light tourers for now.

Thanks for the link though I'll take a look at it.

Mow

 

[rich p]

What sort of riding are you going to do? Will you be doing loaded touring?

 

[2Loose]

I suppose not essential, I'd like to think I would be an all weather cyclist hence the mudguards and like the flexibility of fitting a larger bag hence the rack mounts. But in all honesty that would probably be 5% of it's use with 95% being sunny Sundays or long weekends with only my wallet to carry for pub lunches..!

I do love the look and practicality of the Tifosi CK7. Pretty fast with a wide spread of gears should see it able to climb any hills fairly easily, plus guards and rack mounts make it very versatile indeed. I would imagine that it would make a pretty good Audax bike as well.

Do get guards, it would mean that the bike is more likely to be used weather that is not sunny - ie. the other half the year (optimistic ).

 

[mow]

What sort of riding are you going to do? Will you be doing loaded touring?

The nearest I've come in years to loaded touring was a long weekend as mentioned before with a tube some tools and a wallet!

That doesn't though rule out more in the future... To be honest though I'm considering the rack mounts to allow a bigger choice of day bags for cameras etc

 

[mow]

I think i'm settled on a tourer style more relaxed bike, just which one...

Anyone got any better or different ideas than the Tifosi from your far reaching experiences...