drop bars will be found on most of the more expensive bikes, as they’re best for going faster as you keep down out of the wind… But we’re talking 2-300,000 NTD here, and that’s not at all what you want! unless you ride for more than an hour drop bars are more of a chore to get used to, and many feel uncomfortable crouched over until they’re much more experienced. Plus, changing gears and braking are harder on the hands until you get stronger hands. Flat bar bikes are much more usable for a novice rider, though they do lack to ability to change hand positions one gets with drop bars, handy for long rides so you get less tired in the hands and shoulders.
the kind of gear change levers that one finds on a MTB will also be found on flat bar road bikes (though not necessarily interchangeable due to differences in the mechanics of the gear change devices themselves). They are much easier to come to grips with than the modern combined brake/gear changers found on drop bar bikes. you can always get a different set up later, but it’s usually as expensive to swap handlebars etc as it is to buy a complete new bike, package deals being what they are.
as for the number of gears, some get by with one gear ratio only, and have no expensive and mechanically fiddly gear changers to worry about. these are called single speed bikes, for obvious reasons. a single speed bike with no ability to coast (tricky to ride at first, and originally restricted to the track though they are becoming fashionable as city bikes) are called fixed gear bikes, often with no brakes (you slow by controlling the rotation of your legs).
However, by far the majority of road and mountain bikes now come with multiple gears, and common flat bar bike combinations are 9 or 10 in the back, and 2 or sometimes 3 in the front… multiply the front number by the back number to get the final number of separate gears you can pedal in. usually 18 or 20, or 27 or 30. some of the front/back gear combinations actually overlap, so there is less variation than it seems.
got hills? got weak legs or tire fast? get three rings in the front. never have any intention of climbing hills, or have lots of power? get two rings. The actual gear ratios can be finetuned a bit by changing the group of gears on the rear wheel, known as the cassette. most people have little need for a 53 tooth front/11 tooth rear combination, as they have no interest in riding at 70 kmh, so lower ratios are more useful, especially for going uphill.
you can find a reasonable bike for about 500USD or better still a second hand one, if possible. bikes tend to lose maybe half their value in a couple of years, but a two year old bike is usually just as good as it was when it was new. Unlike computers that get out-dated fast, there isn’t really a downside to an older bike except parts availability. my favourite bike is 25 years old, and has only one gear. Perfect for the city, and I’d ride maybe 100 km on it per week.
