Hey, friends. I just bought my first road bike a few weeks ago

You'll need brifters

>>1028646
Elaborate?

>>1028646
I understand ill need different brakes/shifting mechanism. But is it easy as disconnecting and reconnecting cables when switching between bars?

>>1028681
Your triple chainset won't work with most STI shifters, your v brakes won't work with STI shifters (road brakes pull a different amount of cable), if you have a 10 speed mtb rear mech it won't work with STI shifters, the geometary of your bike won't be suited to drop bars, you'll definately want to recable the bike (new shimano shifters and most brake levers do come with cables though)

If you went bar end shifters instead of STIs, the friction front shifting would work with your triple crank, and then you could also go V brake compatible road brake levers.

Ultimately, if your bike is 'running like new' then you probably shouldn't fuck with that.

>>1028695
Thanks for the advice! Ill just keep her the way she is, then.

Second question if you dont mind. Any recommending clothing for riding? I.e. specific brands, layering, etc.

>>1028702
whatever keeps your body heat in a reasonable range and won't get fucked up in the gears and chain

>>1028678
Since people are throwing a lot of jargon at you:

Your bike has V-brakes, which are more generally found on mountain bikes - rarely, if ever, on bikes designed for dropbars.

V-brakes are designed for "long pull" brake levers. Road calipers are designed for "short pull" brake levers. So pretty much every modern drop-bar brake lever with shifters integrated (Variously called "brifters" or "STI levers", which stands for Shimano Total Integration) will not work with your brakes.

If you want to go the brifter route, either Mini-V brakes or Cantilever brakes will mount to the brake studs on your frame and fork, and are both designed to work with short-pull levers.

However, you will probably have trouble with brifters and your derailleurs. I'm not as up to speed on SRAM compatibility, but with Shimano, the cable pull ratio is the same on all rear derailleurs from the 6-speed era straight up through the 10-speed era (exceptions: 10-spd mountain bike stuff, and pre-96 (8-speed and earlier) Dura Ace). So, for example, you could pair up an Ultegra 6400 8-speed STI lever with a much newer 9-speed rear derailleur like an XTR RD-M975 OR an older 7-speed RD like a Deore XT RD-M730, and it would shift just fine across an 8-speed cassette.

The same can NOT be said about front derailleurs, though. Shimano's road and MTB derailleurs have always had different cable pull ratios. I've seen some interesting homebrew hacks, but there's never been an easy solution for shifting MTB FDs with STI shifters. And given that you have a triple, I suspect you have an MTB front derailleur.

The simplest thing for you to do will be to get drop bar levers WITHOUT integrated shifter - Tektro and Cane Creek both make some that are designed to work with V-brakes, so you won't have to change your brake setup. Then use bar-end shifters (or possible downtube shifters, since you have the bosses) for shifting.

>>1028702
non restrictive or overly baggy shorts with a tough seat (it will tear), and pockets that don't get in the way.

T shirts - merino if it might get cold (merino is nice in the warm too unlike synthetic base layers)

a shell jacket rolled up for if it gets cold or rains.

Poly leggings and merino baselayers if it's really cold.

Graduate to bibs & jerseys when you start riding over 2 hours at a time.

I ride flats & cage pedals with onitsuka tigers which have grippy stiff soles, breath, and are waterproofish. Anything with a sole too thick, too thin, or floppy is going to suck. I would definitely upgrade those pedals to good quality plastic bmx platforms or metal MKS pedals. A broad solid platform is best for not making hotspots on your feet imo (lots of flat pedals have sharp ridges).

Upgrade to clipless shoes (from a shop, you have to try them on) eventually.