road hybrid

"Sol Moriarty" wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

What's the difference between a "road" bike and a "hybrid"?

the rider 🙂

Have a look at the specs of road vs hybrid on a few manufacturers sites..
http://www.giant-bicycles.com

cheers,
GPL

Sol Moriarty said:

What's the difference between a "road" bike and a "hybrid"?

The biggest difference is that a hybrid will have flat bars, whereas a road bike will have drop bars. Other things common on hybrids are taller stems (for a more relaxed riding position), seats with more padding, suspension (front and/or seatpost), and fatter semi-slick tyres. There can be exceptions to all of this of course 🙂.

The general idea behind a hybrid is to have a bike which combines the comfort of a MTB with the speed of a road bike.

SomeGuy said:

The general idea behind a hybrid is to have a bike which combines the
comfort of a MTB with the speed of a road bike.

But doesn't do either job well. IME they're normally sold to prospective
road riders who don't like the look of drop bars and skinny tyres, so their
main benefit is to bike salespeople, who don't have to spend time and
energy overcoming those prejudices to get a sale.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

I couldn't disagree more. I've been the very happy owner of a
Specialized Sirrus for about 1.5 years now. The bike is comfortable,
fast and has good gears for climbing if you need them. The brakes are
good and I'll never understand why road bikes persist with their
current braking system when there are much better options out there.

My bike has flat bars and some suspension in the seat post. I regularly
ride with road bike fiends and have no trouble staying with and beating
some of them. I personally love my bike and I don't understand why so
many people are so anti-hybrids. You just have to find the right one
and get one that suits your needs. For the record, I use mine for
commuting and fitness riding and do about 60-80km a week.

Hope that's of some use.

Peter

<[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

some of them. I personally love my bike and I don't understand why so
many people are so anti-hybrids.

argh!!.. They are like the Ford Torus of the cycling world!!

ok, I'll now shut up after my recumbent outburst a few months back got me in
trouble 😉

cheers,
GPL
:only poking fun:

There’s a lot of commuters getting about on slick shod MTBs, hmm looks almost like a…..

"Marx SS" wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

There's a lot of commuters getting about on slick shod MTBs, hmm looks
almost like a...

oi! dont you dare call my MTB a girly bike!.. heh.. Almost time to put the
slick bricks back on, just waiting for the weather to fine up...

cheers,
GPL

GPLama said:

"Marx SS" wrote in message ...

Quoted message said:

There's a lot of commuters getting about on slick shod MTBs, hmm looks
almost like a...

oi! dont you dare call my MTB a girly bike!.. heh.. Almost time to put the
slick bricks back on, just waiting for the weather to fine up...

yep, just bought a new Mongoose Tyax hardtail with disk brakes, had the
guy at the LBS swap the tyres for slicks, I mainly use this on road and
paths with a little bit offroad single track, the reason I wanted the
MTB with fat tyres is I have no wish to drop a skinny wheel down one of
those road grates in my area, the lower range gears are better for the
hills (for me anyway) and the disk brakes are great, don't like the
sound of gritty crunching sounds V brakes make while they are wearing
the rims out.

I do have another older Mongoose hardtail with knobbies for when I do go
bush.

Quoted message said:

I couldn't disagree more. I've been the very happy owner of a
Specialized Sirrus for about 1.5 years now. The bike is comfortable,
fast and has good gears for climbing if you need them.

comfort is the key reason that hybrids exist, secondly cummuting at
a speed faster than knobbly heavy MTBs. so a slicked up MTB would give
you the same benefits, unless you quite heavy, 100+kgs. IMHO.

higher tyre pressure is alledgely the one true nirvana type thing
to going fast =D so if you are heavier, higher pressure calls for
narrower tyres.

Quoted message said:

The brakes are
good and I'll never understand why road bikes persist with their
current braking system when there are much better options out there.

if used wisely any road bike can brake equally well as any MTB/Hybrid
with disks, etc by an experienced rider.

Quoted message said:

My bike has flat bars and some suspension in the seat post. I regularly
ride with road bike fiends and have no trouble staying with and beating
some of them. I personally love my bike and I don't understand why so
many people are so anti-hybrids.

lotsa poorly built ones, aluminium cracked frames, but that was years ago.
hybrids are seen to be used by people that are not hard-core.
but that doesn't matter anyways, unless "you care what people think" =)

Quoted message said:

You just have to find the right one and get one that suits your needs.

getting a bike fit is the most important part of comfort 😉

Quoted message said:

For the record, I use mine for commuting and fitness riding and do
about 60-80km a week.

yeah same here. i have a roady, comfort is an issue, but it was cheap
and it is fast 😉 but i've untrued the rear wheel so many times its
not phunny =/

cheers,

Kim

Quoted message said:

I couldn't disagree more. I've been the very happy owner of a
Specialized Sirrus for about 1.5 years now. The bike is comfortable,
fast and has good gears for climbing if you need them.

"Fast" is a relative term. That squishy seat, suspension, upright
position, fatter tyres and extra weight all slow you down.

Quoted message said:

The brakes are
good and I'll never understand why road bikes persist with their
current braking system when there are much better options out there.

Good rim brakes will throw you over the bars if you hit them hard. Seems
plenty good enough to me. And they're light.

Quoted message said:

My bike has flat bars and some suspension in the seat post. I regularly
ride with road bike fiends and have no trouble staying with and beating
some of them.

Unfortunately, dressing up in lycra and buying a flashy road bike doesn't
make you fast. But if your fiends are, say, C grade racers, I'm
impressed :-)

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

GPLama said:

argh!!.. They are like the Ford Torus of the cycling world!!

Do they come with doughnut holders now?

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

Sometimes different frame geometry too. I've found most hybrids have an MTB
frame with slightly longer chainstays than roadsters. This is one point
that makes hooking panniers to MTB's and hybrids a little easier.

--
Bean

Remove "yourfinger" before replying
"SomeGuy" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
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Quoted message said:

Sol Moriarty said:

What's the difference between a "road" bike and a "hybrid"?

The biggest difference is that a hybrid will have flat bars, whereas a
road bike will have drop bars. Other things common on hybrids are taller
stems (for a more relaxed riding position), seats with more padding,
suspension (front and/or seatpost), and fatter semi-slick tyres. There
can be exceptions to all of this of course 🙂.

The general idea behind a hybrid is to have a bike which combines the
comfort of a MTB with the speed of a road bike.

--
SomeGuy

Sol Moriarty said:

What's the difference between a "road" bike and a "hybrid"?

To me, as someone whose first adult bike was a "hybrid" in 1998*:

I wanted, very strongly, what is called in Holland a "utility bicycle",
though in Dutch rather than English. Indestructable frame, preferably
ligher if possible. Reliable gears I can ride until the chain, cogs and
sprokets are garbage (because I'm too stupid to maintain them),
something which fits my body at my current riding ability. Went I
shopped around all that was available were stupidly heavy mountain
bikes, stupidly light-weight racing bikes (with a painful looking riding
position). Far far beyond my ability to purchase were stupidly
expensive light mountain bikes and stupidly expensive light-weight
racing bikes.

To be honest I went into every shop and asked, "What can I commute on?"
and was offered sporting bicycles. My desire was for a bike built like
my mother's ladies 10 speed steel frame. I got reasonably close for the
time. The bicycle was blue, let me keep pace with traffic after the
first few months riding, and required hardly any maintaining (ie:
changing tyres, fixing inner tubes, changing / aligning break pads,
oiling things). For the next seven years I grew as a cyclist on it, and
rode it until I kept breaking spokes from overloading it. Then I got a
bike for heavy hauling and fixed my hybrid to run about on.

After riding my hybrid for seven years, I'm a fan of mudguard, dynamo
lights, integral wheel locks with extender cords, chain covers, hub
gears and (shock) drum brakes. I'm also a fan of any accessory that
will mount solidly on the frame and not vibrate off.

Today I ogle the steel frames other more canny consumers have purchased
from bike recyclers or garage sales and brought up to safe riding
condition. They are creative about mounting front and rear baskets.
Their bikes are attractive, ingenious, and fully accessorised (often
DIY). I'd ask why the market isn't selling fully accessorised cheap
CrMO utility bikes instead of unaccessorised aluminium hybrids?

I also mourn for the people who pogo around town on cheap suspended
mountain bikes, because they didn't realise that light recreation and
commuting might work better on a bike built to ride on tarmac.

So a "hybrid" is a marketing term for either:

a) A slicked mountain bike, acting as a utility bike, or,
b) A 700c bike not built for sport, acting as a utility bike

This definition isn't exact, b) would probably subsume tourers as well.

"Utility bicycle" is a far better term, and should be deliberately
brought back into use.

yours,
Sam R.

* Chinese CrMO, 700c x38 later x35, aluminium bits, Shimano 7x3 speed
derailleur, panniers, v-brakes.

Sol Moriarty said:

What's the difference between a "road" bike and a "hybrid"?

*Climbs on soapbox*

The first "Hybrids" were a true hybrid of an MTB & road bike. There were few road bikes with triple-ring cranksets. Maybe a handful of touring bikes had triples & canti brakes. Only MTB's had flat bars, triples & cantis. The first hybrids were aimed at commuting & touring, had no suspension & work quite well.

Now the market is full of options. You can get fast slicks for your MTB. Flat bar road bikes for those adverse to drop bars. Good ready to go touring bikes are still a bit rare but they exist. What about the large wheeled MTBs? called 29 inchers? (really 700c).

I still think that "Comfort Bikes" are for people who don't ride. :p

*Bolts soapbox to rack & goes shopping*

Quoted message said:

What's the difference between a "road" bike and a "hybrid"?

There are two types of hybrids.

The first type is represented by "sport hybrids", "street performance"
and so on. Examples are Giant CRX, Jamis Coda, Specialized Sirrus etc.
These are Road Bikes with Added Benefit?. Added Benefit? manifests
itself through longer chainstays, potential for wider tires like 700x32-
35, fenders/rack and for adjusting handlebar to the same level or higher
than seat. Usually such bikes go with a flat bar, which is good for
some people. You should be wary of wicked manufacturers, who do not
really enjoy making bicycles and do it purely for monetary reasons. To
cut costs, they often fit a flat bar on a road frame without the Added
Benefit? and try to sell it as a hybrid. Beware.

The second type is "comfort bikes". Example is Giant comfort range. The
distinctive feature of this type is short and low top tube, high
handlebar, longish chainstay, suspension everywhere and big, gel-filled
saddle. It is very comfortable for coasting around for up to an hour. It
is never ridden for longer. It has nothing in common with the road
bicycle, apart from some road components, which manufacturer was able to
buy with a huge volume discount and now tries to get rid of.

Timofey

Michael Warner said:

Quoted message said:

I couldn't disagree more. I've been the very happy owner of a
Specialized Sirrus for about 1.5 years now. The bike is comfortable,
fast and has good gears for climbing if you need them.

"Fast" is a relative term. That squishy seat, suspension, upright
position, fatter tyres and extra weight all slow you down.

You really must check out just what the Specialized Sirrus really is. Have a
look around:
http://www.freedommachine.com.au/frame_welcome.htm

especially take a look at the Sirrus Pro Disc. Big $$$ but the hybrid
features you refer to resally do not exist. There's probably as much
variation in the category 'hybrid' as there is in the category 'mountain
bike'

Cheers
Peter

Michael Warner <[email hidden]> wrote in news:11wzfshu5se7q
[email hidden]:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

I couldn't disagree more. I've been the very happy owner of a
Specialized Sirrus for about 1.5 years now. The bike is comfortable,
fast and has good gears for climbing if you need them.

"Fast" is a relative term. That squishy seat, suspension, upright
position, fatter tyres and extra weight all slow you down.

Quoted message said:

The brakes are
good and I'll never understand why road bikes persist with their
current braking system when there are much better options out there.

Good rim brakes will throw you over the bars if you hit them hard.

Seems

Quoted message said:

plenty good enough to me. And they're light.

Quoted message said:

My bike has flat bars and some suspension in the seat post. I

regularly

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

ride with road bike fiends and have no trouble staying with and

beating

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

some of them.

Unfortunately, dressing up in lycra and buying a flashy road bike

doesn't

Quoted message said:

make you fast. But if your fiends are, say, C grade racers, I'm
impressed :-)

I bought a CRX02 earlier this year (wanted the Felt SR71 but couldn't
get it) for a few reasons: -

1. Tooling around on weekends with friends that don't like going
particularly fast (triple chainring is useful).
2. Handles smooth dirt roads well when with said friends in number 1
3. Lets me ride when my back plays up. Without it I couldn't ride
when this happens. Obviously a MTB would work here.
4. Doesn't mind being on the trainer but the lack of hand positions
is a problem
5. Light cycle touring
6. Has rear rack mounts for a light bag

Fact is I like it. It's fun to ride and fairly low stress while it
handles the same as an OCR. It's reasonably fast, reasonably light and
great for those times you just feel like going somewhere. It's the bike
I take to the shops (10k round trip) on weekends. Even though I don't
use it for training per se I've done 1500k on it so far. If I don't
have a lot of time I'll do shorter rides in the morning with it. If I
drop it I don't really care.

I changed the seat, thick padding is a pain, seatpost (more setback) and
the wheels. I run 25mm slicks because I need a lot of pressure (I'm
over 100kg - carbon makes me very nervous). I'm thinking of going to
23s but that might compromise it a bit.

Hand position is a bit of an issue for longer rides and I suffer from
some numbness (you still have a fair amount of weight on your hands).
I'm thinking of changing the bars to a trekking style set-up. I'd prefer
cantilever's for feel.

I still have a road bike for longer faster rides and if/when I build a
fixy it'll have drop bars (I really don't like the flat bars that much).

Over the next twelve months I would like to add the trek bars, a geared
hub and possibly a dyno front wheel. It'll still handle like a road
bike but be better for commuting/light touring - audax anyone? (we don't
have them up here).

Hell I might even see if I can set the hub up with a coaster brake for
that big kid feel (skiddies on a road bike without fixing the hub? :-D).

I should also warn you that an older rider that shows up here from time
to time (Where are you Hughmann?) sets a fairly cracking pace on his
Avanti Blade.

I'd suggest to anyone that they try them. I find the hybrid a good fun
bike to have and I'm glad that I bought it. If I could only have the
one bike it'd either be a hybrid or a cyclocross bike (Crosscheck
mmmmhh).

Then again I'm regularly told I'm a freak particularly when it comes to
bikes (Attempting to rebuild an old dragster in an adult size with full
apehangers at the moment) or fishing gear or .......

Cheers

BrettM

Sol Moriarty said:

What's the difference between a "road" bike and a "hybrid"?

Greetings,

Road bikes are intended for racing on bitumen, my hybrid has at least
some off-road capability. Or at least that's the theory. Hybrids are
also often a lot cheaper.
Regards,
Ray.

Ray Peace said:

Sol Moriarty said:

What's the difference between a "road" bike and a "hybrid"?

Greetings,

Road bikes are intended for racing on bitumen,

This is a common misunderstanding. The vast majority of road bikes
are not used for racing, and are not really designed for it. This
reinforces the unfortunate misunderstanding about
dropbars and the incorrect view that they're uncomfortable and
that flat bars are more comfortable. Drop bars are designed for
riding long distances, as are most road bikes. That's why most touring
bikes have drop bars. The "hybrid" geometry and riding position
(in general) is set up to allow a rider to initially feel more
secure, but it's not a good position for riding any sort of distance.
It's
like those soft, padded seats. They're comfy for 10-20 minutes, not
for 2 or 3 hours+. The only real time that the sit up & beg position
is much good is when you either have some serious flexibility issues
(ie: a stuffed back) or don't plan on riding anywhere far away or in
any sort of a hurry 🙂 If you're going to ride distances, getting some
weight onto your arms will help spread the load - or one gets a very
sore [censored]! This means that having a variety of places to put your
hands is necessary. You don't get that variety with flat bars - adding
bar-ends make a little difference (you now have 2 positions, not one)
but generally they're in the wrong place to bear weight, and they make
it quite difficult to get to brakes if necessary. Not to mention the
drag you get when your arms are 60cm apart catching all that wind.

What makes drop bars uncomfortable is them being set up incorrectly
for a rider, not the fact that they're drop-bars. Riding on the hoods
is a far more comfortable position for most people's arms and hands,
*if* the hoods are set in an appropriate position for them. Then,
having the choice of the tops, the drops (2 places in the drops and on
the tops) and resting palms on the hoods gives at least 6 variations in
hand placing positions to allow resting.

Flat bars, on the other hand, exist to give MTB riders more leverage
when riding technical courses and are sub-optimal for road riding where
that leverage is simply not required.

I find with people I introduce to riding that the quicker I get them
onto a bike with dropbars, the quicker they get over their aprehension
about them, and the more they ride. Once they get their heads around
the drop bars, they then wonder why they found it so frightening in the
first place.

Oh, and if road bike brakes are no good, how come hundreds of thousands
of road riders descend big mountains without running off the road all
the time? Double-pivot calipers have plenty of stopping power for road
riding. They're not set up for descending 20% slopes on dirt and rocks
in muddy conditions, which is where disk and linear pull (V) brakes
have their advantages, but they're perfectly adequite for road riding.
As has been said in this thread, they have enough power to fling you
over the front wheel if required, and more than enough to lock both
wheels and send you sliding down the road too!