Hi, I'm a Noob.
I'm not entirely new to cycling overall, but it's been so long since I've owned a bike - 20 years - so I might as well be new to it. In my youth, I did some fairly intensive touring. Now I am old and fat. Yay!
To get back into things - for fitness, fun, commuting - I've been looking at semi-cyclocross bikes in the approx. $1k USD range like the Trek CrossRip and Jamis Nova Sport, as well as hybrids with front suspension like the Trek DS 8.3 and Giant Roam 2.
I am currently leaning toward the hybrids, for a combination of price and practicality. I'm in Philadelphia and will be mostly commuting on mostly paved roads; however, many of the streets here are not kept up beautifully and I'd also like to have the option to ride hard dirt trails now and then. I'm also thinking that now that I am old and fat with an imperfect lower back, the more upright position of the hybrids might be a better re-intro to cycling for me than getting straight back into the slightly more aggressive positioning of the cyclocross rigs, despite the fact that all my long-past experience is with road bikes.
Some questions for you experienced folks:
-Is the suspension going to be a mistake for mostly city commuting? I've never had a bike with a front suspension on it before, so I'm wondering if I should suspect kind of a "mushy" pavement ride, even with the lockout engaged. Should I not be worried about this?
-More generally, does a hybrid of this type make sense in my situation? *Seems* like it does, but I wonder if I'm overlooking something.
-Any general opinions on Giant bikes? Any lovers? Haters? The Roam 2 looks pretty tasty to me in terms of bang for buck. Very, very similar to the Trek 8.3 DS in most details. Same price, etc. Wondering if Giant's customer support is decent.
Thanks!