hybrid bike for a beginner

I'm really happy with my Gary Fisher Tiburon (there's a model up the food chain also) and I think it is pretty light in it's class:

http://www.fisherbikes.com/bikes/bike_detail.asp?series=citypath&bike=Tiburon

I would suggest a flat bar road bike, you could try: http://www.recycleabicycle.org/ in New York.

Or if you have some real $$ to spend, a Felt SR71, with carbon front end. http://www.feltracing.com/HOME.html

Try a couple, but you may find that you want something more than a hybrid real quick. It will fit the bill later as a meduim touring bike or a commuter, so money is not lost.

i ride a speicialized sirrus and love it. mine was £300 (about $530). so it's pretty cheap as well. mine gets lots of use. i commute on it. ride fairly rough trails. go out on the road and have even done some touring. all round a good bike.

hope this helps.

thanks all for the quick responses. I looked into some of the bikes you all mentioned, and they look great, but they're a fair amount more than i was thinking about spending. my limit's about $300 (which i know isn't a lot, but enough to get me something decent). any other ideas of hybrid's within this price range?

300 bucks isn't a lot of cash to buy a bike with, but it can be done.

try riding this bike.

http://www.fujibikes.com/comfort/bike.asp?category_short_name=lifestyle&myArray=139,140,141,142,143,144,145,146,147,148,149,150,151,152,153,154,155,156,157,158,159,160,161,162,163,164,165,166,167,169,168,170,172,192,171,174,173&myArrayID=18&yr=2004

You should be able to buy it for around $250-- you'll need tire levers, spare tubes, helment, so the other $50 will be gone as well. here's a few shopping tips.

Do you like the bike shop? How much is it going to cost to have the bike serviced? If you don't know or want to know about bike upkeep, you'll need to set aside money to have the bike worked on and to buy new tires from time to time. I'd count on 25 bucks a month. It is pretty cheap next to driving.

Don't leave the shop without changing a tube-- they should be willing to sell you tire levers and walk you though the process. Otherwise the're jerks who really shouldn't be selling bikes. Get a good pump, patch kit, spare tubes-- this insures your tires won't go flat very often.

Spending 50 bucks on a high end lock is cheaper than replacing a stolen bike.

Get ready to crash! Some car will squeeze you off the road, you'll hit a pothole, something's likely to happen. Road rash is a badge of honor-- just get back on the bike and ride!

Good luck ahp.

Last year, getting back into adult cycling, I didn't want to spend a lot of money until I was convinced I was going to do more than just provide a jungle gym for the spiders. I bought a Miele Firenze for just over $300 Cdn. It's not the best bike in the world but it got me to and from work and back into adult biking. Now that I know I am going to use the bike and that cycling is a part of my life, I'm not shy about spending a lot more money.

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by jacobxray
i ride a speicialized sirrus and love it. mine was £300 (about $530). so it's pretty cheap as well. mine gets lots of use. i commute on it. ride fairly rough trails. go out on the road and have even done some touring. all round a good bike.

hope this helps.

Ditto!

The Speecialized Sirrus http://www.specialized.com/SBCBkFamily.jsp?sid=04Sirrus&JServSessionIdroot=aejrtatygi.j27004 comes in a number of versions from the basic Sirrus to the Ultegra equipped Pro.

Its light, FAST, comfortable and looks cool.

Highly reccommended!

Kona Smoke - great urban bike, complete with fenders and rack, $350 list.

http://www.konaworld.com/2k4bikes/2k4_smoke.cfm

I ride Fuji Sagres a lot, some call it a hybrid, some call it a flat-bar road bike. Fuji says it's a road bike, but whatever. nice bike, check out my review on here.