Originally Posted by fmw

I ride for exercise and have all three - a road bike, a hybrid and a MTB. My wife has a "comfort bike" which is basically a MTB without knobbies and with an adjustable handlebar stem. I ride my MTB when I ride with her (and occasionally ride local trails.) I'm planning to sell the hybrid. While it is a joy to ride (very comfortable,) it is heavy and I find myself riding the road bike almost all the time. In fact, I'm looking for a lighter one as we speak.

I can't rationalize it. Since I ride for exercise, weight and speed really aren't issues. The issue is the amount of work expended. Perhaps the reason is that, in the hour each morning I allocate for a bike ride, I can go further on the road bike. It is senseless since exercise is exercise but mentally I go for the road bike nearly every time. It's like a sports car compared to the hybrid "family sedan."

I don't have a riding partner to "spar" with so I spar with my cycle computer. I pay attention to my average speed and always work toward improving it. I also work at climbing the local hills at a faster speed. The road bike, of course, always produces better results on the cycle computer. I realize these are mental and not physical things but you may want to consider them as well.

One last point is that, if you place your hands on the top of the handlebar and hang on to the brake/shifter unit, your posture is fairly close to what you get on a hybrid. In other words, you can have a somewhat similar posture, if you like, on the road bike for casual riding.

That's my case for the road bike. Good luck with the decision.