Originally Posted by
TTON
I see a few manufacturers putting out "fitness" hybrid bikes that look nothing more than road bikes with flat bars? What's the difference? Is the geometry of the bike any different? Most of these hybrids I see have sloping top tubes.
Slightly different geometry...you'll find most/many with shorter top tubes in this class because you do not bend over as far (simply put).
But these are not cheesy bikes by any stretch of the imagination...
http://www.trekbikes.com/us/en/bikes...ss/fx/7_7_fx/#
Personally, I have sold a lot of these to cross training runners and entry level triathletes (not sure if they will like tri, don't want to jump into the deep end of the pool, they can get a really nice bike for mid-$500 range that will get them throught the race much better than themountain bike they borrowed to do their first one).
As has already been mentioned, they are less aggressively geared.