Utility Cycling - What is a hybrid? Plse explain!

Decided I need to ask. In two different threads in the Utilitiforum just now, but also in several other postings in other places in the BF I read the same- keep away from hybrids.

To me it is like saying "keep away from sedan cars", or keep away from folders, or keep away from peopel from a certain country.

Is this an American thing?

I would stay away from cheap heavy hybrids, like I would stay away from any cheap heavy bike, but staying away from hybrids does not make sense to me.:notamused:

I`we got two hybrids, both are great bikes. Best one is a Nikishi dumpster find. Cro mo, light beautiful bike, I`we been thinking of "going longtail" with this one. :love:

Apart from folders I think hybrids are the bikes to go for if you want to keep the number of bikes down an look for the "all in one" bike. Old MTB`s are in the same category. You can put bars, fenders, racks , seats to your liking.

Plse explain! :backpedal:

Hybrids come in many forms now some are more MTB like some are just flat bar road bikes. I do not agree completely with the "stay away from" comments but I understand them. Hybrids can be the "jack of all trades masters of none". In most cases a true road bike will preform better and still take fenders and racks.

In most cases a true road bike will preform better and still take fenders and racks.

This may be right for you, but what do you know about my ridingstyle and the roads I ride on? This is just a "I defend what is known to me, the rest must be bad in some way I am sure" reaction, and my question is not answered. Sorry, this "gave me nothing".

All depends on what you want. From what I guess, roadies hate hybrids cause they tend to be slower, MTB's hate them cause they rarely do well off road.

The hybrid I use does exactly what I want, goes pretty quick, can handle rough roads and rail trails, and lets me use pretty wide tires + fenders. Will it keep up with a road bike? Probably not, but I don't use it to race. Can I plough through the forests? Nah. But neither of those are more important then comfort and utility, so a hybrid it is. I could of gone for a MTB, but at the same price point it'd be pretty useless offroad as well.

Not to say some day I won't buy a road or Mt. bike, but it definitely won't be used near as much day to day, and will need to cost much much more to be good at racing or offroad.

All depends on what you want. From what I guess, roadies hate hybrids cause they tend to be slower, MTB's hate them cause they rarely do well off road.

The hybrid I use does exactly what I want, goes pretty quick, can handle rough roads and rail trails, and lets me use pretty wide tires + fenders. Will it keep up with a road bike? Probably not, but I don't use it to race. Can I plough through the forests? Nah. But neither of those are more important then comfort and utility, so a hybrid it is. I could of gone for a MTB, but at the same price point it'd be pretty useless offroad as well.

Not to say some day I won't buy a road or Mt. bike, but it definitely won't be used near as much day to day, and will need to cost much much more to be good at racing or offroad.

Exactely my point. I think sometimes opinion gets in the way of knowledge (or lack of).

If a person is posting in this forum asking "what should I buy" then often a hybrid is a good start. After they find out where they like to ride and what to do on a bike the next bike can be bought to fit this.

Riding in town, utility, riding with children you often like to get your head up a bit and keep your eyes on the traffic. One of the bikes that could be good is a hybrid.

There is so many bikes around that is much the same in geometry and alot of ways to peronalize and costumize them to fit the riders need or taste.

I put "nort road type" bars on one of my hybrids, so at the moment it`s almost "Dutch".

I got rid of the flatbar too. I couldn't last an hour without my hand (broke it in 3 places a few years ago) throbbing and the other going numb. I went for a nashbar trekking bar.

I think a hybrid is, like you said, a sedan (or a fuel efficient car.) No-one looks good in one, but it does exactly what most need from it. If you're a hard core rider and care about image, a hybrid is like tooling around town in a Prius if you're a drag racer. Image means a lot to some (most?) people.

http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h170/HandsomeRyan/RNCpolice.jpg
You better be careful saying good things about hybrids, the bike police @ BF.net don't like that sort of thing. :)

Personally, I ♥ my Raleigh Detour Deluxe hybrid.

My Fuji has the same gearing as a road bike , fairly narrow wheels 28's, flat bars and does not require a super hero costume to ride it. My name isn't Lance and while I consider him to be a great rider and person I'm not chasing his career. Most people on the BF board are not either. Be comfortable with what you feel works for you. If a hybrid works and gets you biking...wonderful. You don't have to get in a super hero suit and have a 3K bike. Hybrids are just that...a little of this and a little of that. I have 4 bikes and each serve their own purpose, and I do like my hybrid.

I've got a cheapo hybrid (a recent model CCM, which is a junker made by a company that bought the rights to the CCM name after CCM went under). It's a hardtail mountain bike frame with 21 speeds, thinner and slicker tires, and a bunch of commuter accessories such as mudflaps and a chain guard.

I think a real mountain bike with fatty tires would be too slow on the city streets, but the really skinny light wheels on a cruiser or road bike would not be able to handle the park paths and potholes I commute over.

I suspect that the people who badmouth hybrids are looking for high performance in one area or another. I don't need performance, I need a bike that can get me where I'm going without falling apart, and a hybrid is perfect for that given the way I ride.

This one will probably be resold next spring or before, just because the frame is really a bit too big for me. But I can see myself engineering a custom hybrid out of a mountain bike frame and my choice of wheels/tires/gears/etc.

I've been very intrigued by a couple of what I'm guessing would be considered hybrids - the Marin Muirwoods and the Swobo Otis (or Dixon when I throw the wallet to the wind). Any opinions on these?

I have a pretty short commute with one nasty hill. I like the notion of the internal hub on the Swobo, and they seem like they may be a bit better built than the Marin. But the Marin seems like quite a value. Of course the nearest dealer for either of these lines is 3 hours away, so this is all just based on pretty pictures on the web.

None of them known to me, different brands where I live. What I would do is to try (borrow) as many bikes as you can from anybody who wil let you try one. Maybe this way you do not find exactely what you want, but you might find out what you absolutely do not want, and that also brings you a bit closer to the solution.

In the local paper where I live a local bikeguru talks about fitting / adjusting bikes. He says 95% of the problems peopel have with theyr bikes can be solved this way. Maybe a bit optimistic, but most bikes can be ridable if you know what to do and how to do it. You could start with an old MTB and try to make it ridable, then try to make it fit better. After that you are closer to know what you want to buy.

This may be right for you, but what do you know about my ridingstyle and the roads I ride on? This is just a "I defend what is known to me, the rest must be bad in some way I am sure" reaction, and my question is not answered. Sorry, this "gave me nothing".

I did say I did not completely agree with "stay away from" ! I have owned a hybrid and I own road bikes. The only points I was trying to make is that hybrids come in all flavors so you can not generalize about them! And road bikes can take fenders and racks. I did give you something.

The local Swobo dealer didn't bother showing me either the Otis or the Dixon when I went in shopping for bikes earlier this year. And the Marin dealer didn't bother with the Muirwoods. 'Course, I went in with a short and sweet wishlist of "step through frame" and "can handle 50lbs of cargo", which is just a horrible thing to do to a poor bike frame :D. Add in that I need to be able to carry the thing up and down stairs every ride, and I'm amazed any bike fit the bill.

Both bikes are good solid bikes, but the geometry is a on the twitchy side, which makes them bad for cargo hauling. And they're not meant as cargo bikes, so the step through frame version probably wouldn't hold up to what I'd put it through. For the average rider, these sorts of things just aren't an issue. And the gearing on both the Dixon and the Muirwoods should be good enough to handle most hills. Might not do ok on 10% grades or worse, but no bike does well on those without a good climber riding it :).

I ended up with a Breezer in the end, and am very happy with it. The shop is within walking distance, and they were happy to send me off on long test rides with cargo so I could get a feel for the bike... and they encouraged me to try all kinds of bikes, not just what I thought I wanted.

And no, the Breezer was *not* my first bike... the first bike was a diamond frame mountainbike. Very good design for riding off road, and a very bad match for me :). I've got a rotated hip, and it's prone to stabbing pain if I annoy it at all... and the diamond frame annoyed it a lot. Led to a lot of falls. I've got some other minor leg problems, so a step through ends up being a hard and fast requirement for my main ride.

I have a Specialized C rosstrail Hybrid, and love it.

For me, it does exactly what I want. It is the perfect do everything bike.

Does really well on MUP, gravel, and rough roads (almost all of them in Illinois), is a great grocery getter with grocery panniers and tail trunk permanently attached, still does 30 MPH on the road when I want it to, and is a nice ride with the grandchildren bike.

Perfect!

I think the reason people say to stay away from hybrids is due to what I think is their limited usefulness in the long run. They are not much fun to road ride long distances. They often are equipped with suspension gear which means less efficiency on the road yet they can't do off road very well. They are not heavy duty, haul big loads, ride truly upright bikes like Dutch bikes or cargo bikes. And because they are low margin, entry level bikes for most brands, most bike companies don't put a lot of thought into them and stock them with so-so, not so durable components.

On the plus side, due to their low price point, then do get a lot of more casual riders into biking, however once most riders find the style of riding that really suits them, they upgrade to a bike designed for that purpose.

Having said that, if you have a great hybrid you love to ride, ignore us hybrid haters and enjoy your bike. Who are we to take your joy away?

I think the reason people say to stay away from hybrids is due to what I think is their limited usefulness in the long run. They are not much fun to road ride long distances. They often are equipped with suspension gear which means less efficiency on the road yet they can't do off road very well. They are not heavy duty, haul big loads, ride truly upright bikes like Dutch bikes or cargo bikes. And because they are low margin, entry level bikes for most brands, most bike companies don't put a lot of thought into them and stock them with so-so, not so durable components.

On the plus side, due to their low price point, then do get a lot of more casual riders into biking, however once most riders find the style of riding that really suits them, they upgrade to a bike designed for that purpose.

Having said that, if you have a great hybrid you love to ride, ignore us hybrid haters and enjoy your bike. Who are we to take your joy away?

Sorry, this is not an answer to my question. In my part of the world hybrids are not the cheapest you can get, MTB`s are. If I was to describe MTB`s just from what I see outside my window (or outside my sons school) I would say much the same, heavy, cheap, not really good for anything, fat knobby tires (I`l just pretend I do not know you can put 25 slicks on a MTB) heavy bad qualitu so called suspension that is not good for anything.

I could also describe roadbikes for you the same way.

In my part of the world hybrids is not cheap bikes, they are bikes bought by those who realised that the MTB is not a bike for ewerybody , not good for an "all purpose bike" (here ewen the "roadies" is men on MTB`s w fat tyres).

Here a hybrid is for those who do some thinking for them selves, and is often bought by those who pay extra for a good quality bike. You see the primeminister on a hybrid as often as he can, top end lawyers arriving at the court in a suit on a hybrid.

There is a world outside the US you see, suprise!

In this forum there is a lot of peopel who like dutch bikes. Heavy, old often cheap bikes, 100 yrs back in times in frame geometry and sometime components, but peopel lowe them, and they are allowed to say so.

Say "HYBRID" and omething happends.

I hope somebody is going to tell me about frame geometry and angels, not more bull**** about weight and price. This is opinion, not knowledge.

I try for the 3rd time. Hybrids come in many types. Some are MTB with skinner tires. Others can have the same deraileurs, cassette, cranks AND geometry as road bikes. With the only difference being the handlebar and shifters.
Compare Giants FCR to the Defy.
http://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-US/
The difference in handlebar is not insignificant drop bar allow more places for your hands.
In answer to your question really depends on what hybrid your talhing about.

Exactely, that is why "do`nt buy a hybrid" does not make sense.

I'm 16,

My first descent bike was a Specialized Crossroads Sport. A very heavy comfortable hybrid. I shouldn't have bought that bike, it was very heavy for commuting, about 35 pounds, I put a rack and fenders and lights on it. It had big 38c tires with suspension plus a long wheelbase. Earlier this year I ditched this bike for one that was more mountain oriented, my shop referred to the Crossroads as a comfort hybrid, while the GT Transeo 4.0 I bought was more commuter/fitness oriented. It had 32 instead of 36 spoked wheels, was considerably shorter had similar gears, it had treadier, but skinner tires 35c, which I swapped out for a set of 28c armadillo's. The frame is basically mountain + 700c tires rapid fire shifters and whatnot. I commute on this bike, while my utility bike is an Old Schwinn Varsity with a Cetma rack (soon Lane is taking forever to make it). I also tow a trailer with it. BUt anyway here it is.


I think roadies who hate on hybrids, are referring to comfort hybrids, this bike hauls ass and is super light (compared to my Utility bike and winter beater) it weighs like 23 pounds. I usually don't even call it a hybrid.
http://i66.photobucket.com/albums/h273/franklinterrier/IMGP2760.jpg

http://www.diaryofamountainbiker.co.uk/images/12-10-02_apollo2_thumb.jpg

What is my hybrid? My hybrid is that first mountain bike I had with no suspension. It is that solid green Apollo that got me to school in Grade 5 and 6. It is that round tubed slightly rusted bike, that had those clicky mountain bike levers. It was that bike that I was not scared to wrench and lever. It had those square steel rims. It was on it that I fell over after riding with no hands.

A hybrid is that bike that doesn't really fit into any category, but you buy it anyway because it has two wheels and a frame, and will provide you with all the same wonders of riding that any of the other bikes will provide. You could call it a generic bike. Yet isn't that what's great about it! Its a blank canvas for you to define how it will live. A hybrid in the store is two wheels and a frame. After 5 years, it could be commuter, a beach cruiser, a beater, an oversized kids bike, or a garage warmer.

Exactely, that is why "do`nt buy a hybrid" does not make sense.

Like I said "The difference in handlebar is not insignificant".
You can ride longer, more comfortably and more aero if needed. Up to five hand position are possible.

I think most folks who hate on hybrids don't live in heavily urban areas. Here in DC,hybrids make perfect sense. The multiple hand positions on drop bars are pretty much moot when you can only ride a mile or two before you have to stop for a light/traffic and when conditions warrant keeping your hands by your brakes. The condition of alot of our streets makes riding on 23mm/120+psi tires unpleasant,esp if you have mild carpel tunnel. With all our hills,a 12-25 10sp cluster means you're constantly tap-dancing on your shifter and 34/25 is not what I want to be stuck climbing in. "Master of none" my butt. Hybrids rule the cities.

wezley: which Muirwoods? I test rode a 29er and picked up my Novato instead. The all steel construction plus mondo tires was more than I wanted to push around. If you have a bad hill you'll want to avoid the Otis. 3 speeds means you can't go low enough to spin up the hill and will spin out going down it. And the rear coaster brake isn't the best for high speeds,esp in the rain. The Dixon rocks,well worth the money.

I was looking at the standard Muirwoods. That 29er would be overkill for me, too. Thanks to some other threads on here, I've also been looking into the Jamis Coda. That and the Muirwoods seem like the best values.

But last night, my wife was talking about a used Honda to replace my aged VW, and all I could think was how much happierd I'd be pedaling a $1000 Dixon than riding in a $3000 Honda.

I think most folks who hate on hybrids don't live in heavily urban areas.

As a hybrid disliker (not hater, cause at least it's a bike and you are riding it), I live and ride in a heavy urban area everyday on a road bike. I do not find anything about a hybrid to be better at riding in these conditions. In fact, when I have to change lanes or get somewhere fast, I find the road bike to be superior. My issues are more with the way US hybrids are spec'd and their geometry. You have to do a lot of tinkering to make them good utility bikes, and they have none of the main geometry advantages of road/touring bikes, mountain bikes, or Dutch bikes.

So this should make you happy then, I found an almost mint (98%) Miyata nine twelve with Shimano 600today dumpster diving. More in the Classic/ Vintage forum.

Of course I am getting rid of it so I can get the space for some more hybrids:love::D

My issues are more with the way US hybrids are spec'd and their geometry. You have to do a lot of tinkering to make them good utility bikes, and they have none of the main geometry advantages of road/touring bikes, mountain bikes, or Dutch bikes.

I'm sorry,but I'm flaming you. That's a bunch of crap. Specs? Add fenders and a rack. What's the big deal? And I am so sick and tired of you drop bar freaks and your geometry fetish. Ok,if you're riding down big hills on a 20" wheeled folder,then geometry is an issue. And geometry is important for athletes in professional competition. But for regular people special geometry is not needed. Road bike geometry is not critical for riding on the street,MTB geometry is not critical for riding gravel paths. I used to have no trouble playing bike polo on a touring bike. Unless you completely lack coordination,or have physical impairments/mobility issues,you shouldn't have any probs maneuvering a bicycle in traffic.