Hybrid Bicycles - Felt X-City (XC) bikes?

I'm looking around for a hybrid and don't want to go higher than $600, but would rather stay at $500. I have a Felt and Giant dealer in town, and was wondering if anyone has experience with the Felt X-City line, specifically the 5 and 6. I'm newly into bicycles so I don't know the difference between parts, and really don't understand what the $50 price difference is.

I'm going to be using it in Pensacola, which is a little hilly compared to the rest of Florida, to commute between my apartment and college. So mostly road/sidewalk stuff, and some off road grass/dirt stuff. No intense trails or anything. I would also like to use it to get me around when running errands. It'll mostly be for travel.

Also, if there are recommendations for similar priced bikes. I'm also looking at the Giant Seek 2. But mostly I want to hear about Felt bikes, since I haven't found much talk of them in this section.

The $50 difference between the felt xcity 5 and x city 6 is due to the x city 5 having both front and rear derailleurs giving you 24 speeds, and the x city 6 being a 1x8. (1 gear in the front, 8 in the back). The x city 6 was geared a little high for me, and i ended up switching the front chainring for something a little smaller. I'd recommend the x city 5, for the extra gears, unless you're sure you want the simplicity of the 1x8.

I recently bought the x city 6 and think the bike is a quality bike. I'm 225 pounds, so the 36 spoke wheels that the bike comes with were important to me. Surprisingly, the stock Vittoria Adventure tires on the bike are not bad, as i have over 1500 miles on them, with only 1 flat.

I had an xt drivetrain laying around, so upgraded the drivetrain from alivio to xt (1x9). I found the longevity of the alivio to be lacking, though if you're not riding 350-400 miles per month its probably not relevant. I also added a brooks saddle, and fenders, so its not exactly stock. I had some trouble finding a rack to fit around the brakes, but my local shop helped me solve that problem.

I personally don't like narrow 700x35 wheels for any kind of dirt/gravel, but that's a subjective thing.

Overall I'm quite happy with the bike, though i have closer to $700 actually invested. Its serves well as my general commuter ride.

I have a 2009 Felt X City D. They changed the naming conventions from 2009 to 2010. Last year mine was the only one without internal gearing. It has a single front crank, with an 8 speed rear.

The big difference between the 5 and 6 this year is that the 5 has a triple front chainring, while the 6 has a single. I don't know what other differences there might be, but for $50, I would probably get the 5. I will say, though, that I have been perfectly happy with my 1x8 drivetrain here in central Ohio, where it is quite flat.

Some parts on this year's models are different than last year's (bars, tires, not sure what else), and I haven't seen them myself, but I love my X City D. It is very smooth, stable and comfortable, while still being plenty fast enough for my needs.

I also rode a Giant Seek when I was bike shopping last fall, but I didn't like it as much as the Felt. I'm sure it's a nice bike too, but once I rode the Felt, I knew that was the one I wanted. It just felt right (no pun intended) for me. I have a few bikes, so I don't ride the Felt all the time, but I'm pretty sure it would be the one I would keep if I could have only one.

The MSRP on mine was like $800 last year, which I think was high. I got mine on clearance for $500, and I would buy it again. Before I bought it I saw that the 2010s were on the Felt site, and what the prices were, but I liked the X City D so much I just bought it.

Let me know if you have any more questions. If you ride it and like it, I don't think you can go wrong with the 5 or 6 for the price.

Thanks for the answers. I'm going to call up the shop tomorrow to see if they have one I can test ride. My buddy is on good terms with the manager of one of the shops (its a local chain of three locations), so I'll buy from them as I'll probably get a good deal or some gear since I'm a referred customer. Really, the only accessories I plan on getting is a light kit. I almost always have my bookbag with me, which is how I transport stuff.

I have seen some other models in the Giant line that I think would also work out well. If I can try them out I definitely will, but I think for $500 the XC 5 will be hard to beat. We'll see how this goes.

I also think it may be a good idea to put on a wider tire than whats stock. 700x40? Would that be better for gravel/grass/dirt? Again, I'm only a beginner with bikes, so I don't really understand alot of the mechanics.

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Here's mine. I have different fenders on now (silver), got rid of the bar ends, changed the rack. Mine came with 700x37 Continental City Contacts. I really like those tires, but I think they run a little small, maybe like 35 or so.

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Oh, and nice bike :)

So, what did you decide?

Oh sorry. I wound up buying a Motobecane Mirage off of Craigslit for $45. Made it into a single speed. I figured that, for that cheap, I can just see how well a single speed would work out there. If it works, great. If it doesn't, I can just pick up a bike at the bike shop.

I couldn't try the X-Cities. My Felt dealer couldn't find any info about the 2010s, and thinks they were all out of stock or something. At least the ones I was looking at.

Before my recent bike purchase, I wanted to try out some of the X-City bikes.

Called two Felt dealers and neither one had any in stock. Apparently Felt isn't all that interested in selling these bikes.

Before my recent bike purchase, I wanted to try out some of the X-City bikes.

Called two Felt dealers and neither one had any in stock. Apparently Felt isn't all that interested in selling these bikes.

That seems to be true, or at least the shops aren't interested. I stopped in Roll here in Upper Arlington the other day to buy some tubes. I mentioned that they had Felt bikes now, and the guy said they were really excited about that. I asked about the X City bikes, and told him I had a 2009 model. He told me they don't carry those, that they have the Giant Escape City instead, and that it's a much better bike. Whatever. I love my X City.

Before my recent bike purchase, I wanted to try out some of the X-City bikes.

Called two Felt dealers and neither one had any in stock. Apparently Felt isn't all that interested in selling these bikes.

That's what it seemed like when I called my local Felt dealers. One of them couldn't find any information about what Felt had in stock, and it seemed like all the 2010s were sold out or something.

I was just calling around for 2010 X-City 2 and my LBS told me that when he called Felt they said that X-City is donesville for 2011. THey are no longer making it.

I was just calling around for 2010 X-City 2 and my LBS told me that when he called Felt they said that X-City is donesville for 2011. THey are no longer making it.

That's sad to hear. I sure am glad I got mine when I did, though. Rode it to work last night (and of course home this morning), and to get groceries yesterday. It's my favorite bike.

I guess maybe they didn't market it properly, or something like that, because it really is a nice bike (at least mine is).