Saddle Up

For people that like numbers this is what the bike market looked like in Canada in 2008. Click on the adobe icon on the bottom left for the detailed report. I find this kind of stuff exciting because it shows me that manufactures will have to pay attention to hybrid riders and we'll see more and more of the cool and interesting hybrid bikes coming to the market. Exciting times ahead for hybrid riders I think.

https://www.btac.org/members/annual_b...es_report.html

Panthers007

Wow! Hybrids have overtaken sales of the all the rest. This is quite interesting. I guess bike-mechanics better not put off completing their collections of hybrid-tools. Myself included.

Wanderer

I guess that some of us are just ahead of the curve, eh!!??

wonderbread

I agree, it is an interesting article. Would be interesting to see bike mfrs' marketing research data. I can only go by personal experience and my limited observational skills. But I see more 50 +(45?) year olds and Boomers then ever before on MUP's and rail trails. Most of them are on hybrids.

I used to be a roadie some years ago. Rode various upper mid range road bikes during the 70 and 80's bike boom. But when it came to buy bikes for my wife and me: I bought hybrids.

Given increasingly rough roads and more (not less) cars, IMO, MUP's, rail trails, and gravel back roads make for a more enjoyable ride. And hybrids handle those quite well.

NormanF

Hybrids and city bikes are do it all bicycles. If you have to own only one bike, that is the bike to keep.

wb416

A friend, just getting back into cycling with his wife, had me go to a few bike shops this weekend. He test rode many hybrids, and as a non-hybrid owner I was surprised and the variety and diversity of hybrids. If I was getting started over, I wouldn't hesitate to get one.

agc1976

I don't se mounain bikes on the report. Maybe they are considered hybrids?

ntime60

MTBs are probably the 26" class of bikes.

The data seems to point to price more than anything else as a driving factor. Hybrids are cheaper per unit than all other types with the exception of youth.

It makes sense if you think about it, people like me would rather buy a bike based largely on cost. Many of us entering/reentering the market aren't sure we want to spend >$500 on a bike we may or may not like 6 months down the road, but we still want a good quality bike.

cmujmu

Here we go again. I was born 1 month into the post WW2 baby boom - July '46. Throughout my life I have found myself an accidental "predictor" of trends just based on this demographic position. Six months ago I bought a hybrid (Cannondale Quick 4) and started fitness biking on local trails; paved and not. Last week, I bought another hybrid (used Specialized Sirrus Elite) so that I can have one for fast smooth trails and the other for rough and/or unpaved trails. The Specialized has a road triple and Schwalbe Speed Cruiser tires (super deal on these 700x30C tires at Schwalbe.com - $13.95). I know that for fitness its not how fast you go but how hard you go - even so, I still like to go fast within my limits.

I-Like-To-Bike

What are "hybrid-tools" and how do they differ from other bike tools?

xjken99

Well I guess my wife and I are a couple of the sheep pushing this trend. We just bought a couple of hybrids at the beginning of August. On the plus side they are very comfortable and it good to run with the pack, even if they are sheep.

MorganRaider

I was told by my LBS that a few boomers are starting to replace their road bikes with flat bar "fitness" hybrids.

bjjoondo 

Sometimes, you start out on a "bike type" and find it's not working out. We bought hardtail MTB's as we thought we'd be riding a lot of the area mtb trails but the Mrs. isn't very found of "bouncing down mountainsides" so we ended up "re-creating" our MTB's into more "roadworth" hybrids. It's been a fun project, different, tires, suspensions seat post's, bar extensions, racks, bags, etc. Ya I guess we should have really "LOOKED" at hybrids but our MTB's make great hybrids, I even pull a cargo trailer so it's nice having the "Heavy-Duty'ness" of the MTB frameset.

chipcom 

People who post in the hybrid forum, of course.

Wanderer

Nope! They be roadies who wander in here, by mistake....

Doohickie

This should benefit the LBS I go to; they pay lip service to high end road bikes and carry many hybrids and city bikes. Their other specialty is recumbents. If they can keep things going through the downturn, they are well positioned to serve the aging boomers.

I got a hybrid last year, but the flat bar came off in favor of an Origin8 Space Bar; easier on the wrists and hands.

Panthers007

I'm not in the habit of answering questions from that poster. However one needs to go over the common components found on hybrids and have tools that will remove/install Octalink-type BB's, parts and small wrenches of the sizes needed to handle v-brakes. Tools to overhaul pedals. Tools for installing a variety of racks and other support systems. Tools to install and apply proper torque to external bottom-brackets, and other components.

Basically someone who specialized in road-bikes should be ready for their customers to roll in on a hybrid and/or commuter. As MorganRaider alluded to in his last posting.

chipcom 

In other words, the same tools most of us have always used.

WCoastPeddler

Yeah, except the new hybrid tools are "special".

garysol1 

That is a very wide assumption. I find that a cross style bike is the best do it all bike. Difference of opinion possibly but tell me what a flat bar bike can do that a cross bike can't and better......
1. Cross bike with drops has many more hand positions than a flat bar.
2. Cross bike can use anything from a thin 700c road race tire to a 700x38 knobby and everything in between depending on the job at hand.
3. Rack mounts.....check.
4. Fender mounts....yup.
Maybe I am missing something here but I can tell you that my flat bar bike has not come off of the garage hook in some time.

Wanderer

What works for one, doesn't necessarily work for another. The best do it al bike, for me, happens to be a Hybrid.

Not that I dislike cross bikes. The handlebars usually associated with them won't work for me any longer.

And, for me, there is nothing a cross bike can do for me, that a traditional Hybrid can't do better..

chipcom 

Like I always say, if I had to have only one bike, it would be my touring bike. I think the lower BB, longer wheelbase and wider gearing range make them even better 'do-it-all' bikes than even cross bikes. Hybrids really do nothing well...which is why they are hybrids.

Hybrids tend to be cheaper than both tho...which is probably the appeal.

badger1

I would agree re. "very wide assumption", but OTOH so is the assertion implicit in the question "what can a flat bar bike do that a cross bike can't and better". I would turn it round: what can a cross bike do that a flat bar bike can't, just as well or better?

1. Flat bar: set up properly, and especially with bar ends, lots of hand positions excluding the drop position, which many, many riders can't or don't want to use. Further, some (self included) have tried and tried (and yes, I've had professional fittings) to adapt to drops/brifters; I just don't like 'em. Others do.
2. "use anything from a thin 700c road race tire to a 700x38 knobby and everything in between..." check. Examples? Giant FCR series; Trek FX and 7000 series; etc. etc. etc.
3. Rack mounts? Check
4. Fender mounts? Check
5. Disc brakes? Sure, if you want 'em (a few 'cross bikes out there too)
6. Suspension? Sure, if you want it -- some do.
7. Take part in 'cross racing? Probably not, but ...

I don't think a semi-serious or serious 'cross racer would use, say, a Surly CrossCheck for a 'cross race either -- that is, a bike marketed as a "cyclocross bike" which is in fact rather more a sport road bike "in the style of" a cross bike. Nothing wrong with that -- the example I gave is in fact a great bike, but typically bikes intended for 'cross racing don't have rack/fender mounts etc., and have pretty aggressive geometry.

BTW, I've no axe to grind here; I'm one of those crazy people who actually prefers to ride a cross-country race hardtail mtb on the road, with slicks

chipcom 

My biggest beef with flat bars is the parachute effect...unless you run aero bars or bar ends that give the aero positions of drop bars, you are nothing but a big ole parachute. Of all the factors that make cycling the toughest, wind is at the top of the list.

mikeybikes

The biggest factor here: Price.

I think that's what drives most people to hybrids. There aren't many sub $800 road, cyclocross or touring bikes. Hybrids have plenty of options well below that price.

Having said that, I wouldn't buy a hybrid again. I love the drop bars on my Sirrus and won't look back.