chadddada

So I am starting to look to get back into biking. It has been 10 years, which seems like a common number from the posts I have been reading ,since I last biked seriously (duatholons). I have been looking at some hybrids to take out on the miles and miles of paved trails near me, which also has a bit of dirt here and there.

What I have been looking at so far has been Cannondale quicks and Trek 7.x models. I anticipate paying ~600-1k just because I hate junk and want to get a quality bike. Also if I spend enough my wife will kick my butt and make me use it (j/k). While looking at the Quicks I also saw a really cool bike, the Bad Boy.

Is the Bad Boy really a hybrid? There are no knobs on the tires etc. Is this not just a street bike w/ a flat handle bar?

giantcfr1

When I bought my badboy it was marketed as an "Urban Bike". Mine is a disc so you can change the wheels easily to 26" and it's perfect for single track, so in fact it is a hybrid of sorts.

chadddada

What sort of distances do you ride? The position looks quite a bit more aggressive then some of the other hybrids I have been looking at. I am concerned that if I, having not been on a bike for a while, will get tired more quickly then I would on a quick/7.3, etc.

Also how are the stock tires? They look very slick - should I expect to not ride it in the rain or cower before I take a corner and hope the bike doesn't go out from under me?

Fiery

The tires are Schwalbe Kojak - high quality tires with exceptional grip in both wet and dry, as long as you stay on paved roads. You don't really need tread on bike tires unless you're going off road.

AlphaDogg

Isn't that exactly what a hybrid is?

Well, not exactly. There are a few types of hybrids. There is one type, which is basically just a mountain bike with slicks, and then there is a road bike with flat handlebars. Anything in between would still be considered a hybrid.

Cheers


Edit: Did I really just say cheers?

Edit 2: I didn't actually edit the post for this edit nor the last one, I just wanted to make it look like it was an afterthought to add these lines.

giantcfr1

My Badboy wasn't aggressive at all off the showroom floor. Plenty of seatpost option, there were plenty of spacers on the stem, and the stem has quite an angle.
Even though I flipped my stem, dropped to a 5mm spacer, the handle bars are still level to the saddle. When I bought mine I also had a choice of tyres. Any reasonable shop would give you the same option.
NOTE. Mine is a USA built frame so the geometry isn't the same as the Taiwan model.

qrachel

Hi: Just got the Marin Highway 1 (20.5) a few weeks ago, carbon frame with decent running gear and wheels/tires. I haven't ridden for about 10 years and I'm still in the minor aches and pain phase of getting my chi back :-) . . . Hoping to get up to a 20-40 mile ride by Xmas, maybe more.

So a couple of observations from a non-bike geek: - Geek, yes but not so much with cycling, yet! I'm still not sure I like the handle bar height and find my hands do get numb but less so as time goes on. The angle of my back isn't painful, but it's near the limit of what I want to endure, as I've some major degeneration around L3 & L4, and the angel of attack, if you will, is critical. However, since the seat is the other anchor point and currently adjusted to my pedal/leg lenght, there might be some tweaking here but it seems minor. I'm going to return to my friendly bike shop for a bit of consultation and some fine fit/tuning for my bike and me.

The bike is incredibly light and responsive and I'm a large/strong gurl, and I haven't tried to bend it too hard yet; all-in-all I'm really pleased with my choice of bike and feel the extra cost of a ultra-lite bike was well worth it. But as noted the one thing that doesn't seem quite right is the stem height vs seat height geometry (I did ride the Lucas Valley a bit before buying, which has the same geometery). I'm hoping a couple of cm or so will really transform my riding experience. Maybe, once I'm back up a to decent level of stamina and physical fitness this won't seem like the issue it appears to be now. We'll see. I think this tinkering is just part of the package if one is serious about their riding.

That's what a senior biker gal is trying to deal with as she gets back into riding shape. Hope this is helpful.

Take care,

Rachel

my Highway 1