rumrunn6

I had great success roadifying a hybrid for commuting 17 miles ea way. but it would have been smarter to just buy a good used road bike instead. which is what I wound up doing after a while

CliffordK

I much prefer the plastic clips over metal clips for commuting. I find they are much easier on the shoes.

However, something just seems a little nicer with the leather straps. The toe strap button ends are a nice finishing touch.

I've just been using a pretty simple Bell brand computer. Wired at the moment. Cheap. Don't worry about theft. The computer is nice, however, for monitoring current and average speed.

greengiant43

Yeah, I just got the cheap plastic ones. I figured they'd be good enough. I don't have an issue with hammering down but my feet sometimes do slide off the pedals so they should do just fine. Trying to do this on a budget so we'll see how far the hybrid can take me. If it comes to it, I'll upgrade to a road bike with some different pedals later. For the computer- I was just gonna do a Cateye 7 or something. Nothing too fancy but will help me see my speed at all times. Not willing to risk putting my phone on the bars even though Strava is awesome.


Good call on the tires too. I'll look into them. Probably stick with 28 for commuting purposes but something lighter with less resistance should be more up my alley.

fire

I have 25's on my Insight 1, and never had a problem, it's comfortable and responsive. The difference between those and the stock 32's is huge, and the 25's inflate to 110lbs.
For the money you'll spend, a tyre upgrade is well worth the cost. It makes hitting a higher speed much less effort.

KraneXL

I swapped to 28" Gatorhardshell (32" OEM) immediate after I got my bike. The good thing about hybrids is that they can accept almost any tire with aplomb. Not only were the upgrades lighter, but offer puncture resistance as well.

With the 28s, I can increase tire pressure and lower rolling resistance. The difference is noticeable in speed and peddling efficiency. I changed the tires only, everything else (tube, wheels) remained the same. If you spend the majority of your time on the road, I'd definitely go for it.

Bill Kapaun

I don't see your weight mentioned, which is important when deciding "how skinny" of tires you can use.
IF you are heavy, you have to pump your skinniest tires up hard as a rock, which can give "road buzz" on rougher textured pavement.
That can be hand numbing etc.
Not enough pressure and you can get pinch flats to even bending the rim when hitting that unexpected pot hole.
Very poor roads would require a somewhat "fatter" tire.
You have to add those into the mix.
If you have ultra smooth roads and are a lightweight, you can go super skinny.

RomansFiveEight

Just to add, I also ride a similar hybrid to yours with 32c tires. I dropped the stem all the way down (all of the spacers on top). Which I actually found a bit more comfortable, go figure. Doing so raised my average speed, without any perceived change in effort, by 2.5mph according to Strava. Literally overnight (did a ride, dropped the stem, did the ride again the next day. 2.5mph faster. And every ride since has been 2~4mph faster average than my collective previous rides) If I flipped the stem I could probably pick up even more speed. It really sounds like aerodynamics is the way to go.

KraneXL

First, 6'4 @190 lbs. And second, all of the above. But trade-off aren't uncommon in cycling. In this case, rolling resistance for some comfort (but still not as rough as a road bike), since you don't get anything for free.

BTW, the bike's design does a modicum of the work towards dampening the shock. Add, gel gloves and add another layer to that. But if you really want to ride long and hard, you will still need to chose your smoothest roads. Since it doesn't snow here, we're pretty good on that front.