ThinLine

A Crosstour Terrain L.

JohnDThompson 

Sure. It's not a track bike, and it's not an off-road bike, so that makes it a road bike, right?

But it's not a road racing bike.

ilovecycling

It made me laugh because he said it was narrower, but 28c is considered fat for road bikes. This gives it away that the bike was not designed to be a "real" road bike, which is what you were wanting to know. The salesman is clearly not a roadie either. Just a guy trying to make a buck by selling you something you wanted.

xoxoxoxoLive

It's all good, thought it sounded funny myself. But it has me wondering, why even design a bike like this ? Would not take it off road, I don't think the wheels are built strong enough for a daily commuter, not aerodynamic for a road bike, maybe just riding it around for exercise I guess. More questions than answers now.

zazenzach

that guy has an interesting accent

awesomejack

Did he purposefully mispronounce almost everything?

xoxoxoxoLive

I can't say that someone didn't warn me, not to post on the Road Cycling Forum. Unless you had thick skin and was ready to get FLAMED ! You might have just politely corrected me on the words I mispronounced, Oh but that would have took good character. Which you seem to have misplaced on purpose. Just Sayimg...

a1penguin

Does it matter if the bike is a road bike? Do you like it? Does it fit you well? Does it tide in the surfaces you want to ride on? Based on *this forum* most of the road bikes mentioned are or pictured have drop bars, and most people here would say no. I wouldn't be surprised if many people here with multiple bikes have a commuter/hybrid style bike.

abstractform20

and a cyclocross bike is an off-road road bike.
and a hybrid is an upright-commuter-flat-bar road bike.
and a mountain bike is a flat-bar, mountain road bike.

if i put slicks on an mtb then its a flat-bar road bike. but when i add drops, it becomes a racing road bike.

xoxoxoxoLive

Looked it up just for fun, came in Red in 2009, with Road Bike components.

Link :https://www.diamondback.com/bikes/per.../insight-3-09/

Shimano Tiagra 30/39/50t
Shimano R443 FB F. Derailleur
Shimano Tiagra Rear
ShifterShimano SL-R440/Sl-R441 9spd

Shimano's series of flat-handlebar components was created to give you the feel of a mountain bike cockpit on the chassis of a sleek and fast road bike. With 8, 9 and 10-speed versions, the configurations are endless. Visit your local dealer to see how these components could be added to you road bike. : (Copied from Shimano's Website)

That would seem to make that year a (Flat Bar Road Bike) for real !

With the bikes frame geometry, you could never add, say suspension forks...

So if the 2009 came with drops, would that make it a ROAD BIKE ?

X-LinkedRider

+1k, It seems the general population on here has a huge issue distinguishing road racing bikes from any normal road bike. Here on the road forums, our "racing" style road bikes are all just classified as road bikes. But JohnD is absolutely correct. It can easily be a road bike and does not have to fit the geometry of a Road racing bike (Drop handlebars, brifters, caliper brakes, 23c tires)

Rapidoyfurioso

+1

AlphaDogg

Because I'm from the hybrid forum, I'll tell you in the most polite a manner that I know. I HATE it when people call them "front forks" or "a pair of forks." It is a fork. What do you call the utensil that you eat with? A pair of forks?

Sorry if that felt rude. I'm in the road forum so maybe some of it rubbed off.

Some people are calling your bike a mountain bike. WRONG.

If this bike is a mountain bike, what is mine? 25c slicks, road saddle, road bottle cage, road-oriented gearing (though it could take me on a CX course quite easily). I have a 7spd Shimano Acera MTB drivetrain and MTB bars/barends/grips/shifters and MTB geometry. Does that make it a MTB? I think NOT. It is just a hybrid. A highly customized hybrid that is perfect for me.

xoxoxoxoLive

As always, I respect your post and knowledge. You have to know that I was never comparing it to a (RACING BIKE), I do shop at the LBS's, and have ridden some around the 6 to 7k range. And realize they can double up from there, if not more. I have test rode some entry models, around 1500.00 dollars, and they do not seem to perform any better than the Insight 3 or 2 for that matter. When I hit the 3000.00 dollar mark or so, there is a very noticeable difference. My original post only was questioning, that it seemed like a Road Bike, and not really a Hybrid. Because there really is no other good purpose for it, except maybe commuting. Which there are plenty of riders doing that on Racing Bikes. Richard

xoxoxoxoLive

Thanks AlphaDog, (got it, Front Fork)

RubberLegs

Much closer to road bike than mountain. Oh Oh....the '88 Bridgestone 550 ROAD BIKE I just got has 700 28's on it...does that mean it isn't a road bike any more? They do handle our rough city streets with a bit more grace than my 23s, we have a LOT of brick cobbled streets, and high pressure 23s can really rattle the teeth! Next thing, a road bike HAS to be CF or it isn't a road bike? Now leaving and going back to C & V Land! ;-), the land of iron!!!

X-LinkedRider

My comment was directed more towards the people just jumping the on 'Mountain Bike" bandwagon because it does not have drop handlebars and it does have trigger shifting. I agree with you that it is more of a road bike than a mountain bike for sure. 700c wheels auto remove it from mountain biking category and place it into some section of ROAD category. The frame only accepts 700c wheels, which makes it a road frame. (A suspension fork does detract from the road qualities though) and pushes it into more of a commuter/comfort bike. (Which it isn;t exactly a comfort bike either) That leaves us with the Mutt that it is. A road hybrid.

X-LinkedRider

When you're all done blowing up our maintains for the last remaining bits of iron, the green movement would like it's cycling community back.

You are totally correct though. Just because it has 28's or even 32's on it, doesn't make it a mountain bike or even not a road bike. Just makes it not equipped the way 41's Hot or Not says it should be equipped. By the way, those Bridgestones were incredible bikes. I had an MB4 that was awesome. It was just too big.

RubberLegs

My IRON bikes were made DECADES ago, CR bikes are made from OIL being pumped TODAY....and the iron ones will outlast the CF most likely, sooooooo....that bucket don't hold water! ;-)
( aluminum is probably worse! ) :-P

I'm mostly jealous because I can't afford CF! ;-)

AlphaDogg

They haven't made bikes out of iron for a LONG time (if ever). You probably have steel. Steel=Fe+Cr. Iron=Fe.

Juan Foote

The industry is working on a separation between "hybrid" and "city" (or flat bar road bike) as a marketing ploy. Typically the difference will be very minor between the two. Both will often have MTB type shifters due to the flatbar. The "city" bike normally runs a 700c tire that is narrow (25-32) but the "hybrid" will often have front suspension along with 26" or wide (32+) tires.
Specialized has a full carbon city bike called the Sirrus that is a damned nice riding machine, with a whole lot of "roll down" tech from the road bikes. IMO it is an exciting niche for those who wish to have a fairly quick road machine but don't want drop bars, or tires that ride in dirt.

fishymamba

My experience is the opposite, there was significant performance increase till the $2500 mark, from there...not so much. Of course the performance difference was negligible, but I did feel something.
The one bike that amazed me was the Cannondale EVO, but of course it was around the $10K mark.

xoxoxoxoLive

That Specialized Sirrus series you are making reference to, has one model that is the EXACT same bike, as one of there Road Bikes.
About a month ago I was in the Bike Chain, and the guy was showing me in the catalog, that they were the same bike except for the drops. He had the Road Bike in stock though, and was showing me the Hybrid from the catalog. Same frame, wheel set, drive train, Etc.. Could not believe it, there is a thread on BF somewhere about it. All they did was put on a Flat Bar, and change the shifters.

xoxoxoxoLive

You may very well be right, my experience is very limited on this topic. I just test rode a few entry level Road Bikes, (around the same price), and was comparing the shifting etc.. to a good Hybrid. Only difference seemed like one just came with drop bars. Then jumped on some top end models, and could tell the quality difference right away. We both could be right, from our own perspective. Where you probably have ridden many styles, at different price levels, I have not.

abstractform20

@ whoever said mtb are different from road because road bikes have 700c wheels...

congratulation offisir!

a 29er--> 29" wheel = same as 700c wheel. now rim width and other factors may vary, but wheel size does not determine bike category.