Originally Posted by
LinebackerU
If somebody says, "I think I want to get into cycling" then I'd say a hybrid is an extremely poor idea. Worst-case, the person doesn't enjoy it and the bike sits in the garage. Best-case, the person really enjoys riding and very quickly wants to upgrade to a real road bike.
For your wife, perhaps a hybrid would be fine. However, the one you've linked to costs $1350. Surely there's a cheaper one that would do the job.
I just linked the general series, I definitely wouldn't get the highest end one for her or myself. If anything it would be the Rapid 3 for $600.
Thanks for all of the replies so far, you guys are definitely getting some good points across.