Originally Posted by pierce

last time I looked, the expedition had 26" fat tires and a low grade squishy-fork, while the crossroads was a 700c hybrid with a rigid fork. of course, they change things up every few years, I can't keep up.

upright bikes transfer the pain to your butt. they really are only good for cruising around slowly, for distances not much over 5 miles. when you start going offroad, you need to be able to stand up over the rougher stuff (unless you're on a full suspension mountain bike), this is really uncomfortable on a upright bike.

building some core strength (stomach muscles, like doing sit-ups and stuff) will greatly aleviate back and wrist pain from a forward riding position.