I initially bought a hybrid, cannondale bad boy, for the crushed limestone rails to trails paths around here. The bonus was getting a set of 26 inch tires that I can swap when I want to go a little more off road. That was after owning a "comfort" bike posing as a mountain bike for a decade and a racing road bike before that from the 70's as a hand me down. Since the hybrid, I purchased a dedicated road bike and upgraded the components from shimano 105 to ultegra. I then took the shimano set and bought a used CX frame. The point of all this history is to tell you that I definitely notice the difference on the trails between the CX and the hybrid. Given the hybrid is aluminum and probably 26 to 28 pounds. The CX, on the other hand, is 19 pounds and carbon (heavy for carbon but I assume it's the 105 set that weighs it down). I ride the same trails on both bikes and I really notice the difference 10 pounds make. In addition, even though the hybrid has some front suspension, the carbon CX is still a much smoother ride. Granted I have a triple crank set on the hybrid and a compact on the CX, still I average 3 to 4 miles per hour faster on the CX and hills are so much easier. So much so, I'm actually considering ditching my hybrid and maybe getting a full suspension mountain bike for a few of the more challenging trails around here. And finally, I like the drop bars a lot more given that I can change positions throughout the ride and keep comfortable.