Originally Posted by
Grey.
I still don't get why a "specifiable set of defining characteristics" is a bad thing.
The CAAD8 has the exact same frame (and Sora drivetrain) as the road bike version, it is literally the same bike with flat bars. Is your implication that any bike with flar bars is a Hybrid?
HYBRID is a broad range of different bikes. I would say that even drop bar cyclocross bikes can be considered hybrids. They run the range from comfort bike to mountain bike to road bike.
Yes, a road bike with flat handlebar, flat bar shifters, flat bar brake levers is a hybrid.
I see in another post that you recently bought a Trek 7.3. If you want to be a hybrid snob, you might call that a light-duty, non-suspension mountain bike with skinny tires. "What makes the 7.3 a hybrid?"