Last spring I overhauled a 1992 (or 1993?) Giant Option, a high-tensile steel hybrid that must weigh 35 pounds. It was cheap when I bought it as a graduate student, and that was its chief appeal for me at the time. The bike had been sitting in my garage unused for ten years, and I did the overhaul as a project to learn how to wrench on bikes, figuring it wouldn't matter if I messed it up beyond repair. It's not an upright ride because I put flipped North Road bars on it, but it wasn't super upright even when it had flat bars.

Now I find myself reaching for that bike on most weekday mornings. I still grab the Bianchi for weekend rides and the Omafiets for wet or dark rides, but the old hybrid has a definite appeal.