Bear with me..I have never owned a drop bar road bike, so this is all new to me. First time Im getting to learn about components, materials, etc. Im looking for a bike for rough and fast city riding bike. Zero intention of gravel or cross racing. In my city, lots of bad roads, some hills, drivers not used to bikes all the time, lots of cars, I sometimes have to ride sidewalks and yes occassional light urban trails. So I need a punchy, fast nimble, stride efficient, obedient bike for city use (it would be great if I can take it for a weekend of touring IF I ever do that).

I tried the Fuji Cross 2.0 again today and loved its very upright position of the handle bars, nimble, sporty, agile,exciting.... but.... not so efficient in revolutions per stride....(more pedaling involved).

I compared back and forth with a Fuji Sportif road bike which was smoother, faster/more efficient per stride, upright too, just maybe a tad not as "exciting" as the Fuji cross.

The guy at the store explained that the Fuji Sportif has a 50/34 Crankset while the Fuji Cross has a 46/36. He mentioned I could consider changing the crankset on the Fuji cross from 46/36 to 50/36 for more efficient/stronger output per stride.

Thoughts on that idea? Worth it? Should I just look at more road bike and add fatter tires??

Heres the FUJI Sportif....which was nice but also got me wondering...hmmm what about the even nicer Fuji road bikes like the Fuji Gran Fondo series.....?

https://www.performancebike.com/bike...egoryId=400306

But then I also just looked at the higher tier Fuji Cross bikes, same series....some have Hydrolic and Im not sure how much better the components are over the 2.0?

https://www.performancebike.com/weba...7128%2C1186347