In some respects it is. I saw a comment somewhere (not in this forum) ridiculing someone riding around the neighborhood on a hybrid. They could have just returned from a very long ride, who knows? I cannot ride a bike with low bars, due to a prosthesis in my wrist and a problem in the other one that prevents both wrists from extending back with weight on them. In addition, I cannot sit in the low position with my neck bent up to support my head for long without it locking and being very uncomfortable due to compressed disks and bone spurs. My husband has an artificial shoulder, so he too should not put a lot of weight on low bars. We could get road bikes and change the bars and stem, but we also need the suspension to ease the bumps on these joints. So what should we do -- sit on the sofa and wish we could ride a road bike like all the "real" cyclists, but can't, so don't ride a bike at all? Instead we just bought new hybrids and are using leg muscles that haven't been used in years, and really enjoying our time together on the bikes. Suspension + raised bar + larger/wide tires + lots o' gears = hybrid, the right bike for us.

Get the bike that is right for YOU and don't listen to the nay-sayers.