Originally Posted by sknhgy
I started out with a Trek mtb. Then I looked around and bought a Raleigh passage 4.5. I love both bikes.
Am I wrong, but it seems like no one on these boards has anything good to say about hybrid bikes. Is there a reason, or is it some kind of bike snob thing? I have never felt comfortable riding a bike in a bent over position using these down-turned handlebars - even as a teenager. Now that I'm over 50 I like them even less. So I ride the mtb and the Raleigh.
Most of my (daily) rides last for a little over an hour on very hilly roads. Soon, I'll be going on a overnighter to a park about 20 some miles away. The bikes I have suit me for these rides.
Do older riders really use the road-style bikes?
Echoing a couple of others here, you've answered your own question: ride what YOU like!!
'Hybrids', including slicked-up mtb's, get little love on bike forums mainly as a result of a bit of snobbery mixed with several oft-repeated half and un-truths. In my case, I'm still on my 'roadified' mtb, although I've extensively tried/tested, even at one point bought, other bikes including full-on road bikes. ("My name is X, and I'm a bike-insecurity addict!") Why? Simply because, for the kind of riding I do, and in the conditions in which I ride, I've found that (so far, anyway), the 'slicked mtb' is what works, AND enables me to cover my typical routes as or more quickly, more reliably (no punctures!), and more comfortably than any other option. The bike cost a bit to get it to the state it's in now (alu. hardtail frame, rigid carbon fork, discs, 1.5" slicks, weight about 22lbs.), but it simply works: it's, FOR ME, the most effective form of bicycle I've discovered so far.