I know, that has to sound like stupid question, but hear me out.

What I wanted was an rougher-road/canal-bank kind of bike-- but one that was faster than my mountain bike, but could be used on rougher roads and trails than my road bike. We have all kinds of unpaved canals here in Mesa-- so I need to handle gravel and dirt, but I also want to be able to ride on the roads with decent speed to get to those canals.

The Centurion ProTour 15 is a touring bike-- it has wider 27x1 1/4 wheels, cantilever brakes and all kinds of frame lugs. My thinking was that because of the cantilever brakes and wider rims I could get some wider road tires (or even cyclecross if so inclined). But it also has Tange Champion #2 tubing and nice SunTour Cyclone components. I think it weighs 23 lbs.

The MB3 has Ritchey Logic Tubing, 16 3/4 inch chain stays, and weighs about 26 lbs. The MB3 already has some 1.5 inch Specialized Nimbus Road tires on it-- pretty good tires for my purpose.

So in a sense I have a mountain bike turned into a hybrid, and a road bike turned into a hybrid.

But my wife is insisting that I have too many bikes in the garage. It seems like one of these should go.

If I keep the Centurion I will probably try some wider drop bars, and maybe those top mount cross levers, both with the idea of getting a bit more stability.

If I keep the MB3 I might try some sort to trekking handlebar to give me more hand options.

At first I was leaning towards keeping the Centurion--it is so very pretty and nice to ride. Lighter and faster. And it seems like such bikes are hard to come by.

But I also have found that I really like riding the MB3-- it seems so much more stable when dodging potholes. And it does not seem that slow. And it is already plenty beat up, so I don't have to worry about more gravel damage. And I can tow my kids around in the trailer. Finally, I suspect that I could get much more for the Centurion than I could the MB3.

Again, I could see how this is sort of stupid question. The right answer is probably whichever bike I like to ride the most. I just can't seem to decide which one that is. Can you help?

Jared