Originally Posted by
UBUvelo
that is about the best and most honest and confirming info i've gotten here in the last few weeks.
i trust my gut, but there is a balance to knowing how to ask questions and get that accurate/dead-on response.
i think i've been looking for a reason to get rid of this bike i have (trek 16.5 navigator 200)...a comfort bike is a comfort bike they say...but my minimal changes have turned this into a really megahybrid, useful in more applications than i would've thought. what might make it even more useful is simply have two sets of tires on hand for quick switch outs.
two things this bike won't be doing and that is no problem: hardcore mtbiking...competitive road/track. almost anything in between is quite doable.
now it's a mean little urban-utility bike that hits alot of off-road with a snarl. even with it's shocks to be removed soon
That sounds very sensible. An even more extreme example might be one of the MTB based 26'' crossers that quite a few people on Retrobikes (probably the most mechanically adroit of all cycling forums) have built as all-rounders - tough as hell, superb braking and cornering from the fat contact patch, damn near as fast as a race bike. Sort of like a Spec Tricross but more so. This is a nice one:
This one is singlespeed, but I've also seen them built up with bar end shifters and brifters (you just need to change the front derailer for a road one.)