I have a $320 'cheap' hybrid with probably 'cheap' components, it's steel and I've only been riding since May (hadn't been on a bike in years and years) and I so far can get to 32 km/h on a flat road and almost 50 km/h downhill and I live *IN* Vancouver, BC which has tons of hills, I used to think I had to get a road bike but now I think differently. I'm getting bar ends (thanks Les) to make climbing hills even easier. I ride in Critical Mass and ride for over 3 hrs and could probably keep on going.