Can someone explain to me the explosion of hybrid's in 1990? I remember when they arrived at our shop. I remember hardly selling any of them.

After doing some exhaustive research on the internest for almost 30 minutes, it would seem than not much of anyone had a MTB-style 700C-wheeled bicycle offering in 1989. All of the major brands had them in 1990, and most had three-four at a number of pricepoints. By 1992, the high-end ones were done and most offered 1-2 entry-to modest level options. By 1996, they were mostly gone. I have had three of the top-of-the-line 1990/1991 models come through my hands in the last year, and I actually kept the one that fit.

How did this all start? It seems off that all of them dived in at the same time, unlike the slow perk of the MTB 5-10 years earlier. Did the large companies all get together in 1989 and say "this is the next big thing" when it sort-of fell apart like the fully loaded touring bikies of the mid-80's? Just seems odd to me and was hoping someone who was a bit further up the industry ladder than me at the time might have some insight.

I always figured it was a reaction to the MTB boom planned around middle aged 70's bike boomers who would never actually venture offroad. Worked largely because it still looked like a MTB to the untrained eye.

I worked in a few bike shops in the mid 80's and I remember selling them.

I remember the usual suspects giving them bad press (Bicycling!), saying something like they were a compromise so not particularly good for road or off-road riding. While there's a grain of truth in that, they're good bikes for other things, commuting, for example. Some of us clamor after touring and cyclo cross bikes, but the hybrids have a lot in common with them, and they're available in like new condition for cheap. I got one late last year, and the thought of a Brooks and drops on it have crossed my mind.

I absolutely LOVE my 1990 Trek 790. Amongst the first of the hybrids, from what I've been told.

I don't know if it affected hybrids, but there are at times funny import tariffs on bicycles (and bicycle components). I think that is why some early 80's MTBs had 650b rims and tires. Maybe a reason?

I'm not sure I follow what's being said here. There are tons of Hybrid bikes on the market and quite a few that are fairly high end. Like seemingly every other category of bike they've been sliced and diced into numerous sub categories and they've evolved to have suspension forks or carbon forks and so on but there sure seems to be a lot of them. All of the major manufacturers offer them. What else do you call a flat bar bike with 700 c wheels and v brakes or cantilevers?

I always thought the impetus was the success on the Bianchi Volpe which came onto the scene circa 1986. The Volpe had origins in the cyclo-cross bicycle but Bianchi was smart enough to market it as suitable for cyclo-cross, on (or off) road loaded touring and commuting. It got raze reviews in cycling magazines, as a bicycle suitable for both on and off-road and could do just about anything. I believe Bicycliong called it an "Adventure" bike. I still remember the review photo, designed to look like two ripped pictures pasted together. The rear halve showed a shiny bicycle with panniers, sitting on some asphalt. The front half was mud caked and sitting on leaves with a smattering of snow (cotton batting). Manufactuers caught on, did some refining to the concept over the course of 3-4 years and we ended up with the hybrid.

There were a few duty loopholes which some tried to exploit, there was a thread here not too long ago about one of these orphans.
Mtb's also were going suspension, at least in front in the 1990's so this was a way to get a "flat bar road bike" on the sales floor. It is funny how product managers see something and don't want to be left out.
I think for many folk they are a good choice, but still don't get much respect.

[/IMG]Not to question why, This old beater just fits me, size and style.

I have a new Raleigh Detour,, but the old Cro-moly Trek is my bike
of choice for every day ridding..

Up graded gears, wheels and tires. Same old brakes, all new of course.

(well, I don't seem to be able to add pictures any more)

Here is a link!

That didn't work either! Any way ,it is a black 720 MT.


I get a lot of comments on this old work horse!

Have you guys any clue what a hybrid is ???
That Trek 790 is just an ORDINARY bike with 18 speeds.
Same as putting a triple crank and a threadless stem on a old Raleigh, and you still have an ordinary bike.

I know because I have had 2 actual hybrids. A 1999 and 2002 Specialized Crossroads Comp. They have a 4"+ sloped TT and front shocks. One had caliper brakes and the newer one has disk brakes. I use 35mm tyres and generally avoid mud.

My Raleigh C-30 has relaxed geometry (72 ST/71 HT), clearance for huge 700c tires, cantilevers, triple, rack and fender brazeons. Think about it--it's a poor mans LHT.

Bianchi claims to have developed the hybrid as we know it, upright 2-3" rise bars with an upright stem, fattish x38 sort of knobby tires and mountain bike gearing with their '89 Advantage. we sold quite a few of them as it was the only one in our shop.

We also sold quite a few 26x 1.5 tired ATBs that were never used (or really intended) off the road.

I also read somewhere in Bianchis propaganda that they feel the '86 Volpe was a first step in the hybrid creation.

???

Maybe for the merkin market.

Geared Sport bikes were available back in the 30s. Lately, I have been lusting (and looking) for a 50s Bianchi Sport.

Beautiful, elegant, and predates the lowbrow moniker "hybrid." Lust indeed.

I've eyed the Volpe over the years. Is that a double or triple crankset?

From the same virus that causes city dwellers and surbanites to buy SUV's?

I've come to prefer the hybrid over the traditional 3-speed roadster for commuting. Especially when you're talking about where I live which is essentially country roads for 3-5 miles into town. The nine months Patti was in the nursing home last year gave me a lot of riding between the two alternatives, as I was alternating between an AMF Hercules 3-speed, and a 21-speed Schwinn CrissCross. At the end of eight months, the AMF was sold and the Schwinn is becoming the highest mileage bike in the stable.

Everything I've run across in hybrids has been the more traditional early 90's stuff: Horizontal top tube, flat (or nearly flat) bars, 3x7 pod shifters. I invariably add fenders, rear carrier and lower mounts for saddlebags. What hybrids have been evolving into I guess is what you'd call a comfort bike: rudimentary suspension including seat post. No thanks. I like the light(er) weight and road geometry of the traditional hybrids.



'91 GT Passage. My first hybrid. Never should have sold it. ***** bitterly about being so stupid for about three years until I came up with



'91 Schwin CrissCross, my current ride. This is a earlier pic, I've done a few updates (like getting rid of SunTour Accushift, campus pedals, leather saddle, and straightening out that rack) since this was taken.

I remember the Gary Fisher hybrid around then, maybe earlier. It was green with a MTN LX group...can't remember name.

What differentiates a hybrid from an ordinary bike?

Or more succinctly- what *was* a hybrid in 1990?

From your post, I infer you take a hybrid bike to have a triple, threadless stem, sloped top tube, front shocks and either caliper or disc brakes.

My *guess* is that the hybrid was to be a cross between a road bike and a mountain bike- of the day. So, an upright ATB geometry, 700c wheels and ATB gearing.

Here's the ad copy for the 1990 Schwinn Crosscut:

"... We introduce a bike that literally creates its own category. It's not a road bike, nor is it a mountain bike, yet it possesses characteristics similar to both..."

While the concept wasn't exactly "revolutionary" looking back at it- it may have been at the time. Keep in mind suspension and sloping top tubes were a ways off from being standard offerings at that time.

I bought this 93 Raleigh hybrid new so I could ride around the neighborhood with my kids. Now, 19 years later, my kids are all grown but both my sons have put many miles on it.

I have difficulty getting excited about this class of bike, perhaps because built into the philosophy is compromise. Sure, they're comfortable and versatile, but why are so many so heavy?

It was totally new at the time and I agonized over the choice of a Fisher or Miyata triplecross hybrid and a mtn bike. The new Koolaid had unicrowns, canti', Girvin, Indexed thumbies, sharkteeth, rack mounts, Brooks Conquests, beefier butted frames etc.

Bought the mountain bike. The hybrid glass looked half empty.

I think you're over a decade late to the argument. I think most of us know what a hybrid is. It's the 'cross' between two distinct categories. In the cycling world, it's the road bike and MTB.
Hybrids were born in the mid/late 80s. And to investigate the question of why the sudden industry interest? Usually it's the standard reason, one company had a bright idea that had market success. Others take note and soon followed. Saturation then was inevitable and demand subsided.
T-Mar and BianchiGirl stated that Bianchi was the catalyst for hybrid emergence. What followed would make sense.

And I differ in opinion that they all but disappeared in the early 90s. I own a 1994 Schwinn Crosscut, their top offering in the hybrid/crossover category. Schwinn even hired World Downhill Medalist Glen Adams, to be their Manager of Product Development. The Crosscut and CrissCross models had his design input.
Hybrids are still with us, just that the design definition has evolved with the years.

iab:
IMO, that vintage Bianchi is not a 'hybrid', just a road bike with an upright bar. You can then point to any number of similar bikes from that era.


edit...
My $0.02 on why so heavy, and the stigma of compromise....

They were heavy because most manufacturers viewed such buyers to be neither road or MTB extremists. Performance is likely not a priority. Many offerings were low end. But a few did release well-designed and spec-ed out models. Bianchi being one. Some are borderline production cyclo-cross bikes.
My Crosscut is full Cr-Mb DB throughout, geometry is sporting with a high BB, mid level Shimano group equipped, and comes in at 26 lbs stock. That's not heavy in my book. And a bit of parts swapping (tires, stem, drop bars, shifters, pedals) by me has it probably under 25 lbs.

As for the compromise argument....what makes vintage rigid MTBs so good and popular here as pavement pounders? The same qualities but only more so in some of these hybrids (not all are created equal). A rugged versatile road bike.

I have an '88 Raleigh Horizon, which said "mountain" on the chainstay protector and "CityScape" on the top tube after "Horizon."
Steel frame, 2x6 friction thumb shifters, single pivot calipers, knobby tires, upright steel bars with an upright alloy stem, sprung saddle.

Comfy bike. I did some path carving with it about a year after my wife and I bought a pair. Had to get both (steel) wheels trued.

I've since sold one, still have the other, and I'm trying to upgrade it to alloy Mavic 519's, a 2x7 drivetrain with thumb/forefinger shifters, lighter bars, and Panaracer road tires. I'd love to change the calipers if I found some decent wide ones. Great all-around bike.