DataJunkie

Respect in what sense?

supton

Are we in high school again? geez ...

DataJunkie

We never left. Excuse me but in light of that fact i am going to kill myself now.

avmanansala

I have a fitness bike. It works for me.

Feldman

Take my wife...........she has been a cyclist for 30+ years, rides a custom road bike that I made for her in summer and spring, but rides a Bianchi Milano--a hybrid with 26" wheels and an internal 8 speed hub--in fall and winter. She loves it. I think frame design is as important in hybrids as in any other type of bike.
My better half's Milano feels like a crisply steering randonneur bike with flat handlebars as do other Bianchi hybrid/city bikes/whatever that I've ridden. Not all companies get it right but Bianchi, Trek, Cannondale, and Kona seem to nail the frame geometry giving their bikes a good combination of pleasant handling and comfort. NOT an employee of any of the above companies!

alicestrong

I am a HUGE fan of the Bianchi hybrids, too. I've got an Advantage and it's the lightest, most easy riding bike...

I fixed a friend up with an Avenue and she loves it, too. Perfect city bikes.

I don't work for Bianchi, either...

donnamb 

The Breezers are also high performers, too. I remember reading the review on the '07 Breezers in Bicycling. The reviewer was surprised that such a heavy, upright bike could handle so well.

edp773

I suppose a Highway One, for example, falls into your category of low end componets on a hybrid/fitness bike.

Has anyone in this thread kept up with the specialization of hybrid bikes?

Blue Order

And to think that I just bought my girlfriend a (vintage) Bianchi Advantage to get her around the city. Now she'll have to put up with an easy-riding, pleasant-handling, comfortable, perfect city bike to get her from her apartment to campus and the shops downtown.

KLW2

Not quite, some have different geometry, usually have diferent stems for more upright seating, platform pedals rather than bear traps. They serve their purpose for recreational riders who want a better than box store bike..

pedalMonger

I'm into my third month riding a Trek FX, and starting to get in shape. I was running with the tires at about 90 PSI as I read this would make the ride smoother. It has 700x28c tires that say max pressure 110 on sidewalls. Few days ago I decided to harden them up to 120 I figure this would be okay, even tho its a little over what's recommended. WOW, it practically coasts uphill now, and the ride does't bother me. Anyway, yesterday I was putting along and a guy wearing his racer attire who was working his road bike overtook me. After he was about 6 lengths ahead of me I started hammering the cranks with my Converse high-top clad boats, and I smoked him. When I hit a red light about a 1/4 mile down the road, I looked behind me and saw him turning into a sidestreet a few blocks back. Maybe he lived in there, but I like to think he was detouring cuz he was too ashamed to meet up with me at the light.

cyclezealot

For around town they are ok. For greater distance I like more response from a lighter weight bike; all the while I feel quite comfortable in the drops. Ridden thousands of miles in the drops. No problems.

blickblocks

lame

H23Nutcase

Roadie rider not giving a fellow hybrid rider a back salute, instead giving us a cold stare down on our bike.

H23Nutcase

Sweet victory. Hybrids can over take roadie on climbing hills easily.

Longfemur

I certainly don't sneer down at hybrids. In addition to my one road bike (at a time, that is), I've owned a couple of nice hybrids in the past. There are some really nice performance hybrids out there that are perfect for everyday rides, especially ones with the family. Given the choice and the money though, I would prefer something like the Rivendell all-purpose road bike models (high handlebar, wide tires - but on a frame designed for it). If I can only have one bike though, as an inner urban apartment dweller, it's got to be a road bike. But I don't look down on anyone for their choice of bike.

To me, hybrids are mis-named. They are simply the current evolution of the everyday bike, just like if you go into any bike shop, you can only buy a road bike with a frame that looks like it came from a mountain bike. It's the style, today. So the everyday utility/fitness riding bikes also have frames that came from the world of mountain bikes.

pedalMonger

Maybe, but it made my day I thought he was rather lame in his go fast superman tights, clipped in, purposefully rushing past me.

Of course I was fairly fresh, and maybe he was on the tail end of a 30 mile ride, so I'm not going to get too impressed with myself

slyjackson

I have a Fuji Absolute 3.0 - 23". I have angled the handle bars down instead of the stock angle toward the rider and added end bars and aero bars. I changed the rear cassette to a 12-25 from a 11-32.I've also changed my derailluer to a Shimano "Ultegra" since my original cassette was not compatible with the Ultegra. I also changed the tires from 700x28 to 700x25. It seems like I picked up 3 mph just from the tire change alone, but it all could be in my mind though.

I've seen 27 mph on flat roads and faster on declines. My bike intimidates a lot of roadie race type since it looks more like a "Time Trial" bike than a hybrid .

I sometime sit high when I see one of the speed demons rolling up on me from the rear so I look truly like a hybrid rider. Soon as he gets a bike length ahead of me, I drop down on the aero bars and walk him down and go past him. You should see the look on their faces as I go by.

Bottom line, my bike is fast, I'm hanging tough with most of the fast ones out there and the only thing holding my hybrid bike back is the “Engine" and I would love to see you out there to prove it you.

chipcom 

I nominate this as one of the silliest threads of the year.

DataJunkie

Only if by silly you mean idiotic. One wonders why I keep posting.

alicestrong

Jeez what an awesome bike! Is it a hybrid or a road bike with a flat bar??

( I'm way too dim to realize this is a silly thread)

beingtxstate

+1 I couldn't have put it any better than this!!

shakeNbake

protip: "Roadies" don't even salute other roadies.

Does that mean that they are *******s? Not necessarily. Maybe he's burned out after doing intervals, maybe he's on a recovery ride after a double century, who knows.

UmneyDurak

and insecure.

pedalMonger

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSoykHwQBe0