edp773

According to Sheldon it is, "A hybrid is a cross-breed, the result of taking features from two different sources and creating something different, with aspects of both. The term has two common uses in bicycle usage."

Timber_8

HMMM looks like another thread with no winners.

Sixty Fiver

It was just a plot to suck you back in here.

How are things going ?

Timber_8

Dam look at that & I fell for it too

mikeschn

Mikey

jbchybridrider 

My bike wont fit any catagory so i call it a hyaroadmountain bike

AdelaaR

My bike is definately not a mountainbike because it has cyclocross tyres and a road 30/42/52 crank and A530 hybrid pedals.
My bike is definately not a roadbike because it has a mountainbike geometry frame and mountainbike brakes and rear derailleur.
My bike is definately not a commuter because it is way too sportive and high grade and doesn't have a rack nor fenders.
My bike is definately not a racebike because it has a suspension fork and is too heavy and doesn't have any carbon components.
My bike is definately not a cruiser because it doesn't have anything like a cruiser apart from being a bike.
My bike is definately not a TT-bike although it does have an aerobar but apart from that it is nothing like a TT-bike pro's use.

So ... What is my bike then?
I call it a "multisport hybrid" because it is a compromise between being fast on roads and being agile in forests

I hope that cleared up what a hybrid is ... a hybrid is anything that doesn't fit in any other category

qmsdc15

True hybrid

mike_s

"Hybrid" is from the latin "ibrida" (mongrel; esp. the offspring of a domesticated sow and a feral boar). It's whatever you want it to mean.

qmsdc15

Metisse is a French word for mongrel.

I read an article in the eighties in MountainBike Action about some guys who called their bikes metisse, precurors to the modern 700c hybrid, basically flat bar cyclocross bikes if I remember correctly with flat bars and maybe wider/knobbier tires for use on fire roads out west somewhere that had mostly dry hardpack conditions. At the time I was riding a proto hybrid, a Bridgestone RB-T touring bike modified to flat bar so the article interested me. The closest thing to hybrids back then were called city bikes, built on 26in wheels.

Is there room in your definition of hybrid to include fixed gear trick bikes?

xoxoxoxoLive

My bike is no longer a Hybrid, it is a SUV ( SWEET UNBELIEVABLY VERSATILE ) Bike ! Richard ( Laugh )

rawhite1969

Stop catagorizing me

Now let me get back to my 10 y/o Trek hybrid to which I've added a flat bar, road tires, fenders, rear rack, and triple bottle cages. Pulling a child trailer converted to carry cargo no-less.

Mine is a BIKE :-D

Wanderer

Any bike that does more than one thing well.......................

jbchybridrider 

There's no such thing as a pure bread hybrid.
And technically a FX is a hybrid a hybrid has many meaning's (sorry but i've been drinking to much)

xoxoxoxoLive

Someone correct me if I am wrong, going strictly off memory, nothing I have read ETC.....When I was working in a
bike shop during my Twenties, we sold Road Bikes like 10 speeds with drop bars, Mountain Bikes with suspension,
Full suspension weighed a ton, and hard tails, and MTB's with no suspension, cruiser's, BMX and kids bikes, and that was
about it. This was in Jax FL, I never liked riding 10 speeds with drop bars, probably had to do with my racing
MotoCross at an early age, or something ,who cares. But we did not sell ( Hybrids ), but people like me that loved
commuting by bike's, started buying Hardtail MTB's and making them street friendly, thus we were calling them Hybrids.
When I left the bike shop after 4 years there, do to a move, I dropped cycling, and picked up running, I was hooked
on it right away, lasted till my mid 30's , 35 or so, but knee started giving me to much trouble. So left working out
all together for the next 6 or 7 years, gained 75 pounds during that time. Was around 175, lowest ever with cloths on
at doctors office 148 pounds, that was at the height of my running career. Anyway after hitting 250 decided I better
start losing weight, bought a bike at a yard sale and started riding again, dropped to 200 pounds, then I really wanted to
get a better bike and go for the old 175 number, That's when I started Google bikes and found the market flooded
with Bikes called Hybrids, but a Hybrid was to me what it had always been, a cross between a MTB and Road bike,
The ideal was really formed to make a good commuter with upright riding style and could handle the short cuts,
as groomed bike paths did not exist back then where I lived, so we called them Hybrids. Thinking now, I do not
remember selling commuters either. But bike commuting in Jax FL was not all that popular back then, so was it not
the customers that coined the term Hybrid, and then bike manufactures picked up on it, then started creating sub
categories for Hybrids, sorry for the long read, but just how I thought the term came to be. Richard

xoxoxoxoLive

So basically a Hybrid was what ever you created, that was best for you. But almost always started off with a MTB
frame do to the up right riding style, and being able to except larger tires. We could cut through some trail in the woods,
jump curbs, but was still pretty fast on the road, hit pot holes, ride in the mud, Etc.. I remember having a friend who
loved his drop bar 10 speed, but then there just was places he could not go on it. And another friend who loved his full suspension MTB, but would kill himself
trying to keep up. Richard

javal

The term hybrid doesnt apply anymore here in Sweden. But as I recall it, in the early 90´s they were called ´trekking´ then ´hybrid´ and now the segment is called Sport. Hybrid feels like a two-way blend, in reality those bikes we refer to are more versitale. I think the term Sport are leaning towards the fact that many people find them well suited for training and sportives.

badger1

+1 Just today, in fact, I was taking a loooong look at the 2011 Giant Roam XR0. This is a European model that is this year available in Canada, though not the U.S. (the U.S. Roams are an entirely different series). Quite the bike: full XT, remote lock-out fork, Giant's SL alloy frame. All up, the bike weights (stock, w/o pedals) right around 25 pounds; a couple could be dropped off that easily. I'm very tempted

xoxoxoxoLive

I agree with you Javel, once the bike has lost it's versatility, it is more in the sportive or training style class bike.
I love the Giant Roam 1 2011 marketed here in the USA as a Hybrid, it also has lockout forks, disk brakes,
rides like a dream. Here is a link to the specs :https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/...11/7244/43949/ could you post a link to the other model, the Bike is selling
here for under 600.00 dollars, but I had them weigh it, an XL was like 32 pounds though. But could be rode as
a light XC bike, change tires and you would have a sweet street bike, commuter, ETC...the tires that come on it
are designed as street and trail cross tires, if I was not so happy with the bike I have now, it would be my next
bike, and they are so close no need for both, mine has longer travel forks, and 26" wheels, but other than that
pretty close. And I ride rough trails so I like the longer travel forks. Here is a link to mine : https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-us/...in/2280/32123/ I changed out the tires for faster rollers though. Richard

badger1

I'll try:

https://www.giant-bicycles.com/en-ca/....0/8081/45741/

If that doesn't work, just go to Giant>Canada>bikes>Roam XR.

xoxoxoxoLive

I was hoping someone like you who has never left the sport, would chime in on my long winded post on where the term
Hybrid came into the cycling world. But I missed this post of yours, and the one before it on the definition of Hybrid,
because the term can be used in many ways, Hybrid Bass ( fish ) etc..and did not read your whole post. I just
was re-reading all the post on this page and read the whole thing. Please take no offence to me saying nothing I have
read, had not even noticed what you had wrote, just did not want you to think I was taking a dig. And your right, all the bikes we called Hybrids had 26" wheels. Richard

xoxoxoxoLive

Thanks, worked great. WOW that is a lot of Bike ! Your right, nothing compared to the USA version. I printed out
the specs on both. Only thing the same I think, is the Brand name Giant, and the forks, that might just be the best
Hybrid on the market, and the price is very fair for all your getting. And 25 pounds.
That is almost an unbelievable weight. I have been saying Giant offers more for the money ! With a MSRP of 1800.00
dollars, I bet you might could find it a little cheaper also. If you were in the market for a new Hybrid, this would be my
choice. Nice Find, Richard

Sixty Fiver

I hate these noisy smelly things... they are much like the early motorcycles and have the same lack of refinement.

Sixty Fiver

Marketed as an off road / sport / adventure bike and it seems pretty nicely equipped for touring the back roads... it would make a pretty capable urban assault vehicle.

qmsdc15

An early motorcycle is exactly what I thought of when I saw it. I didn't see/hear the loud filthy thing in action, but I did see a lot of black oily gunk that had spewed onto the outside of the engine. Yuck!