mitchg

My wife and I have had a pair of Trek 7300 hybrids for about 18mo now. We were not sure how much road vs trail riding we would be doing since we were new to cycling, but now we realize we do mostly road (and even have dedicated mtbs now for offroad stuff). Most of our rides are fairly casual, but we often tag along with friends who are more hard-core road oriented. We like the upright riding position of the 7300, but wondering if swapping out the suspension forks for something lighter and tires for some that are a bit more road worthy might help.

Any recommendations for a good sub $100 700c fork? I found this but it looks pretty low-end...

https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...20Road%20Forks

Also, what about good road/touring 700c tires? The current ones are 35c and the rims are 23c. I'm wondering if 32c or even 28c tires would fit. I've been eyeing these...

https://www.nashbar.com/profile.cfm?c...kking%2FHybrid

In hindsight I now know the 7300fx would've been a better choice. The question is if it's worth it to put some more $$ into "retro-fitting" our current ones to make them a bit lighter and more road-worthy.

Thanks,
Mitch

ggg300

If your going to be a road-e look out...you may just want to deal with your bike as is and save for a road bike...

new fork...new brakes....new cables...it will just keep adding...

RDW3261

I agree, I have the 7100 for trails and bought trek 1000 for riding on the road and am very happy. I am not hard core, like to ride both road and trails for fun.

v1k1ng1001

At the end of the day it is not worth the money to try to retrofit a hybrid bike so that it can keep up with a road bike, not even close. You'll spend a ton of money and not see that much in return for it.

Were I in your position, I would try to sell those hybrids ASAP and start looking at road bikes. There are several road bikes now that feature a flat bar. Check these out. They have roadbike components and wheels with a flat bar setup:

https://www.cannondale.com/bikes/07/c...ex.html#models

Several companies (Trek, Lemond, Giant, Specialized etc.) are now offering a line of road bikes with a more comfort-oriented, upright geometry, that feature the traditional drop style handlebars.

javna_golina

Conversely, if you get a racing roadbike, bare in mind that 90% of them won't be able to have tyres wider than 25c, mudguards will be extremely difficult to mount (if you even can), they generally won't be able to carry a rack and riding on unsealed roads isn't that fun or safe on 23's...

I say: get that fork, because it's cheap, sturdy and more efficient/useful than a rigid one. Keep your hybrid for touring/commuting/riding down the road, and save up for a roadbike.

dbc

I'm using my 7200FX for light trail riding and general utility, but I'm always pulled back to my ancient Trek 1000 for longer road rides. The fork and tire swap look reasonable, so I say go for it. But keep in mind that a road bike will always be faster. The main differences are:

A) The hybrid is heavier - even my more ancient $200 "10 speed" is a smidge lighter.
B) The hybrid geometry forces you more upright. I've removed the spacers below the stem on my hybrid, and re-adjusted the stem so that it is level with the ground, and it is still relatively upright.

But perhaps the best solution for you is get your friends to take pity on you and take out their mountain bikes while you keep the hybrids. You'll cover less distance, but the fun is the same.

mitchg

Thanks for the replies and feedback everyone. Truth be told, we really don't expect to do any hard-core road riding anytime soon but just wanted to give the hybrids a little "boost" if possible. I think I'll for sure be doing the new tires but wait and see about the fork swap.

If anyone could take a look at those tires and give some recommendations that would be great.

Thanks

Jose Perez

I own a 7500 hybrid with a lock-out capable suspension fork so all I can say on that is that it is WAY easier to go on the roads (especially hills) with the forks locked...no surprise there. I say go for it on the forks, a quick search on ebay and google shows a ton of nice looking cro-mo forks for under $100. I can't advise on the quality of one or the other but the investment isn't so high as to result in too much buyer's remorse.

As for the tires, I switched out the 700x35's that came with mine to those exact same Panaracer Pasela's and the difference was noticeable and worth more than the $21 a tire I spent t my local LBS. Bike handles a it quicker, moves a bit faster. Not that it made it into a racing machine, these are 25-30lb bikes after all, but they do fit onto the stock Bontrager rims and they do make a marked improvement. You give up a bit in comfort, once again no surprise there, but you make up for it a bit in speed/handling.

Hope this info helps.

mitchg

Jose,

Thanks for the reply. What width tire did you go with, 28 or 32?

-m