hybrid bikes

"Doctor Phibes" wrote
So why not a modern hybrid? It has a light frame, it has a crankset
larger than what you'd get with a modified mountain bike. The tires
will not have the same preasure problems that occur with road tires.
Keep in mind i'm just trying to commute not race, not fitness
riding...just ride to and from work...to supermarket and back etc. For
those things i'd just simply use or get another bike. Great thing
about bikes, a great bike is a fraction of the cheapest cars.

They often seem to be lower quality bikes but there are plenty of mtbs like
that and all hybrids are not cheap. Some even seem like real road bikes with
flat bars. Commuting bikes tend to get abused anyway, especially in winter
salt & slush and cleaning isn't easy in the cold. Why wreck your best bike?

Many say mtb hubs are better sealed than road. And an upright position in
dense winter winds is not my fondest wish. Apart from that hybrids seem
better built for commuting, general bike needs. All seem to have fender and
rear rack brazeons, some even have lowrider brazeons.

The wheels would probably be better with some tightening by someone who knws
wheels and you should avoid the curb-jumping, sidewalk-riding style but you
know that. You want it, go for it.

Doug
Toronto

I commute on a road bike with a messenger bag. I have a set of 36 spoke
wheels and use Armadillo tires. The tires are 700X26, a bit large for
"roadies". Flats are not an issue. I replaced the quick release skewers
with Kryptonite locking skewers for quick and easy parking. I'm happy as
can be with what I have but I also have ordered a touring frame which I
intend to build up with racks, fenders etc. for foul weather/heavy loads.

A "hybrid" bike is probably a good idea for commuting. Just make sure the
components are good enough to hold up. The "speed" difference over a sub10
mile commute between race bike and a smell the roses hybrid amounts to a few
minutes. I have a special place where I stop on the way to work to watch
egrets in a tidal slough while I sip coffee from my stainless steel vacuum
bike bottle. Commuting is not racing. It's starting the day feeling great
and ending the work day the same way.

The best bike is the one that gets ridden.
I agree with Doug
Bob

You want it, go for it.

Doug
Toronto

I used a Trek 720 hybrid for commuting for years (8 miles each way) and it
served me exceptionally well. In fact, I still have it and ride it routinely
for recreational riding.

I'm jumping in here because a friend and I are making plans for a
cross-country bike trip next spring. He just bought a beautiful Trek 520
touring bike for the trip. I'm currently planning to stick with my 720
hybrid and make the trip with that. Reasons include unknown mix of road and
weather conditions, packing (or towing) lots of gear, upright sitting
position, and 10 years of trust and confidence in my 720.

However, I'd also be comfortable buying a new touring bike if I was
convinced that the 720 was the wrong ride for a cross-country trip. Any
insights, suggestions, comments, or other advice would be helpful and most
welcome.


On 8/9/03 5:11 AM, in article
, "Donny Harder Jr."
wrote:

I have been debating this myself the last couple of weeks as I have a
road bike on standby. I currently commute with my Gary Fisher Zebrano
(around $350), which is by no means a top-of-the-line bike but it gets
the job done. A friend of mine has the one-up (the Nirvana -- around
$500) with upgraded components.

I usually commute upward of 14 miles one-way to work and back, but have
easily done 80+ miles in a day. I tend to average overall 16+ mph, but I
usually travel around 19+ mph.

After these ten months and 2500+ miles of commuting, I would be more
wary of a road bike, especially in a city when you're start and stop,
dealing with cars and dodging things that go poke on the road. My LBS
asked the right questions and led me to a hybrid rather than a road or a
MTB. I haven't been disappointed.

But, then again, my ideal world has me owning three bikes.

---

In article ,
(Doctor Phibes) wrote:

I was reading some older posts about pro's and cons of hybrid bikes
and a lot of people calledthem slow, or a waste of a good road bike
investment. On paper at least I'm starting to see many advantages
depending on what you're using the bike for.

If you are riding over nice smooth roads and don't mind changing the
occasional road bike flat and tears the skin off your fingers when
your reseat the new tube, a road bike is great.

But if you actually have to pay attention to road, need to ride with
traffic, make frequent stops, avoid and sometimes being unable to
avoid junk on the road because you have two lanes of traffic on your
left and they aint budging and have granted you only about 6 inches of
space as they encroach upon you, you might want to be more
upright..you might want to have a bike that doesn't get flats, just
because...

So why not a modern hybrid? It has a light frame, it has a crankset
larger than what you'd get with a modified mountain bike. The tires
will not have the same preasure problems that occur with road tires.
Keep in mind i'm just trying to commute not race, not fitness
riding...just ride to and from work...to supermarket and back etc. For
those things i'd just simply use or get another bike. Great thing
about bikes, a great bike is a fraction of the cheapest cars.

Anyone see any reason i shouldn't get a hybrid? i'm thinking of a
trek, they make several. My goal is to just average 20 mph or more
that i easily did on a mountain bike with skinnies.

Sat, 09 Aug 2003 18:03:02 GMT, ,
Steve Moline wrote:

However, I'd also be comfortable buying a new touring bike if I was
convinced that the 720 was the wrong ride for a cross-country trip. Any
insights, suggestions, comments, or other advice would be helpful and most
welcome.

When touring, one spends much of their time on the drops because the
wind will eat you. Maybe all you need are new bars and controls.

Throw out anywhere from 20 to fifty percent of what you're planning to
carry. You won't need it. And if you do, you can buy it along the way.
--
zk

Steve Moline wrote:

I used a Trek 720 hybrid for commuting for years (8 miles each way) and it
served me exceptionally well. In fact, I still have it and ride it routinely
for recreational riding.

I'm jumping in here because a friend and I are making plans for a
cross-country bike trip next spring. He just bought a beautiful Trek 520
touring bike for the trip. I'm currently planning to stick with my 720
hybrid and make the trip with that. Reasons include unknown mix of road and
weather conditions, packing (or towing) lots of gear, upright sitting
position, and 10 years of trust and confidence in my 720.

However, I'd also be comfortable buying a new touring bike if I was
convinced that the 720 was the wrong ride for a cross-country trip. Any
insights, suggestions, comments, or other advice would be helpful and most
welcome.

Mostly agree with the comments of ZK. Your hybrid 720 will probably serve
you fine. Put some Conti TT tires on it and you'll be all set.

A couple comments. The drop bar suggestion is an extremely good one for
touring service. You spend quite a lot of time pedaling during a day
and being able to move your hands around different places on the bar is
*really* useful.

And of course, no matter which way you go across the country, you'll be
dealing with the headwinds. Going down into the handlebar drops *really*
helps move you along, although it won't help you much in the "psychology
of adverse winds" department.

A couple reservations concerning the 720. *Three* water bottle cages, as
on the 520 and any other serious touring bike, is *very* useful! You can
stash water elsewhere on the bike, but then you're using up space something
else could have occupied. Three bottles on the frame is great.

Touring bikes generally have a longer wheelbase. When you bolt panniers on
the back of your 720, will the heel of your foot clear the pannier without
trouble?

Remember, you're going cross country, and that represents a lot of crank
revolutions. If your heel is brushing the forward edge of the pannier
with every revolution, you'll either have no heel remaining, or go mad,
before you arrive on the other coast!

I have a 520 myself, and I've been cross country on it. It's a great ride
and a fine, very affordable, bike for the purpose.


SMH

Steve Moline wrote in message ...
I used a Trek 720 hybrid for commuting for years (8 miles each way) and it
served me exceptionally well. In fact, I still have it and ride it routinely
for recreational riding.

I'm jumping in here because a friend and I are making plans for a
cross-country bike trip next spring. He just bought a beautiful Trek 520
touring bike for the trip. I'm currently planning to stick with my 720
hybrid and make the trip with that. Reasons include unknown mix of road and
weather conditions, packing (or towing) lots of gear, upright sitting
position, and 10 years of trust and confidence in my 720.

However, I'd also be comfortable buying a new touring bike if I was
convinced that the 720 was the wrong ride for a cross-country trip. Any
insights, suggestions, comments, or other advice would be helpful and most
welcome.


I'd go with the hybrid because of exactly what you said, you don't
know what's ahead of you. I went on a lil bike trip with a touring
bike. It was only suppose to be 60 miles. I got my first flat 20 miles
in. Psychologically it hurt me. I panicked, couldn't even find my pump
and tubes in the trailer! lol You will meet friendly people along the
way. Someone gave me a ride closer to town(bike shop), I walked some
but got it fixed and was on my way. It was a heat related pinch, 85
degrees at 5am. I wound up having another flat that day if memory
serves me right lol ride turned into about 110 miles.

If i had a hybrid i would have been in better shape...if that hybrid
had a handle bar extention to drop down i would have been golden. Even
on my old mountain bike i used to lean over the bar and rest my elbows
still pedaling hard...I saw improvement over head winds. Simple
modifications should be most useful but the greatest attribute is you
knowing that bike, your body is probably one with it..an extension of
you...take aul silver along you'll appreciate the company ;-)

Great comments by several posters. Much appreciated.

Regarding hydration and packs, my plans have been to carry two water bottles
on the frame, but actually rely on a Camelback Rocket for primary hydration
needs.

In terms of the packs, I've been planning on using a BOB trailer. Still
weighing the pros and cons of that, but if the panniers interfere with
peddling, then the decision gets made for itself.

Unless, of course, I spring for a new 520! g I'm "this close" to just
going for a new bike, but really believe I can rely on "old purple" (vice
"Silver") to carry me along. And high concern about flats is part of my
motivation. In ten years on the 720, I've never had a flat (knock, knock).
Now that I've said that and jinxed myself, I'll have one every day from now
on.

Thanks again for the great advice!


On 8/9/03 3:00 PM, in article , "Stephen
Harding" wrote:

Steve Moline wrote:

I used a Trek 720 hybrid for commuting for years (8 miles each way) and it
served me exceptionally well. In fact, I still have it and ride it routinely
for recreational riding.

I'm jumping in here because a friend and I are making plans for a
cross-country bike trip next spring. He just bought a beautiful Trek 520
touring bike for the trip. I'm currently planning to stick with my 720
hybrid and make the trip with that. Reasons include unknown mix of road and
weather conditions, packing (or towing) lots of gear, upright sitting
position, and 10 years of trust and confidence in my 720.

However, I'd also be comfortable buying a new touring bike if I was
convinced that the 720 was the wrong ride for a cross-country trip. Any
insights, suggestions, comments, or other advice would be helpful and most
welcome.

Mostly agree with the comments of ZK. Your hybrid 720 will probably serve
you fine. Put some Conti TT tires on it and you'll be all set.

A couple comments. The drop bar suggestion is an extremely good one for
touring service. You spend quite a lot of time pedaling during a day
and being able to move your hands around different places on the bar is
*really* useful.

And of course, no matter which way you go across the country, you'll be
dealing with the headwinds. Going down into the handlebar drops *really*
helps move you along, although it won't help you much in the "psychology
of adverse winds" department.

A couple reservations concerning the 720. *Three* water bottle cages, as
on the 520 and any other serious touring bike, is *very* useful! You can
stash water elsewhere on the bike, but then you're using up space something
else could have occupied. Three bottles on the frame is great.

Touring bikes generally have a longer wheelbase. When you bolt panniers on
the back of your 720, will the heel of your foot clear the pannier without
trouble?

Remember, you're going cross country, and that represents a lot of crank
revolutions. If your heel is brushing the forward edge of the pannier
with every revolution, you'll either have no heel remaining, or go mad,
before you arrive on the other coast!

I have a 520 myself, and I've been cross country on it. It's a great ride
and a fine, very affordable, bike for the purpose.


SMH

Steve Moline wrote:

Regarding hydration and packs, my plans have been to carry two water bottles
on the frame, but actually rely on a Camelback Rocket for primary hydration
needs.

I guess the camelback is gaining popularity even among road bikers.

Personally, I don't like having anything on my back while riding, especially
while on tour where it might be there for the entire day, several days running.

In terms of the packs, I've been planning on using a BOB trailer. Still
weighing the pros and cons of that, but if the panniers interfere with
peddling, then the decision gets made for itself.

I think trailers are also gaining in popularity for touring purposes. They
look like a very useful way to haul stuff, but I'm still a traditionalist
and will continue to tie/stuff equipment on to the bike itself.

Unless, of course, I spring for a new 520! g I'm "this close" to just
going for a new bike, but really believe I can rely on "old purple" (vice
"Silver") to carry me along. And high concern about flats is part of my
motivation. In ten years on the 720, I've never had a flat (knock, knock).
Now that I've said that and jinxed myself, I'll have one every day from now
on.

I don't think flats would be any more prevalent on a touring bike, with
touring tires than on any hybrid. I presume you will NOT be using the common
hybrid knobby type tires. You really need to run road tires, and I've found
the Avocet Cross and Conti Top Touring to be about the best you can use. I
run strictly Contis now on my touring bike and haven't had them flat on me
in years.

But yes...you've probably jinxed yourself now, no matter what tire you run!


SMH

Steve Moline wrote in message ...
Great comments by several posters. Much appreciated.

Regarding hydration and packs, my plans have been to carry two water bottles
on the frame, but actually rely on a Camelback Rocket for primary hydration
needs.

In terms of the packs, I've been planning on using a BOB trailer. Still
weighing the pros and cons of that, but if the panniers interfere with
peddling, then the decision gets made for itself.

Unless, of course, I spring for a new 520! g I'm "this close" to just
going for a new bike, but really believe I can rely on "old purple" (vice
"Silver") to carry me along. And high concern about flats is part of my
motivation. In ten years on the 720, I've never had a flat (knock, knock).
Now that I've said that and jinxed myself, I'll have one every day from now
on.

Thanks again for the great advice!



Good luck with aul' purple!
I've never used panniers before, i have a burley trailer and like it.
If you make sure everything you take is micro, ie; travel shampoo,
soap, etc it wont feel like pulling the weight since it will be
rolling by itself, not making you feel like you have ankle weights
which I suspect panniers feel like.

Good luck and watch out for roofing nail they're a killer ;-)