So what, exactly, IS a "hybrid" bike? I've never been quite sure of the distinction between a "Hybrid" vs a "Comfort" bike. Just curious since someone called my lovely Gunnar a comfort bike the other day...

To my understanding, a comfort bike is something like the Electra Townie or a beach cruiser - something with wide tires, perhaps a 3 speed, perhaps more, and probably has swept-back bars. I could be wrong there, but that is my understanding.

My sweet Plum Blossom is almost a pure rigid mountain bike - outside of the road fork that is too narrow to take true mountain bike tires. Frame, drive-train and bars are all mountain. Interestingly enough it wasn't my intention to have a custom rigid mountain bike frame, it was simply the result of meeting my fitting needs and riding desires. I can ride all day long on her with no pain, and she feels SO much better than my cushy tank AKA LHT (which feels mighty fine herself).

The person who called her a comfort bike quite obviously meant it as an insult (why would I have a custom "COMFORT" bike???). I pretended to be clueless and not catch the sneer in voice and expression and simply said something along the lines of how wonderful it is that I can ride her all day long without pain and left it at that.

Anyway, that got me to wondering about the differences between custom and hybrid - I assume that the road fork makes her a "hybrid", but what she IS is my sweet purple lovely bike - she needs no category