I don't think that many people transition from a hybrid to a road bike -- I think those people are just overrepresented on bike forums! Most people who buy a hybrid don't go all bike-crazy; they just ride their bikes.

I hated my hybrid (it was too big for me, too heavy, too slow, not quite suited to anything I wanted it to do), but I think most hybrid owners consider them to be exactly right for grocery shopping, going to the farmer's market, commuting, or taking the occasional bike trail ride. And honestly, if I hadn't had a husband who really wanted me to go mountain biking with him as well as on long rides, I probably would have been perfectly happy forever with a hybrid or my old Schwinn cruiser.

I know several people offline who have purchased bikes as a result of that Al Gore movie; they all bought hybrids and I don't really think they'll move on to road bikes. Today at the farmer's market, the bike rack was full of hybrids. If there is in fact a new bike revolution happening, I think it's a hybrid revolution. They are really the ideal bike for all-around city travel, and I don't think they necessarily need to be seen as something from which you need to move up.

I gave my nearly-new Specialized Crossroads to my niece, a single mom, and now she and her daughter use it for non-commute transportation, for fun, for grocery shopping, for exercise. It was not the bike for me, but I still think it was a great bike.