newbie shopping for hybrid

[pardes]

You will get many profound and experienced suggestions here. I'm just a newbie with a new Trek 7.6 FX and love it very much. It's incredibly lightweight for the price.

[badgercat]

You will get many profound and experienced suggestions here. I'm just a newbie with a new Trek 7.6 FX and love it very much. It's incredibly lightweight for the price.

I'm glad to hear you love your Trek. And there certainly seems to be no shortage of friendly and helpful people around here!

I always trot out the Kona Dew and all the variations in the Dew line. Excellent hybrid, bombproof frame (as my LBS calls it) and the bottom of the line has decent components that can easily be upgraded later. http://www.konaworld.com/09_dew_u.cfm I rode mine on some long rides, commutes, and in a triathlon.

For your LLD, consider some custom cranks. A couple folks here on TE have cranks made by this guy: http://www.hscycle.com/Pages/cantsandwedges.html

I hadn't heard of Kona before... I'll definitely take a look, thanks for the suggestion, and the link to the cranks! I normally wear a lifted shoe, but if I start getting into longer-distance riding, I would definitely consider getting some custom cranks.