road bike or hybrid?

[Trek420]

bikeless in WI asks

"Aren't there also bikes called "flat bar road bikes" that are lighter than hybrids but comfier than road bikes for different terrains?"

yep. but also what grog says is right, you could put flat bars on almost any road bike even mine if I wanted to.

But I didn't think it'd be a good idea for bikeless to make a sudden switch to a road bike right before the Cindy "where are the brakes! ? oh, they are here"

Bikeless, do I recall a tale of you having a moment like that the first time you rode a bike with handlebar mounted brake levers? We both recall when all bikes had the type you pedal backwards

eg: of a flat bar road bikes:

http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkM...p?sid=06Sirrus

or and I need another bike like a hole in the head but when I win the Lotto I want....

http://www.bianchiusa.com/06_alfana.html


"My daughter got one in that category and loves it."

Not quite, Eli got a cross bike

she got something like the English model of:

http://www.specialized.com/bc/SBCBkModel.jsp?spid=12393

another cross bike:

http://www.bianchiusa.com/06_cross_veloce.html

or best of all

http://www.rivendellbicycles.com/htm...ndell_new.html

cross bikes are not angry bikes they have drop handlebars like a road bike, but knobby tires and lots of tire clearance so they can go off road too.

Ultimately I think Eli chose this because her commute not includes both road and unpaved trails (lucky gal!) and also because she plans to do the AIDS ride with her aunt in 2007 and didn't want to buy two bikes. With or without slick tires her cross bike should happily handle it all.

"My sister is steering me that direction too, now that I'm trying to do longer rides where my hybrid will be too heavy and too slow for it to be much fun."

You can do any ride on a hybrid, many a hybrid has passed me on my hoity toity custom ultra skinny tired road bike. But at minimum you'll feel held back by the highly resistant to rolling knobby tires.

It's fun to be able to go faster