Hybrid bike questions.

I've been looking at a Trek 7700 and am curious of other's opinions of the bike. For $1100 it comes
pretty well loaded up with only a few things I'd change(seat, add disc brakes and a few other small
things). Can this bike handle some rough stuff? I'd be riding it mostly on pavement with an
occassional unpaved, sometimes rough trail. Can a good hybrid bike handle this or are these bikes
sort of 'jack of all trades, master of none'? My other choice in the was the Trek 6700 which is
built more for off-road. Should I opt for something like that and change it some(gearing, tires,
etc.) to handle some road riding? Thanks for any input,

Scott

 

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>, jmk <[email protected]> wrote:
> >Hmmmm... I went the hybrid route in the early 90's. I found the hybrid to be of a jack of all
> >trades and master of none. On the road it was serviceable at best, and off road it couldn't
> >handle much more than dirt roads or lime-stone trails.
>
> If you've got good balance and bike handling skills, a hybrid can handle some pretty decent single
> track trails, including rocks and ruts and mud. You have to ride it really slowly, though, to
> clear the rough stuff and plan on walking alot more than your mountain bike buddies. On rough
> trails, a mountain bike will be alot more fun, allowing you to ride faster and with better
> control, both up and down hills.
>
> On pavement, a regular road bike will also be much faster (for the same energy output) than a
> hybrid. This is especially true on hilly terrain.
>
> Hybrids are best for people taking short rides on relatively mild terrain who don't care about
> speed or distance. There are alot of people who take an hour ride on Sundays. For everyone else,
> get a real bike or three.
>
> Ken

Thanks for the replies,

I may only ride 4-6 hours a week but most of the places I ride are 70% pavement/30% dirt trail(all
in the same ride). I'm more worried about a road bike getting beat to crap on a ride then a mountain
bike not being fast or smooth enough. I have a spare pair of 02' Rockshox Judy SL forks that I can
swapout the included Metros on the 7700 for to beef it up some. I could also beef up the rims/tires
some later(although the ones included on the 7700 seem sufficient for my purposes). That 7700 looks
like a heck of a lot of bike for the $. I have another mountain bike(Giant CFM 4) that I can abuse
if I have a more rough day of riding ahead. I agree it's probably best to have a different
individual bike for each different type of riding but what if most of your ridng is a mix of
types(paved/dirt) each time? Maybe a hybrid with a lean towards the mountain bike side would be best
for that situation.

Again, I appreciate the input,

Scott

 

In article <[email protected]>, jmk <[email protected]> wrote:
>Hmmmm... I went the hybrid route in the early 90's. I found the hybrid to be of a jack of all
>trades and master of none. On the road it was serviceable at best, and off road it couldn't handle
>much more than dirt roads or lime-stone trails.

If you've got good balance and bike handling skills, a hybrid can handle some pretty decent single
track trails, including rocks and ruts and mud. You have to ride it really slowly, though, to clear
the rough stuff and plan on walking alot more than your mountain bike buddies. On rough trails, a
mountain bike will be alot more fun, allowing you to ride faster and with better control, both up
and down hills.

On pavement, a regular road bike will also be much faster (for the same energy output) than a
hybrid. This is especially true on hilly terrain.

Hybrids are best for people taking short rides on relatively mild terrain who don't care about speed
or distance. There are alot of people who take an hour ride on Sundays. For everyone else, get a
real bike or three.

Ken

 

In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
> I've been looking at a Trek 7700 and am curious of other's opinions of the bike. For $1100 it
> comes pretty well loaded up with only a few things I'd change(seat, add disc brakes and a few
> other small things). Can this bike handle some rough stuff? I'd be riding it mostly on pavement
> with an occassional unpaved, sometimes rough trail. Can a good hybrid bike handle this or are
> these bikes sort of 'jack of all trades, master of none'? My other choice in the was the Trek 6700
> which is built more for off-road. Should I opt for something like that and change it some(gearing,
> tires, etc.) to handle some road riding? Thanks for any input,
>
> Scott

G'day Scott;

I'm a very happy hybrid rider I do 130 - 150 k's weekdays and try to fit in a 30 - 40 k ride on the
weekend mostly onroad commuting durring the week and trail riding on the weekends, I can easily
maintain 25+ kph's with two fully loaded paniers on the road and the sprint upto 35+ if a need to,
so I do get passed by serious commuters on road bikes but it is fast enough for me to feel safe in
the trafic. and it get handle a bit of offroad and gutter jumping if I need to.

It works for me, YMMV

Cheers

Joel
--
First they ignore you, | Gandhi, being prophetic about Linux. then they laugh at | then they fight
you, | Joel Mayes then you win. | Sourcemage GNU/Linux

 

[email protected] wrote:

> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>
> > In article <[email protected]>, jmk <[email protected]> wrote:
> > >Hmmmm... I went the hybrid route in the early 90's. I found the hybrid to be of a jack of all
> > >trades and master of none. On the road it was serviceable at best, and off road it couldn't
> > >handle much more than dirt roads or lime-stone trails.
> >
> > If you've got good balance and bike handling skills, a hybrid can handle some pretty decent
> > single track trails, including rocks and ruts and mud. You have to ride it really slowly,
> > though, to clear the rough stuff and plan on walking alot more than your mountain bike buddies.
> > On rough trails, a mountain bike will be alot more fun, allowing you to ride faster and with
> > better control, both up and down hills.
> >
> > On pavement, a regular road bike will also be much faster (for the same energy output) than a
> > hybrid. This is especially true on hilly terrain.
> >
> > Hybrids are best for people taking short rides on relatively mild terrain who don't care about
> > speed or distance. There are alot of people who take an hour ride on Sundays. For everyone else,
> > get a real bike or three.
> >
> > Ken
>
> Thanks for the replies,
>
> I may only ride 4-6 hours a week but most of the places I ride are 70% pavement/30% dirt trail(all
> in the same ride). I'm more worried about a road bike getting beat to crap on a ride then a
> mountain bike not being fast or smooth enough. I have a spare pair of 02' Rockshox Judy SL forks
> that I can swapout the included Metros on the 7700 for to beef it up some. I could also beef up
> the rims/tires some later(although the ones included on the 7700 seem sufficient for my purposes).
> That 7700 looks like a heck of a lot of bike for the $. I have another mountain bike(Giant CFM 4)
> that I can abuse if I have a more rough day of riding ahead. I agree it's probably best to have a
> different individual bike for each different type of riding but what if most of your ridng is a
> mix of types(paved/dirt) each time? Maybe a hybrid with a lean towards the mountain bike side
> would be best for that situation.
>
> Again, I appreciate the input,
>
> Scott

A hybrid can be a fine choice for a city rider. Mine has 700 x 35 tires, light weight (compared to
my old mtn bike at least), fairly fast, mounts a rear and front rack & fenders. Goes faster than my
mtn bike too. All this makes it a nice "general" ride. Good for commuting, shopping or what have
you. This type is fine for bike paths, streets and decent trails. Hybrids are not mountain bikes and
are not sold as such. You might find a hybrid makes a good all rounder for you. Like usual, YMMV!
Best regards, Bernie

 

[email protected] wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> I've been looking at a Trek 7700 and am curious of other's opinions of the bike. For $1100 it
> comes pretty well loaded up with only a few things I'd change(seat, add disc brakes and a few
> other small things). Can this bike handle some rough stuff? I'd be riding it mostly on pavement
> with an occassional unpaved, sometimes rough trail. Can a good hybrid bike handle this or are
> these bikes sort of 'jack of all trades, master of none'? My other choice in the was the Trek 6700
> which is built more for off-road. Should I opt for something like that and change it some(gearing,
> tires, etc.) to handle some road riding? Thanks for any input,
>
> Scott

Here's my $.02 as a 2002 Trek 7700 owner. As others have noted, hybrids can be good all around
bikes. This bike cruises nicely, takes bumps in stride and offers a decent ride. I don't know what
you mean by rough stuff, but I wouldn't take it beyond an unpaved road or dirt path. On the road it
offers a quick, not fast, ride. If you only can have one bike, this might be the one.

Art

 

The 7700 is an excellent machine, but you can't put your existing mountain bike fork on it, since
mountain bikes are almost always 26" (559 by x) vs
700c (622by x) on the 7700. The other issue is that, in rough stuff, you're going to have trouble
steering out of ruts. If the trails are relatively smooth, a 7700 will handle it great.

There *is* yet another alternative now appearing. The 700c mountain bike. Fisher has a couple of
models, and these would allow you to but el-beefo tires on it for off road, and faster tires for
street use. The advantage this has over a standard 26" mountain bike is if you want to use it
extensively for road use at some point, since the larger tires will effectively have larger gearing.

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles http://www.ChainReaction.com

<[email protected]> wrote in message news:[email protected]...
> In article <[email protected]>, [email protected] wrote:
>
> > In article <[email protected]>, jmk <[email protected]>
wrote:
> > >Hmmmm... I went the hybrid route in the early 90's. I found the hybrid
to
> > >be of a jack of all trades and master of none. On the road it was serviceable at best, and off
> > >road it couldn't handle much more than
dirt
> > >roads or lime-stone trails.
> >
> > If you've got good balance and bike handling skills, a hybrid can handle some pretty decent
> > single track trails, including rocks and ruts and
mud.
> > You have to ride it really slowly, though, to clear the rough stuff and plan on walking alot
> > more than your mountain bike buddies. On rough
trails,
> > a mountain bike will be alot more fun, allowing you to ride faster and
with
> > better control, both up and down hills.
> >
> > On pavement, a regular road bike will also be much faster (for the same energy output) than a
> > hybrid. This is especially true on hilly terrain.
> >
> > Hybrids are best for people taking short rides on relatively mild
terrain
> > who don't care about speed or distance. There are alot of people who
take
> > an hour ride on Sundays. For everyone else, get a real bike or three.
> >
> > Ken
>
>
> Thanks for the replies,
>
> I may only ride 4-6 hours a week but most of the places I ride are 70% pavement/30% dirt trail(all
> in the same ride). I'm more worried about a road bike getting beat to crap on a ride then a
> mountain bike not being fast or smooth enough. I have a spare pair of 02' Rockshox Judy SL forks
> that I can swapout the included Metros on the 7700 for to beef it up some. I could also beef up
> the rims/tires some later(although the ones included on the 7700 seem sufficient for my purposes).
> That 7700 looks like a heck of a lot of bike for the $. I have another mountain bike(Giant CFM 4)
> that I can abuse if I have a more rough day of riding ahead. I agree it's probably best to have a
> different individual bike for each different type of riding but what if most of your ridng is a
> mix of types(paved/dirt) each time? Maybe a hybrid with a lean towards the mountain bike side
> would be best for that situation.
>
> Again, I appreciate the input,
>
> Scott