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 **** 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