1st bike - do you think it's a bad idea to go straight for a road bike

[RWright]

I also hear carbon forks can't be repaired easily, so would an expensive carbon fork bike be suited for a relatively new commuter on dodgy roads who may have a few gentle falls, or does it take much more serious falls to cause serious irreparable damage to carbon forks?

It may just be me but I am not going to be keeping any fork that needs "repaired", no matter what the material. If you suffer a hit that hard only thing you probably will want repaired is you.

 

[SWSteve]

I have a roadie as I wanted a bike for weekends/hopefully completing triathlons with...and also the commute.
On my commute one road is atrocious, patchy/broken surface - however I've never struggled to manage it on either 25s or a 25 a 23.

 

[bozmandb9]

I bought a hybrid a couple of years ago, and never really got into cycling, I didn't find it much fun to ride for some reason, I know others have a very different experience, but for me, the hybrid was always fine just when going out with the family on a family ride, I did the occasional longer ride, but they always made me want t a road bike! So I got one, and I love it, BUT, whilst I thought about selling the hybrid, I'm so glad I didn't, since it's ideal for family rides, so for me, the ideal is both! Or how about a tourer?

 

[HLaB]

I went riding with my buddy last night. We did 17 miles in 57 minutes at an average speed of 18.2 mph
I was on a Defy road bike, he was on a rapid 2 flat bar hybrid.
The only time I had a very slight advantage was on a downhill where I was on the drops and could really tuck into the wind.

If its flat or not windy the two bikes (a dropped road bike and a flat bar road bike; hybrid is too broad a term ) are comparable but there's not many places like that. Before I converted my flat bar sirrus to dropped bar I'd say it was comparable in those conditions but in the more likely event it wasn't it would be down overall.

 

[HLaB]

Thanks for the many replies. I didn't expect to generate such a healthy discussion. I only considered a road bike because so many members of various forums say they very quickly switched to a road bike and express their regret in buying a hybrid.

I will be sticking to mainly roads. But there are areas during my journey where the surface is patchy, but not quite a pothole..similar to the following pic

http://www.saddleworthnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/photo61.jpg

Do most road bikes handle this sort of surface well? Vickster mentioned decent tyres on a road bike should handle poor surface, what tyres are considered decent?

Also, I hear from friends that carbon fork on a road bike handles poor surfaces better? Is this correct? And would that be for road surfaces as shown in photo and maybe slightly worse?

I also hear carbon forks can't be repaired easily, so would an expensive carbon fork bike be suited for a relatively new commuter on dodgy roads who may have a few gentle falls, or does it take much more serious falls to cause serious irreparable damage to carbon forks?

Finally, can you come off a 4 inch kerb safely on a road or hybrid without suspension without causing damage to the bike?

A road bike will handle that but a lot depends on the rider.
Carbon Forks won't absorb everything but they will inherently dampen road noise.
Carbon Forks as you say can't be repaired but I wouldn't worry about it, I and many other cyclist have had them for years and probably had spills in the process (I know I have ) ; they're more durable than you think.
If you are skilled (which I'm not ) you can do a 4 inch drop on any bike but you really shouldn't be looking to do so