Do I or don’t I buy

[Blue Hills]

Hybrids are the same/similar to a gravel bike anyway apart from having a flat bar. Theres not a lot in it really. The thing is with a drop bar you have more hand positions and can shuffle around the top bar as well. Not everyone likes drop bars. If you want a hybrid get one. I'd check secondhand as well.

yep one of my hybrids is effectively a gravel bike it seems to me - has rim brakes tho I don't consider that a deal breaker. Flat bar - I'd dispute your hand positions point though - I can shuffle perfectly comfortably between about 4 positions.

Have never really understood what seems like a certain snobbishness about hybrids - a lot of the bikes on the road today owe a debt to the hybrids that came out in the 90s.

 

[fair weather cyclist]

Have never really understood what seems like a certain snobbishness about hybrids - a lot of the bikes on the road today owe a debt to the hybrids that came out in the 90s.

Defintely!

Hybrids and hardtail mtb from the 90's played a pivotal role in what gravel bikes have become today

 

[roubaixtuesday]

sexual adventure bikes

Well-a well-a well-a, huh
Tell me more, tell me more
Did you get very far?
Tell me more, tell me more
Like does he have a car hybrid bicycle?

 

[MichaelW2]

The doitall bike should be eveyones first priority. What form it tales depends on your "all" but it should ride OK on the road over distance, be OK on rough roads and good trails, carry luggage and shopping, fit fenders/mudguards and winter tyres.
Touring, hybrid, old skool MTB, gravel/cx can all perform this role.

 

[CanucksTraveller]

I'm a fan of hybrids, while they're nowhere near a "main" bike for me I do own two, made ten years apart. The old one is my old commuter, heavy for a hybrid now, but perfect as my pub bike that I wouldn't pine for too much if it went missing.

The newer one (a Giant Escape) is comparatively very light, quick, loads of fun, and simple, it's the nearest thing I experience to cycling a tracker or even a BMX bike when I was a kid. I really like how nimble it is, urban or country... I end up doing little impromptu jumps off tree roots, popping on and off kerbs, I feel about 12 again on that bike. I think it was 400 quid (a "last year's model" special). I wouldn't pay huge amounts for a hybrid or have one as my main bike now, but there's a lot of fun to be had on them, often for not much money.

 

[Lozz360]

Most of my bikes would be classed as hybrids.
Make excellent tourers, round town bikes, sexual adventure bikes, shopping bikes, dayride bikes.

And I can ride some of mine on gravel as well.

Please start a new thread and explain

 

[JoeyB]

It feels like you actually need a 'gravel' bike, or basically another roadbike with clearance for some fatter tyres. I don't know what it is with hybrids, but it would just feel like a backward step for me. I can't quantify this statement in any way other than just to say its just my perception of them.

 

[vickster]

Which hybrids looking at? A very broad range from almost MTB with suspension to almost roadbike with sporty geo and thinnish tyres. Flat bars are about the only consistent element

 

[Jody]

I was in a similar position last month of wanting something in between the road bike and full suss. Suss was a little bit draggy/hard work when riding on flat surfaces (although it is comfy) but the road bike wasn't suitable for most of where I ride. I half considered a gravel bike but wanted more comfort. Ended up building a hard tail as it would have more uses and isn't much slower than gravel. 3 sets of wheels so can swap it between slick, small block and larger nobblies whenever needed.

Sounds like you have a gap to fill. Work out what your priorities are and then buy accordingly. As Vickster points out, hybrid covers such a wide range of bikes. Whilst they will all cover the same terrain, I wouldn't want a skinny slick tyred bike in the woods, just like I wouldn't want a hardtail for mainly tarmac.

 

[RoadRider400]

I think a hybrid bike is the least useful of bikes. It will do most things badly and excel at none.

You do need a gravel bike.

I have to disagree strongly with that. Hybrid bikes are very useful. By definition a hybrid is more useful than a road bike which can only be used on the road.

Hybrids can be used both on and off the road and perform perfectly well. I used to have one bike when I first got into cycling and it was a hybrid. It was great for commutes in all weathers and on all but the most extreme terrains. It then served me well when I fancied doing 30 miles on country lanes of a weekend.

To say it will do most things badly is rather an exaggeration.

 

[Blue Hills]

Defintely!

Hybrids and hardtail mtb from the 90's played a pivotal role in what gravel bikes have become today

yep - when some of those folks on racers and now gravel would be telling us that tyres had to be 23mm max or 25 if feeling soft.

 

[Blue Hills]

Which hybrids looking at? A very broad range from almost MTB with suspension to almost roadbike with sporty geo and thinnish tyres. Flat bars are about the only consistent element

I would say hybrids have sloping top tubes as well - something else they helped popularise - and that they took/incorporated from crossbreeding with MTBs - hence the term hybrid.
Hybrids also fed into what were called fast city bikes - ie bikes with racy gears but flat bars so that you can see where you are going/revel in your surroundings. I used to have a hybrid fast city bike that was so fast I hardly ever got it into top gear.
An awful lot of folk, me included, would never have got back into cycling if it wasn't for hybrids.

 

[fair weather cyclist]

yep - when some of those folks on racers and now gravel would be telling us that tyres had to be 23mm max or 25 if feeling soft.

aye, with extreme cases such as Hindurain riding 19mm

 

[Sittingduck]

Does your existing road bike have disc brakes and clearance for 32mm (or at least 28mm) tyres?
If so simply ensure you have a wide enough range of gearing and turn it into a gravel/adventure/winter road/whatever bike. Splash the cash on something for dry road rides

 

[Blue Hills]

Does your existing road bike have disc brakes and clearance for 32mm (or at least 28mm) tyres?
If so simply ensure you have a wide enough range of gearing and turn it into a gravel/adventure/winter road/whatever bike. Splash the cash on something for dry road rides

looking at what the OP already has I would personally go for something that can take 38s.