Would a Hybrid bike be suitable for riding in the woods?

[SkipdiverJohn]

Ok thanks. I don`t know much about the strength of a carbon for fork.

Carbon fibre mixed with resin is a very strong engineering material if used as designed and not subject to loadings that were not considered. However it will not tolerate mistreatment in the way steel will, albeit at the expense of denting or bending.
There is also a confidence issue, I have a couple of steel MTB and road frames that have been hit hard enough to dent the top and down tubes. I'm not bothered because I understand the properties of steel and I know that neither bike is going to suddenly fail without warning whilst I'm riding it. However if I had a carbon frame that had been hit hard enough to put a dent into a steel equivalent I would be very wary of it indeed.

 

[Levo-Lon]

I have the boardmn hybrid, yes you could use it but its not ideal, if your backs upto it you'll be fine.
The boardman is a road bike and very twitchy so you may need wider bars as ive done, the originals are for zipping in and out of traffic and busy cycle paths. You've been warned.
Ive got continental tour tyres fitted which are super tyres and ok with hard pack.
I think 32 is is about it tyre size wise

 

[night cycler]

I got in touch with the seller to ask how wide the wheels are on the Boardman. This was in respect of getting an idea of how wide I can go with off-road tyres. He got back to me straight away and said the wheels are fitted with 37C tyres. He did not say what width the wheels actually are, or whether 37c is the max or not. So, I know I could go up to 37C at least. I suppose that width would suffice.

 

[Cycleops]

I'm currently using this size and I would say that 37c is a good compromise between comfort off road and still being able to roll well on tarmac.

 

[NorthernDave]

I've got a Boardman MX Sport hybrid, running 37C tyres (Land Cruisers) and it copes fine with the off roading the OP has described and much more.

I've also taken my road bike, with carbon fork and skinny 25mm slick road tyres down muddy bridleways without significant problems, although I probably wouldn't do it on a regular basis.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Get yourself one of these. Raleigh Pioneer from the 1990's, lugged & brazed frame up to 1995 or welded frame from 1996, take your pick. I prefer lugged but nothing wrong with the welded version. No-nonsense bikes, solid build quality but unfashionable, which means they don't sell for that much secondhand and aren't usually thief magnets. Raleigh sold them by the bucket load, and there are still thousands of the things in existence after 30 years (the first ones appeared in 1989!)
The one below cost me a tenner secondhand and only needed a couple of Schwalbe tyres & tubes, a brake lever, and a bit of general fettling to make it nice to ride and mechanically reliable. It now owes me about £50 in total, and it's a lot of bike for that. There's no need to spend £5/6/700 on new hybrids. The market is awash with perfectly useable secondhand ones that will do exactly the same job at a tenth of the outlay, and I would always choose a classic steel one over a modern oversized tubing alloy frame every day of the week.

As you can see from the lower picture, it is perfectly suited to woods riding, and was being put to that very use at the time. No suspension required. If the full length mudguards were replaced by shorter "indestructible" plastic MTB ones and more knobbly tyres fitted it would easily handle much rougher terrain, although since I also own 26" MTB's I keep the Pioneers road-optimised for easy-rolling riding and do my off-road playing on a tool designed for that particular job - a rigid 26er on knobbly tyres.

 

[Cycleops]

Sure you can get a some satisfaction from using a thirty year old bike salvaged from the scrap yard but sometimes it's nice to splash a bit of cash. Whatever gives you pleasure.

 

[SkipdiverJohn]

Sure you can get a some satisfaction from using a thirty year old bike salvaged from the scrap yard but sometimes it's nice to splash a bit of cash. Whatever gives you pleasure.

The point is that to have survived 20-30 years, an old bike is likely to be pretty decent quality. Most of the cheap & nasty rubbish on the market will have broken and been weighed in for scrap within a few short years of being bought new. The old stuff I ride is well-proven; the frames are strong and not prone to cracking or bending. The mechanicals are simple and cheap, and easy to maintain. Strong 700c alloy hybrid rims with cup & cone bearings, canti rim brakes, low-cost 6 speed freewheels, low-cost full-width chains, basic triple MTB chainsets, square taper serviceable BB's, MTB pedals that cost a fiver a pair to replace, serviceable headsets and easily-adjustable quill stems. There's none of the modern, crap, expensive to maintain engineering on these sort of bikes. They will just keep going and going with nothing more than simple routine maintenance involving a pot of grease and an oil can.

 

[DCBassman]

The point is that to have survived 20-30 years, an old bike is likely to be pretty decent quality.

Yes, but sometimes it's still nice to splash some cash and get a shiny new bike!

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Bears prefer BMX in the woods.

 

[night cycler]

@skip driver,
I don’t think anyone would disagree with you about old stuff being made to last, but a person has got to want that sort of thing.

I can afford the modern stuff. In terms of cycling it will make my cycling physically easier which means I will feel like doing more-be it miles or frequency of going out on the bike.

For sure the new spares can cost more than some bikes. For example last week I bought a pair of Sti levers £129, who cares. Some people take their Merc or Bema to a main dealer for servicing-OUCH! It`s up to them.

One thing I don`t belive in is having money and struggling-no brainer.

PS John, I drive a 13 year old Toyota and could afford a brand new one, but have very little interest in cars. When I come in the house from cycling up a hill I sit with a hot mug of coffee and bathe in the endorphins. A new car cannot give me them chemicals- not unless I`m pushing it.