Spec me a hybrid bike?

[Jase]

For some reason I have the urge to get a bike, I've not had one for a VERY long time so a little out of touch.

The path (tarmac) I walk everyday always have a lot of cyclists and that's probably what got me thinking, but also in my area there are fair a few off-road places.

On that basis I think a Hybrid would be a good choice but no idea really?

I read a bike magazine today for ideas and all of the bikes were really expensive, £10,000+ so I was a little bit taken back by that.
However looking online it looks like you can still get them for under £1k

The last bike I had was either a Specialised or Cube brand (can't remember the order) which was OK if I remember correctly.

Can anyone recommend a decent bike for say £750 (but I would pay up to £1000 if is much better/worth it) ?
I will say I quite often get influenced by the look of the bike which is why I liked Cube back in the day as they had a nice design and colours

 

[Jase]

Thanks all,

My local store seem to do Specialized or Trek, they were closed today but looking at the website I see :

Specialized Sirrus X 3.0 2023
Specialized Sirrus 3.0
TREK FX 3 Disc

Any thought on above?

 

[Jase]

Further to my question, I’ve been away this week and when I was at the Delamere forest I took the opportunity to hire a bike. They gave me a mountain bike which was I used on their trails, mainly gravel/dirt trails but some narrow trails through the forest over tree roots etc.

Great fun, although it took me a little while to get used to it… nearly missed the first sharp turn as it appeared I’d forgotten how to ride a bike

So that got me thinking. Maybe I want a mountain bike.

Finally got to my local shop today and they said for what I did a hybrid would be fine and recommended not getting a mountain bike.

They have recommended a Trek Dual Sport 3 gen 5. They don’t have any there to look at or try so it’s a case of ordering and hoping it’s ok.

Any thoughts on this bike??

Didn’t think buying a bike would be so hard lol.

 

[Jase]

Personally I have a Trek Hybrid and i wouldn't take it anywhere near Delamere Forest tracks.
Fair enough those tyres will cushion more than the tyres on mine.

I'll take this one anywhere and wish I'd never bought the hybrid

Thanks for the feedback. The bike on the bottom looks nice, what is it? as I can’t see it on the Trek website.

 

[Jase]

You really have to decide what you want the bike for. For the majority of forest and coastal cycle paths a hybrid with 32c wheels and disk brakes would be ok, just don’t expect too much if you need to hop off ledges or tackle a tree stump. If you’re talking proper off road trails then it might not be so good. The issue with a mountain bike comes if you want to go on road. Sure, it’ll be better than a road bike would be on an off road trail (as in possible to ride it), but it’ll be dog slow and it’ll handle terribly. This would be bad if you wanted to go to a rural pub following the road or pop to the shops or even commute.

If you buy a bike without figuring out where you enjoy riding, then you’ll probably see it gathering dust in the shed rather than being ridden.

I think you're right, all I do know is I have no intention of using it on a road as such although most of the path I use daily is tarmac.
I'm unlikely to use it for "proper" mountain biking any times soon ie big jumps etc. (unless I get the hang of it quickly!) but I guess a lot of it will be through woodland paths etc.

Looking at what SexyGreyFox has it looks very similar to the Trek Marlin 4 Gen 2 and that's only around £500, maybe that's worth me looking at as a starter until I know what I actually want.

 

[Jase]

When I was on my walk today I took some photos of the path/trial I would use. To be it seems much more mountain bike, the photos don't really get it across but some parts are really steep and slippery.

I only saw one person on a hybrid and she started to slide back down the hill she was trying to get up.

What do you think based on below ?

 

[Jase]

I'm now thinking of the following as reading their site it also says its good for non-mountain biking :

Marlin 6 Gen 3 - Trek Bikes (GB)

Discover your next great ride with Marlin 6. See the bike and visit your local Trek retailer. Shop now!

www.trekbikes.com

Marlin 8 Gen 3 - Trek Bikes (GB)

Discover your next great ride with Marlin 8. See the bike and visit your local Trek retailer. Shop now!

www.trekbikes.com

Is there much difference between the the 2 above and is the price difference worth it?