Originally Posted by
Inpd
That a good list and I'll add: Dropbars or Flatbar? My SO couldn't handle dropbars at all so I went the flatbar route.
A benefit of the FlatBar route is that there are more offerings under $400.
Well, he is correct. Flat bar components generally cost less so you can get a slightly better quality new bike in the flat bar/hybrid category than a drop bar road bike. I bought a cheap BD road bike for my wife to try to get her riding with me but her hands are so small that she could never get confident braking from hoods or drops with drop bar bike so I ended up having to convert the bike to flat bar. Should have bought flat bar bike to begin with as it would have saved money in the long run