Originally Posted by chas58

then there are bikes like the domain, which are what "road" bikes should have been all along - versatile all road bikes. (realistically, we had this in the 70's, but then along came aluminum and carbon fiber...)

I don't know about you, but I have been looking for a road bike for decades. My last road bike was a mid-70's Schwinn 5 speed. The road bike industry was selling us 10 years ago were crap. Tight tolerances, small tires, super stiff. Where I live, I can't ride them on the road without high risk of a flat (or breaking something). Its only recently that the bike industry has given us something that is actually more rideable than a mountain bike on the roads around here.