Olandintheway

So I am 67 but still ride on roads only. Picked up a trek 7300 real cheap. Not my first choice for short road rides. So what would you do to improve comfort and improve this bike?

curbtender

So that would be a hybrid. What kind of problems are you experiencing? Sometimes it comes down to size/fit. Hybrids are built to be a more relaxed ride.

JohnDThompson 

What is the nature of your discomfort, and what are you hoping to improve?

CAT7RDR

Any discomforts with your contact points? Hands? Feet? Saddle?

cyccommute 

To quote Eddy Merckx…ride lots.

andrewclaus

I put a lot of miles on a very similar bike when I was visiting family to help with end-of-life issues. The main thing that bugged me was the adjustable handlebar stem, a very minor issue. Otherwise it was fine for relaxed road rides. As said above, just ride. You can iron out issues with fit and pain as they develop. Either harden up or change the bike.

Jumpski

Congratulations on the new bike. It’s going to take time for your body to get use to cycling, so take things slowly. Comfort and fit is priority. Have fun and stay safe!

curbtender

I guess old guy forgot his password, lol.

Wildwood 

Trek = fat tires, suspension fork and seatpost make it cushily slow. Bars above saddle make upright seating, catching the wind. Flat/swept handlebars for limited hand positions.
Maybe you need a road bike = much easier to roll efficiently & further with less effort on the roads with the right bike.
Might as well be classy, too. Go Italian, silver components.

Bluejohn

My back hurts just looking at that.

flangehead

I’d get front and rear lights and use them both day and night.

Wildwood 

My back and hands hurt just looking at the subject Trek and thinking about an hour road ride.
Different strokes for different cyclist folks. ...... and don't forget your readers.

Turkey neck rider. Gobble-gobble

Bluejohn

LOL - beautiful machines in fab condition, but with my gammy disc I can feel the pain from here... have to stick to flat bars now even if they don't look so nifty.
Still manage a good pace though - much to the surprise of a passing roadie the other day, who kept checking if this old geezer on a Dawes Horizon touring bike with Marathon plus tyres and flat bars really was matching him stroke for stroke for a few miles until I had to turn off

Back on track, what would I do - assuming mechanically all is sound... fit fenders so I could ride in all weathers without getting covered in mud and road splatter and decent lights front and back.

peterws

my eyes hurt, too. That is sooo yesterday! Bet it's not even got index gears. And you have to double de-clutch when changing down.

jon c. 

When I started riding again after a 30 year break I bought a used hybrid. I couldn't get comfortable at all and my wrists hurt after 5 miles. Got a road bike with drop bars and felt so much more natural. Every body is different, but you might see if you can give a legit road bike a test ride to see how it feels.

Bluejohn

If you don't have to kick the fd to change down, you're not living

Oldguyonoldbike

Classy indeed!

Garthr

I tried riding with swept back bars a couple inches above the saddle, I bought into the idea that it would be "good for me". Hah hah .... not really. If it's not broken(I'm not) don't go about trying to fix it, or make it better. It was an exercise in futility. Upon going back to drop bars well below the saddle, oh how sweet it is. Lots of hand positions, all of them comfortable, and being low and stretched out is more natural to me than ever sitting up on a bike.

OldsCOOL

“The more you ride, the less your butt will hurt”. Eddie had some great quotes.

Kai Winters

Soooo over one month and no reply to the questions asked...guess it doesn't hurt anymore...

Wildwood 

It is not a 'road bike', it is a bike one rides on the road. I do not mean to sound critical, especially to a new poster, but there is a difference. The specific question asked, How to make more comfortable?, was/is tough for me because it already has wide tires and suspension fork+ seatpost with triple crank gearing. Newbies need miles to find their own bicycle comfort zone, and this Trek offers an easy entry.

We all start somewhere in the big cycling Universe.

Examples of bikes I (seldom) ride on the roads.

each to its' own purpose.

curbtender

Well, how about we call it a rode bike? By the way, we need to see that Bridgestone in the where did you ride today thread.

Wildwood 

@curbtender - the sentence before the pics I posted = 'we all begin somewhere.'
the Bridgestone (when new in '86) was my wife's under-utilized bike, then my daughter's under-used college bike, then her kid hauler for the first one. Until I replaced the Bridgestone with an AustroDaimler, which my daughter proclaimed 'far more classy', and gave the CB-0 to a kid who is using it more than at any time in its' 38 years. Sorry I cannot post more pics, it has been a versatile city bike.

Personally, I prefer her taste in city bikes.

Flip Flop Rider

you could add some grips that will give you different hand positions (search ergonomic bike grips)

get the saddle that works for you (moon saddle in my case)

and get some more comfortable pedals (ditch the spiked ones)

and ride

zacster

The things I did to this bike made it a lot more comfortable after I'd already been riding it for 10 years. The grips are super comfy, the bar "inners" let me change hand position and still control the brakes and gears, much like a drop bar bike with brifters. The shifters themselves are very light touch, as are the brakes. It all works really well. But when I want to do a truly long ride I always get on the true road bike.