Originally Posted by
Spoonrobot
We're all over the place in this argument, backwards and upside down in one post.
A mountain bike is
optimized for mixed surfaces with substantial portions of unpaved and poorly paved roadways?
But then what is a hybrid? Oh a hybrid is a bike that can ride where mountain bikes ride but also able to be used on pavement? What?
Mountainbike and hybrid are both VERY vague terms. There's a reason there are about a half-dozen subgenres within each category.
From late 80s full rigid MTBs with dirt-drop setups to massive travel downhill rigs.
And comfort bike to flatbar roadbike on the hybrid side.
Then there's stuff like CX bikes which you can ride gravel on but they're not that great for it. I suppose a case could be made for calling gravel race bikes endurance CX bikes. Not many people would like to ride a 65 mile gravel course on a CX bike, the fairly steep angles and if you're lucky maybe you can squeeze some 35mm tires on it.
A lot of younger people look at full rigid MTBs and wouldn't even think to call it a mountainbike, they'd think it's a hybrid.