Rolla

At their inception they were ostensibly a hybrid of a road and a mountain bike. Given what mountain bikes have become, that doesn't seem to be an apt definition any more. Are they currently hybrids of anything, or did the name just outlive the concept?

veganbikes

I think the name sort of outlived the concept to a point.

skidder

Kinda like asking the owner of most Sport Utility Vehicles or a Cross Over vehicles what's the difference from a true off-road vehicle or station wagon, isn't it? Just raise the body up a few inches, put on some sportier (and bigger) wheels/tires and you're done, maybe throw in an all-wheel-drive system to make yours unique from the neighbor's vehicle (not necessarily a 4WD system).

I always thought they were a cross between a road bike and an urban bike of years-gone-by (Schwinn Collegiate & Suburban models come to mind). You combine the frame and seating style of a road bike with the larger tires and flat handlebars of an urban bike, and there you have it. Maybe throw in some design characteristics of the old rigid MTBs of the past, (as you suggested), and a touring bike for added 'street credibility'

Iride01 

Just like tire sizing, it's continued use of the term by the masses. So pretty much your last suggestion...

sjanzeir

They've become hybrids of hybrids and other hybrids.

A while ago, some local dude put a Trek Zektor up for sale and called it a hybrid in the add. Even though I wanted the bike and made the highest bid, when I tried to explain to him that this was a flat-bar road bike and not a hybrid, he blocked my ass and canceled my bid!

Rolla

That's certainly how it seems.

wolfchild

Modern hybrids are just flat bar gravel bikes.

Rolla

Hybrids lack the tire clearance and gearing for gravel, but nice try at being incendiary, gangsta.

wolfchild

There are some higher performance hybrids out there which have 1X drivetrains. carbon forks, hydraulic brakes, braze-ons to mount all manner of accessories and enough frame clearance to run 700 x 40 mm - 50 mm tires. The only difference is the style of handlebars.

cyccommute 

In about 1996.

Rolla

Thanks for clarifying that when you said earlier that "modern hybrids are just flat bar gravel bikes," you really meant that "some higher performance hybrids" are like gravel bikes.

Can you show an example of one of these higher-performance 1X hybrids that has a carbon fork, hydro discs, gear braze-ons, and big tire clearance? I don't think I've encountered one.

cyccommute 

Lots of hybrids have sufficient tire clearance equal to gravel bikes. Gearing is fungible. It can be changed relatively easily. Some hybrids even have lower gearing than you’ll find on several gravel bikes.

Looking at Trek. The Checkpoint ALR 5, for example, takes up to 45mm tires and has a 46/30, 11-34 drivetrain ( 23 gear inches). The Verve 3 takes the same 45mm tires with a 46/30, 11-36 drive train (22 gear inches). The Dual Sport 4 takes up to a 54mm tire with a 1x 42 tooth crank and 11-50 cassette (23 gear inches). The Verve and the Dual Sport are definitely hybrids.

Even if you compare the Checkpoint to a FX1, the FX doesn’t come out all that badly. Yes, it will only take 38mm tires but the gearing is lower than the Checkpoint by just a squidge (30/34 vs 28/34).

cyccommute 

The Trek FX Sport 4 is damned close. The Sirrus X 4.0 is closer as it can take at least 42mm wide tires and maybe wider.

Milton Keynes

When I've talked about my hybrid bike in the past to someone, they thought I was talking about a motorcycle with an electric motor drive and a gasoline engine to charge the battery.

Rolla

Interesting. They call the FX Sport 4 a "fitness bike for riders who want the speed of a lightweight road bike with the comfort and control of a flat handlebar," so I guess it's a "hybrid" of a fitness bike and a flat-bar road bike.

Neither the Trek nor the Sirrus has tubeless-ready tires or wheels, so maybe that's what distinguishes them from true gravel bikes. I suspect the geometry is different as well, but I haven't bothered to compare.

IMO, all of this just further establishes that "hybrid" is an outdated term for a vague-at-best bike category.

wolfchild

Marin DSX and Marin Muirwoods ??...both of them look like beefed up hybrids. There are few others out there from Trek, Specialized and Devinci which could easily make a good gravel bike.

GamblerGORD53

A hybrid is a bike that does everything poorly. LOL. So they are sold to beginners that are poor at knowing anything about bikes.

Rolla

Yes, I’m well aware of what hybrids are and who tends to buy them. The question was whether the term has any meaning anymore.

Chuck M 

I'm trying to remember the first bikes I recall being called hybrids. I seem to remember them being a mountain bike style frame, and flat bars with tires and drivetrain of a road bike. But I suppose with hybrid implying a combination of two bike types, your thought that the name outlived the concept to be accurate.

Rolla

According to Marin, the DSX is a flat bar gravel bike, so yeah, I guess it’s like one.

They call the Muirwoods a “transit / urban” bike, which I guess is the new “commuter.”

Marin’s actual hybrids have little in common with gravel bikes.

dedhed

A lot of marketing semantics in the bicycle sales world

Reynolds 

This has marketing potential:
Your hybrid is obsolete, now you need a metahybrid!

Rolla

Of course. But “road” and “mountain” and “gravel” and “BMX” at least make sense as categories. A “hybrid” bike doesn’t really reflect what the word means.

badger1

Happy to oblige. My bike: Specialized; carbon frameset; Future Shock; 1x11 drivetrain; hydraulic disc brakes; came stock with 38mm Specialized 'gravel' tires (I switched 'em to 32 Roubaix Pros [personal preference]), but it will take up to 42; can take a rear rack and f/r mudguards if one were so inclined. Etc. Since this pic: Future Shock is now 2.0 (warranty replacement of the original); brakes are flat-mount Shimano XT. Weight at present is just over 19 lbs; plan to get it below that with a crank and wheelset change in due course. I like light-weight bikes.

I use it as a flat-bar road bike; would make a perfectly competent 'gravel' bike with a simple tire change. I find the 32s fine for the surfaces I ride: paved and dirt roads; the occasional hard-packed, non-technical dirt trail.

Oh, and yes: the term 'hybrid' is utterly meaningless in today's bicycle market.

cyccommute 

You keep moving the goal posts. Now they have to be tubeless ready. That can be changed if desired. Or you can do tubeless the old school way.

A “gravel bike” is kind of nebulous as well. There’s racing, all road, gravel, bikepacking, etc. It’s just as open a term as “hybrid”. In fact, “hybrid” is probably a better name since gravel bikes are just road bike built to act like a 1990 mountain bike or a 1990 mountain bike modified to act like a road bike.