Hi Fam,
Been doing some research on bikes and have come across a couple of bikes which I like but are out of my price range.
What I'm really looking for is a hybrid bike with hydraulic disc brakes and a half decent gear set.
What do you guys recommend. It is for a bit of road cycling and the occasional track here an there. Nothing too adventurous!
Thanks
make sure you get shimano disc brakes
Shimano disk brakes are much better than Tektro and more reliable than Avid
I believe the Marin has the better specs and costs around $799. Does anyone have any recommendations for a bike with similar specs for cheaper?
Unfortunately Hybrid bikes dont really have the following of passionate folks like road or MTB bikes do. if you had asked about a couple of road bike options you would probably be up to 4 pages of answers by now!! There are many tragics that obsess over the different models and components for all things road and MTB bikes, not sure anybody cares that much about Hybrids.
Prsonally i have no idea, I built my own Hybrid a year ago (I call it a flatbar roadie) buying bits off the various online shops when they were on sale, all done but I've barely ridden it because…well frankly if I am going to go for a ride i will ride one of my road bikes, faster and for me at least more comfortable (loving the tubeless 25 tires with lower air pressure!!). I managed to get an Avanti Blade aluminium frame off Bikeexchange, brand new for about $50 ish. I bought some Fulcrum 7 CX wheels off a Ribble sale for about $200 i think and I went all out on the groupset buying a Shimano 105 5700 groupset (probably overkill) also on Ribble for about $500 ish i think.
There are often good deals for 2nd hand hybrid bikes on places like eBay, Gumtree and bikeexchange. Also you could look at one of the many Facebook groups that sell 2nd hand bike bits. I'm assuming at your price point you'll be getting an aluminium frame and a low end set of wheels and groupset (Tiagra/Claris etc).
Sorry i dont have any more info
I would probably just go with what had the higher spec components.