If you happen to’re in search of a motorcycle in your day by day commute and your weekend train, a health hybrid—that’s, a street bike with flat handlebars—will be the proper selection.
Over the previous seven years, we’ve spent 60 hours sifting by means of practically 75 choices, test-ridden greater than a dozen bikes, and concluded that the Marin Fairfax 1 is the most effective hybrid for most individuals.
It offers a steady, snug experience on metropolis streets, and it’s a greater worth now than once we first examined it.
Our choose
This fun-to-ride and succesful commuter bike is equally snug on longer weekend outings—and it affords much better worth than its opponents.
Our high choose, the Marin Fairfax 1, ticks a lot of the containers on our hybrid-bike guidelines: durable-enough parts, a chrome-moly metal fork that’s forgiving on potholes and tough metropolis streets (and of upper high quality than the high-tensile metal forks used on many different, pricier bikes), rack and fender mounts, and hill-friendly gearing (together with a rear cassette, relatively than a less expensive and outdated freewheel cogset).
In our testing, this bike stood out for its well-designed aluminum body, which supplied more-agile dealing with and zippier acceleration than the competitors whereas remaining steady. We want it nonetheless got here with the above-average-in-quality tires that we initially favored. Nonetheless, given the rising worth distinction between the Fairfax 1 ($500, the identical because it’s been for the previous few years) and equally geared up bikes from different corporations, we consider it’s nonetheless the best choice. (The Fairfax 1 is accessible in a step-through choice on the identical worth.)
Additionally nice
This steel-framed bike offers a vibration-dampening experience and a few good extras—brand-name tires and durable pedals. However the trade-off is much less maneuverability and a steepish uptick in worth.
The Jamis Coda S2 is an excellent choice should you’re searching for the consolation of a metal body (metal does a significantly better job than aluminum at dampening the vibrations attributable to tough pavement) with out the load penalty that lower-priced metal frames usually impose. (Such frames are sometimes made with heavier high-tensile metal, relatively than the chrome-moly that the Coda S2 has in each its body and fork.) Meaning a simple time carrying this bike up stairs and lifting it onto bus- or car-mounted bike racks.
The Coda S2 comes with well-rated Vittoria Randonneur tires—that’s, tires from a “actual” tire firm you could purchase in a motorcycle store, and now in a wider and cushier measurement—and steel-wrapped resin pedals. (This bike can be out there in a ladies’s model, which primarily means smaller sizing and a ladies’s-specific saddle.) The principle drawbacks with this mannequin are maneuverability—it’s not fairly as nimble as the opposite bikes we examined, which could possibly be a operate of its geometry (extra on that in How we picked and examined)—and worth. In 2018, its predecessor value $530; now, the Coda S2, which has very comparable parts, is $630 (on sale).
Improve choose
A belt-drive bike that has an easy-to-use internally geared rear hub means much less upkeep and no grease in your work garments. It’s important to assemble it your self although (or pay another person to).
For commuters, belt-drive techniques make lots of sense. The belts don’t put on out as rapidly as chains, they usually don’t must be oiled, so there’s much less bike grease in your life and in your garments. And the internally geared rear hubs allow you to change gears if you’re standing nonetheless (like at a visitors gentle). The draw back is the associated fee: Dependable internally geared hubs are costly, and that makes bikes with belt drives pricier than our different picks.
However the aluminum Precedence Continuum Onyx is a cut price for this class, particularly contemplating that it comes with hydraulic disc brakes, the well-respected Gates Carbon Drive belt, and an Enviolo steady gearing rear hub, plus upgrades, corresponding to inner gear cable routing and dynamo-charged entrance and tail lamps. This bike doesn’t, nevertheless, are available in a step-through model, and it’s not out there in bike retailers, which suggests coping with meeting your self.
