Roy Wallack writes about bicycles for the LA Times. He also is the do-author of "
Bike for Life: How to Ride to 100," Roy checked out
four fitness bikes in a recent column for the Los Angeles Times. He gave this overview of the fitness bike category:
If you're ready to ride a bike for fitness but not ready to hunch over like a Tour de France racer or tackle death-defying single-track trails in the mountains, a single-speed, bulbous-tire beach cruiser won't do. You need a "fitness bike," what the industry now calls the broad category that combines the large, fast-rolling 700-C wheels of road bikes, a tough multi-tread tire and the straight handlebars of a mountain bike. Formerly known as hybrids, these lightweight aluminum-frame bikes have become more refined, stylish and specialized; all work for commuting while sporting varying capabilities for pavement and mild dirt paths.
Roy' review of the 2013 Specialized CrossTrail Fitness Bike was almost all thumbs up:
Specialized CrossTrail: A versatile pavement and dirt-path bike with Shimano Altus 24-speed trigger-shifter gearing, light-duty suspension fork with 60 millimeters (2¼ inches) of travel, tough multi-belt 38-millimeter-wide tires and anti-numbness platform handlebar grips.
Likes: Rugged, fast and comfortable. Perfect if you ride on the street and well-graded dirt paths. Although not designed for it, the CrossTrail even got me through some rocky single-track trails due to its shock and bulletproof knobby tires. Higher-end models add disc brakes, a lock-out on the fork, internally run cables and better components.
Dislikes: Since the fork tempts you to do challenging trails that you probably shouldn't do, I would have preferred a higher, mountain-bike-style bottom bracket (pedal axel) for rock clearance and a wider frame spacing to accommodate wider tires.
Price: $580 ($630 with disc brakes).
