Writing in the L.A. Times, the paper’s gear guy and co-author of Bike for Life, How to Ride to 100 Roy Wallack offers his opinions of four new “fitness” bikes: the Specialized Cross Trail ($580), the Felt Cafe (($499), the Electra Verse ($539), and the Trek 7.2 FX ($549). And the winner is: it’s a tie, more or less, between the Electra Verse, which Wallack likes for its “sleek good looks due to an elegant frame with a sweeping top and bottom tubes, hidden internal-frame brake cables and road-bike-style caliper brakes,” among other things, and the Trek 7.2 FX, although Wallack suggests the Trek 8 Dual Sport bikes, which have a light suspension fork, for more off-road capability. Read about them all here.
I’d agree that the Trek 8 Dual Sport bikes are great for off-road adventures. I had one before I upgraded to a Morpheus cycle.