Hello. My name is Michelle. By trade, I am a bicycle mechanic. My entire life, I have been an athlete and am eager to assist anyone looking to start riding. Recently, I’ve been asked to share my thoughts on a bicycle called the Schwinn Discover Women's Hybrid Bike. In this article, I hope to enlighten those of you interested in purchasing this bike or any other hybrid.

What is a hybrid bike exactly? A hybrid bike is a bike that can ride on pavement and some smooth terrain such as grass or really fine gravel. My first bike was a hybrid. I wanted a bike to ride around my neighborhood and go off road, such as in a park. If you’re still interested in a hybrid, keep reading.

Frame:

Let’s talk about the most basic part of a bicycle, the frame. Bikes can be made out of nearly anything; titanium, wood, aluminum, and carbon fiber to name a few. This particular bike is made of aluminum.

 Aluminum is the most common alloy used to make bike frames. It’s strong, malleable, and easy to find which makes bikes cheap. That said, this bike, for example, is stated as weighing 46 pounds. Personally, I’m 5 foot 4 inches and weigh around 115 pounds.

That is a heck of a hefty bike for someone like me! On the market today, other companies such as Trek and Cannondale make women’s hybrid bikes that weigh just around 20 pounds.

Front suspension fork:

Inside this fork is a metal spring. When riding, the abrasions from the road will be absorbed in the buoyancy of this fork giving the rider a smooth trip.

Wheels:

The wheels on this bike, I assume, are 700x28. What this means for you as a rider is that you will have confidence while turning on leaves or water. I must say however, this information was written rather awkwardly in an Amazon listing.

To someone who works in a bicycle shop, it looked as though they are saying the frame itself is 28 inches. (To give you some idea how absurd that is, only a person who is around 15 feet tall could ride a 28 inch bike.)

While I don't expect this bike to be 28 inches, for obvious reasons, I do find it strange that they do not list a sizing chart at all. This leads me to believe that this bike is only suitable for someone of one particular height, of which we do not know. In other words, if you decide to purchase this bike, you are guessing whether this bike frame fits you.

Pros:

Cons:

As smart consumers, we are trying to save money where we can. For this bike, we are looking at paying around $230 or $250. Great, right? Well, not unless you understand how to assemble a bike.

Unless you have experience building a bike, you will need to take the box in which you bicycle has been shipped to you to your local bike shop and have them build it for you. (Properly adjusting the brakes will be important to have when riding downhill!)

The price point for this service is around $100 so, although you may think you are saving money, it will be worth your while to get a lighter bike that you know fits you, with proper components all at a price of around $300.

By the way, we have published another article featuring six selected hybrid bikes (picked from 50) for women and you may have a look on that article from here. 

The discrepancy in information does open a bit of a Pandora's Box for me. If a bicycle company cannot tell me what size frame they are selling, what other pieces of information did they get wrong?

Are the tires on the wheel compatible? Are the tubes inside the tires the right size? Is the crankset properly attached to the bike so that the pedals do not fly off while I'm riding? While these fears maybe unfounded, the lack of professionalism with which this bicycle is advertised makes me wonder.

Also, the two other pieces of information I wish I had are regarding the spokes in the wheel and the chain itself. Spokes can be a tricky business. In order for us to ride our bike, each spoke in a wheel needs to have proper tension.

Without this, a spoke can break. Too many spokes breaking can lead to a crash. Regarding the chain, I wonder whether its length is a correct fit for this bike. Again, if it’s too long, it can fall off and cause you to crash.

The second thing I would like to bring to your attention, are the components. Separately, SRAM and Shimano make excellent products. It is unusual to find them brought together on one bike, as we see here. (This bike has SRAM shifters with a Shimano derailleur and a Schwinn crankset).

 Normally, I would advise against mixing SRAM and Shimano because they often do not work well together. (Shifters “talk” to their derailleurs and tell them when to move and how far.) On occasion, I have seen road bikes with this setup only because they come into our service department wanting an answer as to why their bike won’t behave.

Incompatibility of components is the reason. So, while I would not mix these together, this particular bike has only 7 gears in the back and making the odds of a mishap less likely. In other words, if you plan on being gentle with this bike and will use it for light fitness, this will be okay for you