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I'm looking into buying a new hybrid bike, partly for commuting in the city (specifically, in a city with Bosnia-tier road conditions), for fitness rides on paved surfaces, and for the occasional gravel road. Problem is, I'm new to buying new bikes, as until now I've always been a poorfag who just bought the cheapest used bike he could possibly find.
How do you go about comparing different bikes? Obviously you can compare different specs, but how the fuck do I know what constitutes a "good" derailleur versus a "bad" derailleur, or a "good" shifter versus a "bad" shifter, or a "good" tire versus a "bad" tire, etc.? In fact, based on some reading I've been doing, I'm not even sure if I can actually determine what's "good" between rim brakes, mechanical disk brakes and hydraulic disk brakes.
Also, for most bikes there's very little in the way of reviews. Obviously for Trek there's a fuckton of information, but not for most other manufacturers. How can I compare Trek's various hybrid bikes (FX and DualSport in this case) to stuff like the Marin Fairfax series, the Giant Escape series, the Felt Verza series, etc?
In fact, while I'm on the topic, does /n/ have anything else to recommend? For reference, my ideal price range is in the $550-$750 range, but I'm fairly flexible on that front.
