I'm looking for a decent bike to use around town. After checking out a few shops, it looks like my options are either a chintzy single speed step-through frame or an overbuilt mountain bike with front suspension and big knobby tires. In my opinion neither of these are ideal for city riding.

Does anybody know where I could buy a "hybrid bike" or something like a mountain bike without suspension? I am also interested in checking out one of those classic Chinese bikes like Fei Ge Pai or Shanghai Yongjiu but they seem like they'd be pretty hard to pedal uphill. Anyone had any experience with those?

check out the Giant FCR series... they have them in the bigger Giant shops. Merida do some hybrids but the ones i've seen tend to be more like mountain bikes. you might want to look at the Merida Momentum range if you want a step through frame with gears. alternatively you could consider getting a mountain bike and changing the tyres (and forks). most shops with fit the parts you buy there for free. i also know of people who've bought a road bike and switched it to a flat bar. personally, i wouldn't consider the classic style bikes because there are good reasons why designs have evolved (and i like having gears).

I want to recommend you to buy Pulsar.

Hi, if you are a male, I'd give you my doctor's perspective on this and would recommend you to get a seatless bike, as the human body was not designed to sustain the whole body weight on the pelvic structures, you will be damaging your pudendal nerve among other structures along the time.

When you increase pressure on that region to tens of times the normal pressure it's designed to take, some things start to happen:
Capillaries and small vessels get their endothelium disturbed, it breaks and gets calcified, blocking them for good, as for nerves they loose myelination and get torn easily over time. This doesn't happen with motorcycle seats which are more padded and have a larger surface where weight can get distributed better...

Summing it up:
Bike seats = Impotence. Try one of those bikes instead:

item.taobao.com/[...]

Happy Riding.

A new variation on the 'clown bicycle' look I think. Perhaps playing hell on the knees, as most docs would tell you not to stand on the pedals if you value the knees.
There really is no winning, is there?