You want to go further with less effort, right?
- How is your current riding position set up on your bike? There's a ton of cheap stuff that you can do to improve your aerodynamics that will make almost as big a difference as getting a new bike:
* Saddle should be higher than your bars . . . so try lowering your bars. If you have riser bars, try swapping them out for flat bars that will let you get lower.
* Many hybrid bikes come with ridiculously wide bars by default. Try making your bars a little narrower by cutting a bit amount off the ends with a hacksaw. (This gets your arms closer together so you scoop less wind).
* Get some clip on aero bars.
* Wear skin tight clothing. Anything that flaps slows you down. A cycling jersey and shorts shouldn't fit like a t-shirt and cargos, they should be almost painted on.
* Shave your legs (and arms).
* Get some bar ends. They can be used to give you a more forward position on the bike, which gets you lower and is more aerodynamic. They also give you an extra hand position.
- Remove all excess weight from the bike. Get rid of fenders, racks, your kickstand, etc. It might only be a small fraction of the total system weight, but a couple lbs difference can certainly be felt on a climb.
- What kind of pedals do you have? Switching to clipless will let you go further with less effort, and makes climbing easier.
- Tires!
* Skinny tires are typically lighter, and lighter tires make climbing easier. Moving to a 25 or 28mm tire will be noticeably lighter than running a 32 or a 35.
* Smooth tires (no knobbies, or as little as possible tread) will roll much easier on smooth road. You can actually find independent rolling resistance measurements for a lot of tires online these days.
* Make sure that you always pump your tires up to the correct pressure before a ride. If you don't know what tire to pump your tires to:
http://www.dorkypantsr.us/bike-tire-pressure-calculator.htmlDon't get me wrong, I love having a road bike. But if you haven't already tried most of the above, you're not getting the full speed potential out of your current bike.