What Hybrid Bike?

dubber

Looking for a bike, to be honest mainly for pottering around, maybe the odd trip to work (a few miles) or the odd long weekend cycle. That said, would like to get good value from the bike to work scheme, in terms of spec, the cube sl cross cross race looks good, carbon fork and ultegra gubbins:

http://www.cube.eu/tour/cross-road-line/sl-cross-race/

the lapierre shaper is a similar price, but you're only getting 105, am I missing something

https://www.cyclesuperstore.ie/shop/pc/viewPrd.asp?idcategory=32&idproduct=38486

Was also toying of getting something with the alfine hub/disc brakes, like this:
this

or this

Any thoughts or advice?

Lumen

Hub gears are a natural choice for a hybrid, since (AFAIK) it's a bit tricky to get hubs shifting properly with integrated levers on a drop bar bike.

There are threads on this, but from what I understand fewer gears are better with hub gears, since the efficiency is better. Ideally you want to be cycling in the 1:1 ratio as much as possible.

So if I was getting a hybrid for pottering around town it it would be a 3-speed geared around the ideal 1:1 gear, then just use the "uphill" and "downhill" gears when really necessary. Sort of a watered-down fixie.

However, since you're planning on doing "long weekend cycles", a hybrid is a very poor choice.