Alternative options for Trek FX 7.1 brakes Around four months ago my parents bought me a Trek FX 7.1 for my birthday while I was at work.  At first I was fairly excited and happy with it over my old Supercycle which served me well for the past ten years.  However, once I started riding it I came face to face with a few issues.


The breaking is weak and needs a stopping distance of around 7-8 feet.
The vibration is violent once you hit gravel road surfaces.
The tires cannot handle small curbs at relatively high speeds without going flat.
The tires lose traction on wet surfaces causing me to lose control and damage the bike.


I tried having my brakes adjusted but the stopping distance is still rather long (5'5" - 6'5") considering when you need to stop in an emergency situation.  Now since there is no front fork suspension it has quite a violent vibration especially when the tires are fully inflated within the optimum PSI pressure range.  In regards to the miniature curb, both my tires burst while I was going at a relatively fast speed before impacting that few inch high curb.  It's rather annoying to have to slow down just to ride over it safely. 

So as of now, I am looking for some professional or just good fellow cyclist advice on what I can do to improve the brakes, tires, and vibration issues.  I'm sure replacing the front fork would be idiotic so I would not even go there, and I clearly have no space on my bike for any form of disk brakes.

Thanks in advance.
The trek FX 7.1 is more of a hybrid/road bike than your supercycle. When you use it on roads your ride should be a lot faster and easier than on your old bike. However, your new bike will have the issues you describe:


It is less comfortable on bumpy roads.
You can't just race it onto a curb or over similar steep ridges without a good chance of bursting a tire.
The brakes are less heavy duty, and (on roads anyway) your speed will be higher, this will lead to a longer stopping distance.
It doesn't deal very well with gravel/loose sand.


Some things you can do:


I think your bike has caliper brakes they are light, and usually enough for road bikes. If you need more stopping power you could see if you can fit v-brakes or another cantilever-type brake
Perhaps counterintuitively, if you want to prevent your tires from bursting or springing a leak when you hit a ridge at speed, your best bet is to keep them inflated at the optimal pressure or a bit higher.
You could fit your bikes with stiffer leak-proof tires. Those are mainly meant to reduce the risk of puncture leaks, but will help a bit with the impact-leaks you describe.
Try to lower the impact of ridges on your tires when you hit them at speed. Stand up on your pedals when you are about to hit them, bend your knees so that the flexing of your knees absorbs some of the impact. The weight of your body represents most of the impact force that your tire has to absorb when you hit that ridge. If you bend your knees they function like the springs did on your supercycle.
Your new bike has road tires, they have less profile (to reduce rolling resistance) and hence less grip on wet roads or roads with some gravel or dust on them. You can get tires with a flat rolling surface in the middle, and deeper profile or even knobs to the sides. That way you have low rolling resistance when going straight but better grip when cornering.


One thing to keep in mind is that your new bike is more a road bike than your old one. You will go faster overall because it is a lot lighter than your supercycle, it has narrower and larger tires which have lower rolling resistance, and less profile on the tires which also greatly reduces rolling resistance. It is not a drop-in replacement for your supercycle. It is not really meant to go over ridges at speed, and it is not meant to deal with gravel roads (though with good tires a road with some gravel on it should present no issue) let alone go off-road. If you still have your supercycle you should consider keeping that for when you want to go off-road and enjoy your new bike for when you want to go on the road.