Originally Posted by
surlygurly
Twist my arm! Although my husband thinks you only need one bike but he only does one thing with his bike and he’s never commuted (he is a pretty phobic road rider and would rather stick to simple doubletrack, gravel, and paved paths).
I’m wondering if I don’t overhaul the Surly and save for a fat tire bike that only comes out in winter when I have no plans to haul a kid or groceries.
Yep, this is the ideal solution. Fix up the Surly for 90 percent of the riding and get a bike for the really bad days set up for the really bad days. But for snow and ice, you want studded tires and studded tires for fat bikes can be expensive. I'd post on the winter biking forum and see what they recommend. For the winters here in Des Moines, I've been riding an old mtb I picked up for cheap with studded tires.