I saw a bunch of those new "fat tire" bikes at Academy last week.  I really like them.  

Its a throw back to the 50's but there was a reason bikes had big ole fat tires back then.  The roads sucked.  More rubber meets the road, better ride and better traction, not even to mention less weight per square inch so less tire issues.  In these days of multiple gears, what mass you gain is negligible.  

When I was a kid, there was a marked difference between regular bikes and what we called mostly because of one Brand, Raleigh (I had one btw) English Racers.  Damn fast those English Racers but there was a reason why those guys avoided the brick alleys back then.  Brick is unbelievably slick when wet and makes for a hell of a bumpy ride even in best conditions.  

My favorite bike as a kid, one of those believe it or nots, was a banana bike.  You remember with that big long seat in the bike shaped like a bananna.  There was this fat kid who had an English racer that was blowing everyone away in the races but I also liked riding in the woods.  We use to litteraly "Snuffy Smith" the woods.  We had trails and boards over crevices and could go from one end of the city to the other only crossing pavement by running the hillsides.  Fat kid, never took his racer on those trails.  So after a summer of hard work and savings I bought a bike called "The Rail".  Besides a beautiful bike with Chrome fenders, it had five speeds not one or three and though the back tire was a slick it was very wide.  I smoked the fat kid on the English racer in a race I will never forget.  Slightly longer than the average banana bike, it still had all the features, you could use that big seat to distribute your weight back to easily jump curbs or logs, throw the bike at an angle to make sudden harsh turns, but it still had a nice cruising speed and a seat comfort, well let's just say we don't have street comfort these days.  Heck the mountain bike I have these days, I searched high and low settling on a German style Schwin Gel seat with real springs kind of a throw back to 1960.  

Another thing that has influenced bicycles and me over the years is how I earned those bikes I had.  I was the paper boy you see in the old movies from back then.  I used that bike for work so never forgot or short sold the utilitarian nature of bicycles.  Ever since then when I'd buy a bike, the first thing I would add was a rack behind the seat.  Now if I rode one every day, I'd have a nice set of throw over saddlebags but I don't. I just use packs but it still amazing how much gear you can haul needs be.  Its pretty darn nice to be able to take things like drinks and rain gear.

Tj