i'm a roadie/commuter in northern colorado. originally from chicago so i know my way around winter biking, but historically used my old gary fisher wahoo as a winter beater and this winter (my first bike winter in CO) i'm planning to upgrade my winter bike to something a little more fun.
i've been asking a lot of people to help me make this decision and i'm amazed by the diversity of response and the reasoning on each side, so here it is:
i've sorta narrowed my bike down to one of two directions
A) a track bike/fixie with some knobbier CX tires: my commute and neighborhood/grocery riding here isnt too hilly and i've been playing around by keeping my beater in high gear when i do grocery runs and so far so good. the huge advantage here obviously is no drivetrain cleaning when the conditions get really slushy... can basicalyl just hose the thing down and be done with it. as an avid specialized fan i've been test riding the langster and find the familiarity of it (compared to my main ride an allez comp) to be really pleasant... also its cheap... 6 bills... and easily converts from single speed freewheel to fixie.
i also just generally like fixies... i was a messenger for a bit and got attached to them then, and i think theyre fun for neighborhood riding... they just look slick and kinda badass. (so now you can probably guess which way i am leaning)
vs
B) the intuitive, orignal plan- a CX bike... or more specifically specialized has thier new "freeroad" model the "TriCross" bikes coming out in the fall/winter (the specs sound pretty similar to the trek X01), and it sounds like itd be a fun ride... its pretty much just a charcoal grey roadbike on roids....
but really, the B) idea is any CX bike.... it has advantages: gearing for one, and it'll be more useful and versatile than a fixie, but its also gonna be more xpensive, by definition, really. and of course, it still needs to be kept clean, and just by the nature of winter riding, its gonna need more service and overhauls and chains and cassettes and BBs and all that... and thats one of the big things i;m interested in: i want to be able to ride to work just about every day, and not worry about it being too slushy and trashing my bike
i've had a lot of conversations about the pros and cons of both and am still interested in hearing more. interestingly i'm finding that most pure roadie types tend to lean towards the track bike, while more all around types and cross people and MTBers tend to recc the CX idea
i should probably say that: i'm not a huge MTB fan, and its not really likely that i'm gonna get into CX, so that wont be a decding factor. i do however really like the way some of these urban CX machines (ala the tricross and the X01) look and feel.
so feel free to recc away...