If I had to do it all over again. I'd get a Surly 1x1 and have the best of both worlds. Put some nice road tires/rims for the summer, and a big wide 2.75 knobbie with some homemade studs for the winter. That bike has all the braze-ons you'd want and you can reconfigure it to whatever you like. Single speed or cassette. You want a suspension fork. Put one on it. You'd have a kickyourrearend bike. I'm riding a Gary Fisher "Utopia" now. But if anything happened to it that's what I'd replace it with. Same set-up I have now. Rear rack on the back, Porteur rack on the front, and some Aero-bars to slice thru the wind with. Sweet !