I think that's the way things started out. But then someone must have decided 'racy' was more important than functionality and at this point there's no way you could stuff 26x2.3 tires back in the chainstays on that current frame. The combination of the 'fatty' fork and lack of space to put a large tire in back is just a functional contradiction IMO. Agreed, the 'lefty' is a nice styling touch, but not only is the bike just a city bike - in five years it'll be a city bike thats hard to get parts for. At which point, since the front fork and hub are interdependent - I expect there'll be some expensive conversions done to regular forks.

So if all you're looking for is a hybrid to put road slicks on anyway - the BB has lots of style. I wanted more than that so went with a Giant Seek 1, which has similar styling, more chainstay clearance, was better speced, and has an anodized frame. Since we carry both in several versions in the store, I had the chance to size them up against each other and ..... the current BB isn't what it used to be.

Which isn't to say the Giant was everything I was looking for - it was just the closest to what I was looking for that I could find. And its since been discontinued.