Sorry to hear about your accident. Hope you heal quickly!

Unfortunately, there is no short cut around train tracks. If they have the rubber mats around them that's best, but always, always, cross them perpendicular and/or creep over them. Particularly under wet conditions, you don't know if you have oil/grease on the tracks or on your tires.

Also, if I were riding on the wrong side of the tracks around Savannah, I'd rather not be doing it on an $1100 sparkly Surly just for wider tires. I'd get a quality ridgid steel MTB and throw some drop bars and narrow slicks on it. Basically, the same geometry and characteristics of an LHT for 80% less.

On a hard surface, a tread will only add vibration to your riding. There is nothing for it to bite into.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...ar-Conversions