I got the info from me, looking at the frames in the shop, up close.

Sure, the Steamroller will take wider tires, but clip-on fenders only. And, clip-ons won't cut it for what I need. Clip-ons will do for getting caught in the rain on the way home once in a while, but that's about it.

I've got a 45-60 minute commute that I ride year round, regardless of weather. That means heat, cold, rain, sleet, snow, ice and everything else in between.

I'm talking about building a full-on, year round, all-weather commuter here. That means that the fenders have to have coverage. What's more, I'll extend them even further, so that I get more coverage.

Now, if Surly would just do something reasonable, like add fender braze-ons to the Steamroller, I'd go for that in a second.

There are others that get close as well. The Van Dessell Country Road Bob is way cool. Track forkends and mounts for fender and rack in the back. Problem is that it's shipped with a nice carbon fork that doesn't have any way to mount a fender in front. Even using a clip-on would be tough because it's not drilled for a brake (it has cantilever bosses).

In the end, I guess it doesn't surpise me that the Brits are the one's producing a fixie frame that takes larger tires AND has braze-ons for fenders (or mudguards, as they like to call them).