Originally Posted by grolby

I live in Western MA too, and I've been riding a 3-speed while I assemble the various bits and pieces for a new Surly LHT commuter and touring bike. I've found it to be adequate for getting around town. Admittedly, the terrain gets much hillier and unpleasant to ride as you get away from the river valley, but at that point we're looking at distances for which utility bikes are basically unsuitable anyway. For getting around towns in the Amherst, Northampton, Springfield area, Dutch-style utility bikes are actually pretty darn good. They aren't so hot for traveling between those towns, but utility bikes aren't designed for that kind of travel anyway. I think the definition sticks pretty well. Only enthusiasts are really interested in traveling far enough on a regular basis to need anything else anyway. So for me, a touring bike is really the most utilitarian choice. But is a touring bike really a utility bike? Uh, no, I don't think so. Just about anything could be a utility bike under this definition, and I don't think that this makes any sense. We're trying to talk about a certain type of bike that comes equipped in a certain way, usually in a certain price bracket. It doesn't make sense to call these bicycles anything but utility bikes, and it doesn't make any sense to call other bicycles utility bikes simply because they can be made similarly useful.