Someone grumbled about upright riding position being "hard on the back". I'm just not seeing it. I rode my freaking 36" unicycle all over the place when I was in college, and my back always felt great afterward, better than after a ride on my utility MTB. Let's see, that's a cycle with no suspension, no frame flex possible, with a perfectly upright riding position in which you -cannot- come out of the saddle if you expect to remain above the cycle. Sorry, not buying that people will have back trouble just because their crank is forward.

Remember that some people are just becoming aware that they can use their bike for some of the trips they would otherwise need a car for. They are not bike savvy, they want to go into a shop and have something that's more or less appropriate to their needs rolled out in front of them. Eventually they may BECOME bike savvy, and then might start looking for something more suitable, but for now they just want a bike that goes, doesn't make them dirty, and carries some stuff.