I have to say it kind of looks idiotic with drops that deep but at the same time it looks like it would shred all those loose packed sandy trails in the Presidio and Golden Gate Park that eat my 700x23s. At the finish line in Snelling I saw another spectator who had converted his Merlin Extralight into a singlespeed cruiser. It had big fat tires, front basket and fenders. I can't deny I didn't want to ride over some mooseheads and slide through some gravel on that goofy machine.