Well, Keiron, its just my preferences really. But I really don't think everyone who is commuting requires a bicycle with every gid-gad attached to it. Some people new to commuting might need more than others, but to say that this extra is needed goes a long way in misrepresenting what happens on a daily commute.

I realize that someday I will be in a completely different situation and I will be that guy needing to haul twice as much by bike than now. Until then, however...

FRED is a goofy term sometimes used to describe the new cyclist who went and spent more money at the LBS than his ability in the saddle required. I have two examples of this,

1) I was my LBS a few weeks ago getting a minor adjustment made to something when a family of 3 walked in. A girl of maybe 16 walked over to a comfort bike and said, "this looks nice", and I thought, yeah, she could ride that. Then she walks over to a top of the line Cervelo and says, "ooo this one", and Dad comes over and says, "its only $5,000 honey" - and he meant it. He was going to spend that much cash for a bike and his daughter couldn't differentiate it from a comfort cruiser.

2) you see a bike, brand new, usually in the park trails or on the more popular bike roads, with every bell and whistle attached, and the rider is kitted out like he just stepped off the podium in Paris, but he has trouble keeping up with you on the descents. I love passing those guys - especially in Fall/Winter when I ride my singlespeed up hill wearing my Doc Martins. tee-hee