Here's my all-year, all-purpose bike for my car-free life. It started as a stock, black Surly Cross-Check in 2008 and is now a fixie, with a mechanical disc brake in front, generator hub and lights, fenders, Tubus rear rack with Walk basket, trailer hitch, 35-38 mm tires. I used spray.bike to give it its current look. The goal was a versatile minimum maintenance bike for living in a place with lots of road salt. And that it is. I've also taken it on overnight trips and done up to 100 mile rides. It's not a particularly fun bike, but I have plenty of other options for that.