Been meaning to say: The best stock commuter, hands down

This is one cool ride, and it clocks in well under $1K. That's not bad for a bike that comes with that fresh bike-seat smell, straight fenders, a rack, kickstand (underrated!), the awesomest ergo arcbars you'll ever wrap yer meat-hooks around, and a nifty internal/external combi rear hub, called "Dual Drive" I think.

This '06 orange is a killer color (see Pinch Flat/Bike Porn/Bridgestone XO-1). The Prussian blue of 2004 was tight; the Silver of 2005 was dreadful (sorry, father-in-law!)

All in all, this is the bike I ALWAYS recommend to folks coming into the sport/culture fresh from motorcarbon, who just want the best/cheapest ride. I tell them they should buy a bike they'll still want to ride in 10 years. This is that bike. (Now I won't have to waste my breath, I can just give them the link to this here post.)

Down the road apiece, you can always graduate to some obscure Italian lugged steel, or sadistic crap-colored fixie.

Available for viewing in 360 SurroundSound BikePorn(TM) right here.