Hey Dewey, just wanted to follow up and thank you for your help. Although I'm in BC, I recently had to travel to Toronto, and I dropped in at Curbside Cycle (after stalking their YouTube channel for a while ). I loved the look of the Achielles but I ended up buying a past-year deeply-discounted R&M Roadster Vario Mixte that for some reason was languishing on the floor. It is so much more bike for the money! The test-ride blew me away. It's still in the process of being shipped, but I am confident that with a set of 45nrth studded tires it'll handle whatever I need it to do all winter long for years to come. It can't arrive a moment too soon, as so many bits on my Rad Mini are corroding away or seizing up or shorting out...