Bike Hugger 

But the frame is aluminum, too stiff for actual city streets which are filled with pot holes, patches, cracks, manholes, grating, etc. Aluminum is great for suburbs and bike paths, but in a real city environment you need steel frames for a non-harsh ride.

The bike shop next to our favorite coffee shop has had one parked out front for awhile. Every time I walk by I think, “Cool bike, why hasn’t someone snatched it up yet?”

Alan @ EcoVelo

Curbside in Toronto carries a classier Italian version of the same thing by Abici.  I’d pull the trigger, if the wife wouldn’t find yet another bike…
curbside.on.ca
www.abici-italia.it
They are more spendy, but steel, better finish, more elegant…

That’s a Gary Fisher Simple City.  Specs on it are HERE

My wife recently picked up a Simple City from River City Bicycles, and I think the ride is pretty nice.  Although it does have an aluminum frame, the fork is steel.  I suspect the combination of that fork and the tires helps the ride quite a bit.  It certainly rides much better than a Trek Soho, which had a pretty harsh ride.

@ brooklyn dan..Are you serious, or just trolling? Go ride a Vitus 979 then come talk to me about how stiff aluminum is.

@Doug
How does it handle the front load? I’m curious how it does with 2 grocery bags, one of which has at least 6-pack in it(for real-world weight).

Seriously, has anyone ridden one of these with or without a load? I’ve posted on a few different sites trying to find out how it handles, perhaps a a case or so or maybe a bag of dogfood as an example.

Yeah, I’m curious as well.  I know my LBS could get one in, but it would be with the understanding that I would be buying it. :)

I’m really interested in how it handles a load.

The fork looks like it has a decent amount of offset, so I’m guessing it’s probably designed around carrying a load, but it’s hard to say without a test ride.