Commuting - What bike should I use?

So what bike do you think I should use to commute to school. It's a 40 mile ride, uphill most of the time. For those who live in Southern California, I'd be commuting from Temple City to my school in Pomona. Theres a monster hill near the end of my journey. Anyways, the roads are kinda rough, dirt, broken glass, etc etc when I'm near the Santa Fe dam, traffic is okay, nothing I can't handle. Well, I have 3 bikes and I'm not sure which bike I should use to commute. (btw, i have all the safety gear, rack, lights, etc etc already, so no worries about that!) So what should I choose?

old old Nishiki hybrid bike. Orginally I was going to use this as a commuter bike, but this is a monster. it probably weighs 40lbs without anything on it! its a flatbar, and has cyclocross tires on it, but my main concern is the weight of the bike, especially when going up the hill.

or

2004 OCR 3. its a ride bike of course. my only concerns are the tires. though they're thin and its my fastest bike, im afraid the thin tires will pop easily.

or

2000 Kona Blast, a mountain bike. its my lightest bike, its a hard tail, has 2.1 inch stubby tires and what not. it has a nice 2" riser bar, comfortable seat and everything, but my main concern is that the tires are fat and stubby, so i could put some slicks on it, but in terms of speed, its probably the lowest of all 3 bikes i have..

can you guys help me out? thanks!

Does the Nishiki really weight THAT much?... 'cause that would be the one I'd grab if I had a ride like you're describing. I'd take another look at it and see if it's not worth putting a little money into. I just finnished referbishing a similar bike for my wife to commute on and she digs it. Her first bike was a seriously heavy comfort bike with 2 inch wide 26 inch wheels.

I'm assuming it has 27 inch or 700 centimeter wheels. They will roll easier than your mountain bike's 26 inchers, and can mount some comfy 38mm wide commuter tires that would never fit on your road bike. (If the bike is so old the rims are steel you can stop reading now.) The frame is probably steel, and should be pretty comfortable over the long haul as well.

Take an afternoon and tear it down. If you can grease the hubs and steering head bearings, fit a new chain and cables (You can buy them at WalMart for $10), maybe throw in a new bottom bracket (It's not that hard if you buy a tool and look up some instructions in the mechanic's forum), and adjust the shifting and throw on some fresh rubber, you'd be surprised how well the old girl runs.

One more reason I'd consider your Nishiki for commuting to school: It will be a much less attractive target for theives.

If you've absolutely made up your mind the Nishiki is ready for the bone yard, put some slicks on the mountain bike. It might be technically slower than your road bike, but you won't thrash it riding it day in and day out over bad pavement. Besides, if you find you're spinning the top gear out all the way to school and back you can quit your studies and race full time.

Seriously, if you need help rebuilding an older bike there's plenty of help here. Look into the mechanics forum or PM me.

DanO

Nishiki for sure. Pushin' that weight on the weekdays will make you strong for punishing your roadie friends on Sunday.

My commuter ride now is 30+ lbs. right now. Steel is real baby!

Use the drop bar bike. put some kevlar-belted tires on it.

Are you going to ride 80 miles round trip every day?

i wont be commuting on it everyday, just 4 times a week, Mon - Thurs. and yea its 80 miles round trip :P and as for the weight of the Nishiki, my friend has one of those Magna mountain bikes, full suspension kinda thing, the kind with a big big giant block has the top tube and the frame just looks like a sideways Y, hope you guys know what im talking about.. well anyways, they're about the same weight.. so that'd give you a decent idea on what the weight of the bike is. not sure if the bike is steel or not, to be honest, i dont know how to tell. it is restored and in rideable condition, and i think the wheels are steel, again i dont know how to tell, but they're pretty heavy, heavier then my road bike alum standard default wheels and panaracer rims.
the only thing i'd need to do with the nishki is to get a longer stem, but its weilded together with the steering tube (i think thats what its called), it looks kinda like a T, that thing.

people are suggesting i use the Nishiki, but people are voting for the OCR.... how confusing!

40 miles one way? For a commute? Something fast! I'd favor the OCR with more touring oriented rubber. In any case, DO try all three at least twice. At that kind of mileage I'd want the hard truth about what in the stable works and doesn't. Doing the miles on a deadline--daily--is a far cry from doing them for leisure.

Well, on second thought; if I were going to be pedaling 80 miles round trip I'd probably want a light weight road bike. But I hope you enjoy wrenching on it. It will need more maintenance once you begin putting that many miles on it. And keep it inside if you can. If you have to lock it up at school take a big ass chain and padlock and leave it on the rack so you don't have to haul it back and forth.

DanO

Eeek what a crazy choice. My first impression was that since your riding the bike to school where bike theft is rampant I would take the Nishiki beater and replace the tires with the narrowest tire that will fit the rim. BUT then you said you ride 40 miles one way every day? That seems almost unbelievable that anyone would want to ride 80 miles every day! Your going to be spending at least 5 hours a day on your bike. If you telling the truth then I would probably ride the Kona Blast and put on the narrowest tire that will fit those rims with a slick tread; I would also use this bike since you mentioned you do ride some rough roads and dirt and this bike would be more accommodating for this kind of riding.

But do yourself a favor and get 2 different kind of locks, the best U-bolt and the best thickest cable lock. Also those areas your riding in are really remote areas, what would you do if you had a problem? Do you have someone to call to get you? If not your in for one hellish walk! You should consider taking a spare tire/tuber and tools

K, first, I would like to apologize to everyone that read this post. I've got the numbers confused, and i dont know why, but i did and i apologize. its 40 miles round trip, not one way. i kept thinking 40 miles, 40 miles, 40 miles, so i must of got it stuck in my head that its 40 miles one way or something.. well anyways, my apologizes, im not that crazy of a rider that you guys think i am.

so about the monster hill i told you guys about, thats true. hahha
i got this from www.bikemetro.com thats an awesome place, if you guys dont know about it already, check it out!

http://209.223.111.66/profile/a9fcb67e3d76aac9c9cac8b8eb0.png thats my bike route... im sure lots of you guys can tackle that hill like it was a speed bump or something, but to me thats a pretty hard hill to climb.

as for the equipment i plan on taking with me..
2 spare tubes, 3 tire levels, small hand pump, and a full patch kit to patch my flats, and some spare change. anything else i need? if i get a flat or if something like my chain stay breaks or whatever, im pretty much **** out of luck and will have to walk home or something, no one will be able to take me the rest of the way to school, or back home. (thats the reason why im going to start riding in the first place)

I like riding in remote areas, but doing so can put me at risk of having problems and then a daunting task of a long walk; so the stuff I carry may seem like a lot but I know that I can fix most problems.

First I don't think you need 2 tubes, I would carry 1 and save the space for other stuff. Next you need to somehow carry a spare tire and find the lightest folding tire you can (I've seen folded small mtb tires), and bind the tire tightly compact. Of course you need a patch kit, I prefer the Park glueless because they do last and you leave out the glueing process which is faster. Then you need a mini tool; I like the Park MTB3 because it has an assortment of tools plus it seemed to be better built then the others I looked at. I then went to Target and bought a very small cheap folding pliers made by Eddie Baur(sp?). If you take the Kona or the Nishiki you can use the tire levers that come with the Park if not then you need to carry narrow tire levers made for road tires. If the area where you will be riding is remote then you may want to consider carrying 2 mini pumps. I carry spare batteries for the front and rear flashers. I don't carry spare chain links because I never broke a chain in over 30 years of riding including while racing; but if a link did break you can still reassemble the chain without the adding a link, but you might not be able to shift into your lowest or highest gear. I carry $25 plus 2 quarters and a phone card. Don't forget ID.

I still think for a 40 mile ride you should either take the Nishiki if theft and vandalism is a concern or the Kona; both bikes have wider tires more suited for dirt and rough pavement and won't be as rough riding as the OCR when the going gets rough. But get rid of the knobby tires, they slow you down and will offer no traction advantage on a commute like that. Find a smooth tread tire that offers some sort of flat protection.

Take the Nishiki Hybrid and put some smaller high pressure tire on it like these. IT will make your commute a lot easier. Also panniers are a good option if you already do not have some. 40 miles RT with a load of books ir tough.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=7194731903&rd=1&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&rd=1

as for the equipment i plan on taking with me..
2 spare tubes, 3 tire levels, small hand pump, and a full patch kit to patch my flats, and some spare change. anything else i need?

1) Multitool that includes a chainbreaker (if your tranny ever gets screwed up, you can shorten the chain, get the derailleur out of the loop, and limp home in your favorite gear). Also, a spill can really knock your bike out of adjustment, so the wrenches can really be a godsend. Topeak and Park both make good multitools.

2) 2 tubes is the absolute minimum. If you botch a repair (i.e. don't get all the glass out or rip off a valve stem) or simply get really unlucky, the extra tubes are worth the space and weight

As far as choice of bike goes, you don't really have quite the right bike -- a touring or rec bike would be a better option. If the choice were mine and you can carry everything, I'd take the OCR for the drop bars alone.

Regardless of the bike you pick, get some kevlar belted slicks. Neither cyclocross nor racing tires make any sense for you. If you take the OCR, you should bump up your tire size to 700x25. If you take the Nishiki, bump it down to 700x28 if you can.