Originally Posted by
jtwilson
I say get it. Sounds like you know what to expect from it. With that long of a commute, you should enjoy your ride, and try to cover that distance with a resonable measure of efficiency. If you 'down-graded' to a heavier more clunky commuter bike, you would always wonder what you were missing had you went with what you wanted in the first place.
Get the Orbea for now, and if you find yourself wanting something more utilitarian, you can always go that route in the future for less $. I would replace the front wheel quick release with something more secure, so you can make do with carrying one U-lock on days you want to stop somewhere after work, and carry that in a small/medium daypack with a good suspension system to keep back-swamp to a minimum.
I didn't say anything earlier because the OP said he/she didn't need to carry anything, but I've tried nearly all the options and I disagree with the backpack idea entirely. I have a deuter backpack specifically for cycling (a mesh support + curved back that keeps my back 90% the same as not wearing a backpack) and I gotta tell you - *any* sort of backpack on your back for a long ride feels super annoying to me. It's not so bad on my mountain bike, and not a big deal on my winter (upright) bike, but on any of my bikes where I lean forward I've never been able to get used to it - I just cannot believe how annoying it is to try to ride in my normal position with a backpack on, even one that is good for keeping my back from sweating.
If you actually want to carry something, I would strongly suggest that depending on size you invest your money in either a very large seat bag (Carradice Super C, Jandd Mountain Wedge III) or a rack (the Axiom Streamliner is the cheapest and easiest to find, but there are solutions for Tubus racks sold by Tubus that make the rack fairly easily to take on and off the bike in about a minute if you're self-concious about the look of a rack on the weekends).
It's just my opinion, but that's my experienced opinion.