Originally Posted by
AlphaRed
I can see that it may be a mountain bike but the fork and the back stays have double eyelets for what I would think to be fenders and front and back racks. Also there is a good distance between the back tire and the down tube. It has a triple crank and a large cog on the back wheel. The brakes are unmarked but they are different then anything I have ever seen.
ARed
The eyelets were quite common on mountain bikes in those days, and are not uncommon now. Wheelbases tended to be much longer then than now, with ridiculously long chain stays. The triple crank and large cog are typical for mountain bikes to deal with the varying conditions encountered on the trail.
Mountain bike designs have changed in the past 25 years. I raced in the 80's, both on and off road, so seeing those catalog pages brings back some memories. Regardless, it is a mountain bike with slick tires.
It could certainly be used for commuting, and, in fact is the very type of bike many of us in the commuting forums recommend to people getting into bike commuting (rigid 80's/90's mountain bike).
The brakes are an oddity- The early mountain bikes had cantilever brakes, and several alternate designs (attempting to increase the length of the lever arm) came out. The brakes on your bike were Sun Tour's attempt, that lasted a few years at most. Revised cantilever design prevailed before the V-brake essentially took over in the 90's.
That's a great bike.