i just don't think there is one ultimate commuter for me, because when it's nice and dry, i want to be on a light-weight, fast-as-hell road bike*, but when crappy weather rolls around (especially the nonsense chicago sees in winter), i want disc brakes, fenders, clearance for bigger studded tires, and an IGH. i really do rather like having the 2-bike tag-team approach to suit daily commuting conditions rather than having one single "ultimate" bike to commute on.



(*) i'm a fairly bare-bones back-pack commuter, so elaborate rack and bag systems for large heavy loads aren't on my radar screen.