Thanks for the informative post, RJOsprey!

I too have settled on a sport touring bike for my commute. It's my own build, started with a lightweight steel touring frameset. Added 105/Mavic wheels with 28 mm tires, drop bar, triple crank, bar end shifters.

One thing that I would highly recommend for fast commuting: a triple crank and a CLOSELY spaced cassette. That way you have a wide range of gears for the hills and when you're tired, but you also have lots of gear ratios close together, so you can always stay in a good ratio and move fast. I use 30/42/52 chainrings and an 11-23 cassette, for example.