Originally Posted by no1mad

What size tires do you have now? Just swapping to wide slicks will improve your on-road speed a bit for the same amount of effort.

Ergon grips- 'nuff said.

I'd go with a rigid steel over a carbon fork myself...

According to your sig line, you have a Trek hybrid. Why not just that as a commuter? It already has about half of the mods that your Hardrock will require to make it more road worthy.