Originally Posted by
ephin
I, personally, wouldn't invest money in trying to convert that bike into a commuter
I may be misreading the OP, but my understanding is that the OP wants to make this workable as is, and currently that means at the very least, replacing a tire. I do agree that saving up for a better commuter rig is great, but that shouldn't discourage the OP from using the tool at hand as well as possible.