Road bikes aren't the delicate little flowers many people make them out to be. The reputation comes mainly from old-school box section rims, and today's fashionable low-spoke-count wheels. Contemporary aluminum rims with a sensible number of spokes won't give you problems.
I live in the city, and work in the city. Hell, I even work FOR the city. (And like Chicago, we're also on a Great Lake.) I've been car-free since 1999. All I own are road bikes. Okay, my four-seasons all-conditions commuter has healthy doses of both cyclocross and touring bikes in its DNA, but still, it's instantly recognizable as a roadie, and was sold as a high-speed urban commuter.
Well TSL, looks like life is good, eh!
