Not just for commuters. To me, it's what a hybrid should have been in the first place. If you want to go long and hard on it, you can. It's a true riding bike, not just a transportation bike. My wife rides almost as well on it as on her cyclocross bike. I know Giant and Specialized make equivalent models, but it seems to be a fairly rare type of bike. Maybe they're called performance oriented hybrids or flat-bar road bikes.