Originally Posted by chephy

All these "commuter" bikes are labelled thus under a set of very restrictive assumptions, such as that a commute can only be short(ish), flatt(ish), and that the commuter will prefer to ride in an upright position wearing his work clothes while having a ton of stuff in the panniers. There are a helluva lot of commutes out there that don't fit that description. There are commutes that involve riding on beat-up dirt roads and would be best served by an MTB; there are commutes that span dozens and dozens of miles and involve brutal climbs - gotta be a masochist to attempt it on an Electra Townie (every day!).