Originally Posted by
lil brown bat
The "slightly baggy MTB shorts" are actually a double-short: the inner short is a liner with a chamois to help prevent chafing (they're meant to be worn without underwear, btw). It's a pretty good solution for that temperature range; however, I don't know anywhere in Wisconsin where it's 75 degrees year round. The liner of those shorts is detachable, so if it's got a decent chamois, you may want to experiment with wearing it under other pants as well.
The statement that "SPDs aren't really useful for a commute" is marginally true if one believes (erroneously) that usefulness is only measured in terms of a "performance gain", and nonsense otherwise. If you are using clipless now and like them, that's what you should use for your commute.
It will be around 75 in Wisconsin for the first month of commuting, after that I will figure out what else to wear. I currently have SPD-R pedals on my road bike, and hate riding without clipless pedals. The SPD pedals I will be buying have a platform on one side, and clipless on the other side. I think the Pearl Izumi X-Alp sneakers will be the best sneakers for me. Any further suggestion or comments about those items would be useful.