I posted this in the road bike section, and they politely indicated that there's a forum for commuters. I just didn't notice it. Anyway, I was wondering if anyone would care to help me out a bit:

I'm a grad student, and I intend to use a bike for my primary mode of transportation. I was wondering what everyone thought of a few bikes I found in the local stores. I'd like to spend somewhere between $300-$450, but if something pricier comes with considerable recommendation, I'd pay $550.

Here are some bikes I liked:
Trek 2010 3500 for $360

Giant Rincon for $400, but as I recall it had brake pads rather than disc breaks.

Giant Cypress for $235

and Giant Seek 2 for $525.

If you've got any advice or insight into these bikes, it would be really helpful. I intend to use it to get around everywhere, since I don't feel like owning a car yet. I'd like to be biking in any weather, all year. That means I need to pick up some warmer clothing for the winter, and a mask or something. I keep losing my winter hats...I bike to the store sometimes. So far I've just brought a backpack, which carries enough food for the week, but makes me pretty top heavy. Makes for a more interesting ride =)

There's so much information to try to absorb! I still don't really know all the questions to ask. I'd like to attach fenders and a rack and...whaddaya call 'em...panniers? So as I don't have to hold things.

Thanks so much for reading my post here! Thanks for having patience with a newbie like me! In return, let me answer any burning physics questions you have! OK well, maybe that's for a different forum.

A couple more questions, before I start giving opinons:

1) How far is your commute going to be?

2) Where do you live? (go fill out your profile) Winters are drastically different from place to place.

3) How is the terrain? Hilly or flat? Is it windy there?

One thing to think of is that disc brakes are better in the wet than rim brakes, so discs might actually be preferred.

I just sold my much older comfort hybrid last night. I'm "shocked" at how much better the shock-absorbing seatpost made the ride. My wife's bike has the front shocks, and there is also a noticable difference there. The Giant Cypress is going to by far be the most comfortable: more upright seating, shock seatpost & front shocks, and since it has narrower tires, it is going to be just as fast as the others, if not more so. However, they look like road tires, so it will be much worse in the snow.

There's a pretty big range of intended uses and riding positions in that bunch. You should take some test rides and determine what's going to fit you best and go from there. The only bike of the bunch I have any experience with is the Cypress, since my wife bought one a couple of months back. It's a really, REALLY upright position--which she loves and I can't stand, FWIW, and that big, plush seat gets old in a hurry.

I will say that in my experience, front suspension forks aren't particularly necessary for commuting. They just make the bike heavier and more expensive (or the manufacturer goes with cheaper components elsewhere to get the price down). I've also never had any success mounting a proper, close-fitting front fender on a bike with a suspension fork, though there may be some tricks that I don't know about.

Fenders, rack, and panniers are nice to have for sure. You're looking in the neighbourhood of $100 or so for all that (and could spend much, much more if you wanted) so figure that into the budget. Looks like all the bikes have the proper braze-ons (tapped holes in the frame) to handle mounting a rack. I can't judge fender clearance from the linked pictures well enough to make any intelligent comments in that regard.

What discipline of physics? I'm doing a PhD in the general area of AMO.

It's hard to tell from the picture, because it doesn't zoom much, but I don't see rack mounting holes on the Seek 2. Once you get too hard-core into most genres in the US, they start leaving off practical things like rack mount and fender mounting abilities.

Also, look into the Gary Fisher Simple City 3 and Trek Allant. They are both at the top of your price range, but the Allant has everything you want right from the gate. The SC3 is only 3 speed, but it is internal gears, so it will be more reliable. It also has a coaster brake, which will be better in the wet than a rim brake.

Bloomington, my little town here, is a pretty small town. Looks like I don't HAVE to go more than 3 miles to get anywhere. I suppose that's not too much of a trek, huh? There IS a lot of nature around...I could see myself wanting to bike on trails and such that are around here; the ones designed for bikes. There's at least one place I like to go pretty frequently that's 6 miles away. I don't think it gets too windy, but I lived in Iowa for the past four years, and Illinois before that =). It's not that hilly either. Just a couple of hills around that I tend to visit. It is Indiana, which means it gets everywhere from bitterly cold to super-hot. Sort of like living on the moon. Because there's no one here =P Weather strikes pretty frequently: plenty of rain in the spring and summer, thank you lake michigan, and a good deal of snow in the winter. But I've got a little bit of time to worry about that.

I rode everything but the Seek 2. Which is silly. I'll go back to the store and ride it before buying one. The upright position is a little off-putting to me, since I'd been riding a mountain bike before, but I could get in to it. It's not bad, just different.

Hey! I just found out that you can zoom in on the Giant bikes if you click on the un-zoomed picture and wait for, like, 5 minutes while it tries to load. You can go ahead and surf the rest of the internet in the mean time. Don't know why it takes so long.
It looks like it has a screw along the neck of the rear fork. Is that the rack mounting hole? I was looking at the Allant, whose picture has a rack on the TREK site, and it looks like it is mounted using a similarly placed screw.

As for physics, I'm not totally sure yet! Just started this year. Some of us have come in with solid interests. I'm thinking of either trying to pursue applications to Neuroscience, or on the other end of the spectrum, nuclear or high energy physics. I want to understand the Strong and Weak forces better. This summer, between studying for the Qualifying exam, I'll be prepping a room to magnetically isolate it. My Prof wants to cover the whole thing in Mu metal. It's gonna cost a couple hundred thousand dollars. I suppose it would be a valuable resource to the Cyclotron. <---Not bike related.

For year-round riding and running errands, I'd look for a bike that can take wider tires (for winter conditions), fenders, mount a rack, and has long enough chainstays you can mount a reasonably size pannier without banging it with your heel every pedal stroke. Cyclocross, hybrids, and hard tail mountain bikes can handle the wider tires; discs work better in wet/wintery mess but I managed OK (not great, but OK) with rim brakes last winter.

My son's bike is an older (early-mid 2000s) Jamis Coda Sport. I think they sell the Coda line as a performance (flat bar) hybrid. Mounts rack and fenders well, takes 40mm+ width 700c tires, has long enough chainstays he had no trouble carrying loaded panniers for a multi-day C&O Canal towpath trip. Reasonably light (at least vs. a mountain bike) and fast enough I borrowed it as a fast commuter before I bought my current commute bike. You can put on skinnier road slicks for spring/summer/fall. Only downside for winter/wet is rim brakes.

You'll also want to budget for a good set of lights; watch for close outs during summer and early fall for winter gear, studded tires if you think you'll need them, lights, etc.

Another option that a friend did - he has a decent 'cross style bike as his commuter, and picked up a beater hard tail mountain bike for winter commuting. There were a couple of days last winter I'd have liked to run wider/lower pressure tires even with studs, so he may have a good idea there.

If your area has a lot of bike theft and you don't have a controlled access bike lot, or an office area or lab to secure your bike at school, consider going cheap as possible just to minimize financial risk from theft. Good luck!

About theft:
Unsecured bikes seem to be lifted relatively frequently. I should have a place to park a bike on the campus proper, say, in an office, and the cyclotron's way out of anyone's way. People hardly know it's there. So I think I should be fine as long as I lock the bike up. There are a whole slew of bikes and bikers in Bloomington.

re: brake pads vs disk brakes. I have never personally used disk brakes, but I use cool stop salmon pads on alloy rims all rainy Seattle winter long, and find them to be adequate-- and I have to go down some serious hills too. Drum brakes would also be another weather proof option that I have not tried.

Full coverage fenders, rear rack, and pannier is super important for commuting comfort! Don't forget a secure sleeve and pannier, if you will be carrying your laptop inside as I do.

So of the bikes mentioned, which ones allow me to change the tires? How can I tell that I can change the tires of a bike that normally sports thinner tires to, say, mountain bike tires? Are studded tires just the ones with rubber nubbins like I understand mountain bike tires to be? Do they come in thinner tire setups? Is that somehow worse than thicker studs? I think that's every question. Thanks!