Well crud.
I have another job that will reduce my commute from 14 miles to .9 of a mile.
While many would celebrate that I am kind of bummed out because I will now start fatting up and will have to resort to jogging to get enough exercise in the time I have available.
I've been commuting on my fenderbeast or one of my road bikes but my old job has covered bike parking. The new job does not and I don't want to leave my precious bikes sitting in the rain all day.
Looks like I need to build up a beater.

Requirements:

Cheap or something I can cobble out of my parts heap.
Dependable.
Good for the one steep hillclimb on the way to and ripping downhill on the way back.
All weather, day/night.

Got lots of parts, lights ect.
Have a rough idea in mind but was wondering what you guys would come up with if you designed a bike for this application.

Old chrome moly rigid MTB. Trek 700 or 800 series, Specialized Hardrock, Giant Boulder or Yukon, Schwinn Frontier, etc. Cheap, tough, comfortable, easy to find, all use common parts so no ordering oddball components over the internet. Many came with 36-spoke wheelsets adequate for commuting. Not the lightest framesets out there but you are looking for a workout on a short ride anyway.

Kind of my thoughts as well.
Have an old Marin frame in my size and most everything it would take to whip it together cheap. May not even bother with double chainrings and/or front derailleur. Maybe paint any chrome parts so they don't just rust sitting out on the rain every day, which half the year around here really is every day.

Any one else have a similar commute? If so what was your bike solution?

I bring my bike inside the apartment when I get home, so It dries out overnight,
though it may get wet when i'm out..
and it gets frequent [diy] service to keep it running at its best.

beaters as a small sacrifice in high theft places, are a good choice..
then the loss is not so big when it happens.

overhaul and while stripped down rust resistant coat tube interiors,
and put a easily touched up rattle can paint job on the outside.

Just walk it.

Strip it! Powdercoat it! Rustproof it! Place a new Tiagra triple chain ring and cassette on it, along with two new Tiagra derailleurs. Then assemble the remainder of the bike with your working spare components. Get a new seat, grips, and tires.

For 0.9 miles, thats about 18 minutes walking at a moderate pace. Shoe leather would be my recommendation too. You could even jog the distance for exercise.

+1

You can walk this distance in ~15 minutes.

Or, continue riding 14 miles to work - just take a 13 mile detour on the way.

If you were closer I've got something that would fit the bill >.<

Probably will walk it sometimes but biking would be great when pressed for time. Also, at the end of a long day it will be all downhill to get home.

What happened to all the time you gained by cutting 13 miles off your commute?

For that distance I'd build it single speed. Maybe even skip the brakes and throw a coaster brake on. No cables to worry about the weather beating up. Maybe even do a cool coaster brake cruiser build. For that short of a distance speed does not matter, might be cool to have something different.

One steep hill on the single speed = training!

The cheapest bike you can find on CL. For 0.9 miles, you can walk if you ave an issue. If the bike is going to be outside and get wet, I would not invest much in it.

I'm sure my wife already has the chores lined up.

Thought about a single speed and just may go that route but good brakes are a must have. On that down hill I routinely nudge 50 MPH on my road bike when all tucked in and it is heavily wooded right to pavements edge with lots of very stupid deer looping across the road every so often.

Cobbled together
Dependable
Fast
Ugly enough to leave out in the rain

What he said.

By the way, I have a really short commute, too, 2.5 miles, and running does actually help a lot, but you can always make the commute home as long as you want. Sometimes my homeward commute is 30 miles.

Been out in the shop meditating on the Marin Palisades frameset and it is just to darn nice to consider expendable.
Dug out an old Diamondback "Fleet Streek" that seems a better choice. Probably build it as a 7 speed with cantilevers, platform pedals, nutted axels and cheapo street tires. The thing is such a butt ugly seafoam tealish color I have no choice but to rattle can paint it before riding it in public. Probably flat poop brown or some similar anti theft color.
When it's done I'll post a pic if you guys promise not to haze me too much.

That is a bad ass looking bike!
Way to nice for what I need here.

It's a 1989 RockHopper. Everything but the wheels and tires came off the parts shelf in my garage. It's essentially just an instance of the old steel mountain bike recommendation above. You could make a bike like this as nice or as cheap as you want. Here's what it looked like when I first got it for $120 (plus new tires and pedals).

Since your commute is so short, you'll have lots of time for a good breakfast. I'd recommend one of these in red.

Love a decent breakfast but I usually just use a whisk.

Looks like a wise use of $120!

Seafoam teal sounds awesome! I'd leave it, that's what made the bikes from the 80's so unique. Wild colors and graphics.

This is what I had in mind