You know - if part of the reason you don't want to ride your road bike is because you don't want it to get stolen at work - you really don't want to spend a lot on your commuter bike.

I have a surly pacer frame that I built up with spare parts that I used to make a commuter - then I realized it really was a little bit too nice to leave chained up in the rain.

So now I have an old steel trek mountain bike (rigid fork) that I've upgraded the components slightly with stuff I had lying around (not campy by any means), put faster thinner slicker tires on it... and it does. And while i'd be mildly irked if it was ever stolen, I know for less than $200 or so, I can get another.