Wow - what is Lemond thinking? A city commuter bike need to be above all else:
(a) functional
(b) sturdy and built to take abuse, especially the frame getting dinged and or slammed against all sorts of other metal objects,
(c) Cheap enough as to not warrant worrying about it getting stolen anywhere and everywhere. IRO to me was the gold standard for a new urban bike, but honestly, at this point, any cheap BikesDirect bike as a base frame makes the most sense to me. Hi-Ten steel, 36 spoke clincher wheels.