In reply to PHeller:
I have no idea what you just said. I tried using my mountain bike with road tires and was running out of gears pretty quickly.
I guess what I am really looking for is a road bike that can handle abuse, like botched curb hopping and big potholes.
I'd look into better gearing. You may not have a 11 tooth ring in the rear, and your front big ring may not be as large as possible. Mountain bikes usually run a 44 tooth front big ring, and 11 to 32 rear cassette.
If you can push an 11 rear and 44 front gear for your entire commute you must be in some serious shape.
A hybrid will likely have a gear ratio that is more easy than a MTB because they are designed for flat ground and fat bottoms.
You can also swap out your entire rear cassette (gear stack) on the MTB for one from a road bike on a lot of the older drivetrains. That gives you a different (harder, faster) gear range than you have now. Your Local Bike SHop should be able to help you put together a working solution if they're worth a damn.
Older MTBs often came with 48-tooth big rings; if you need more gears, the easiest (if not cheapest) way to do it is to go to a 48-36-26 crankset, or simply change the big ring if your existing crank and derailleur allow. You can't go lower than 11 on the rear, so you don't have many options there.
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