I decided to save and put up my response to yet another question along the
lines of "so, what do _you_ guys ride?". Here is is.

I ride about 22 miles on a typical workday, sometimes a little more, and
(very occasionally, of late) do Sunday rides of greater distances. I also
make short utility trips in town; I have an Orbit City Trailer for
transporting shopping and the like. I regularly ride at night; every
workday during winter, and at least once a week all year. I never ride
offroad (er, apart from last night's impromptu cyclocross expedition,
oddly enough).

I ride a light touring bicycle; a steel road frame with room for
medium-sized tyres and mudguards, with mounting fixtures for mudguards, a
pannier rack, and cantilever brakes, all of which I have fitted. I use
drop handlebars, but mount them higher than current fashion demands. I
don't use "clipless" pedals, which is slightly more awkward, but enables
me to ride in the same boots I will wear at work; instead I use MKS
platform pedals and toeclips. My wheels are of the conventional 36-spoke
design which is highly robust; I built them myself.

I've found that cheap aluminium pannier racks are easily destroyed, and
had to buy a more expensive steel rack. I use Ortlieb panniers, which are
completely waterproof and detach easily from the bicycle; I don't lock
them on, but remove them and take them with me. I also very recently
acquired a Brooks saddlebag for overflow loads, and of course the trailer
can carry a lot of stuff if need be.

I have a 14-speed drivetrain, since seven-speed rears are the cheapest
readily available components, and also make for stronger rear wheels than
greater numbers of sprockets. The front cranks are made by Sugino; the
110mm bolt circle diameter accomodates a smaller small chainring, which
lets me avoid the need for a triple without having to struggle up hills;
the front chainrings are 52/34, and the rear sprockets range from 13 to
34. A super-high gear is not necessary; but conversely there is always a
heavier load to be hauled up a steeper hill. The cranks do have a 74mm
bolt circle on which I could mount a third "granny" ring; I have a front
derailleur intended for triple use in order that I could make this change
easily if needed. I use bar-end shifters, which are more robust than
integrated brake/shifter units; also, friction front shifting makes it
easier to deal with that giant chainring leap. The rear shifter is
index/friction switchable, so if the indexing goes out I can just switch
to friction and continue the ride.

I do wear specialised cycling clothing; shorts, a jersey (long sleeved in
cold weather - cut the sleeves off a short-sleeved jersey entirely, so
your farmer's tan is not easily exposed in t-shirts), bibtights in cold
weather, and gloves; but for short journeys it's quicker to ride in normal
clothes and be a little slower. You will still want gloves, to help
protect your wrists from road vibration - and in cold weather, the fingers
are the first victim. I wear clear goggles only when there are a lot of
flying insects around. I do not wear a helmet, since they are ineffective
for road cyclists. In wet weather you will need mudguards and waterproofs,
obviously; it is particularly worthwhile to have waterproof booties, since
wet feet get really cold and miserable. I use a traditional cycling cape,
but they are not for everyone; in particular, they are completely useless
without full mudguards.

My main light is a Schmidt dynamo hub driving a Bisy headlight and B&M
Seculite rear LED. I also mount a Smart battery headlight which is
switchable between LED and halogen bulb; I use the LED to be seen in lit
areas (it has very low power consumption) and the halogen bulb in dark
areas. The Bisy is the best available dynamo headlight, but does not have
a standlight to provide "being seen" light while stopped, so a separate
headlight is necessary - of course if you are paranoid you will never want
to rely on a single lighting system anyway. I mount two rear battery LED
lights, because they're light and cheap as dirt, and you can't tell when a
rear light packs it in.

I carry a pump, a spare inner tube (so as not to fix tubes on the road), a
puncture repair kit (don't tempt fate with a spare inner tube alone) which
includes the head from a ladies' disposable razor (in order to shave the
seam off seamed inner tubes, which it does very well), a tyre boot, tyre
levers, two grain bars for emergency munchies, spare batteries for the
headlight, a spare bulb for the dynamo headlight, a folding minitool, and
a plastic bag to put over my saddle when I leave the bike in the rain.