I've seen (on various web sites) mountain bikes converted to road use. By this I don't mean riding a mountain bike on the road, but rather what modification was made for it to be better suited to the road whether it be components such as different tires or a complete different wheel set, etc.
How many here have done this? Would love to hear the success stories, and how you went about the transformation (hard or simple).
But, but, the roadies will scoff at you. You won't even get a look, let alone a little hand wave.
If you are going to get new stuff for your current bike (wheelset, tires, bar ends, etc), you may just want to look at getting a used road bike. Nothing fancy -- a low end road bike will ride a lot better than a mountain bike on the road. The road bike would be a lot more comfortable for road riding.
I bought a Giant OCR 2 two years ago and I love it. The geometry is designed for long distance riding where you don't get out of your saddle very much. To me, it feels a lot better than a mountain bike's geometry in the same road conditions. If I ride my mountain bike on railtrails or the road, my butt tends to bother me, as I am not moving around a lot. When you mountain bike, your body is very dynamic because you have to negotiate uphills, downhills, rocks, roots, etc. On the road, you are realitively stationary in relation to the bike.
I have a buddy who just started commuting into work on a bike. He was going to modify his old mountain bike until he tried out a road bike. After he tried it, he bought it. He said he is very happy with this choice of the road bike.
That's just me, though. But in my opinion, the road bike will afford you the comfort of the geometry and the speed you will eventually want.