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I ride an xc hardtail for my do it all bike. In winter it sports a few small frame bags to stache food and extra clothing and I use it on and off road. After doing this for a while I realised that I couldn’t go back to using a road bike which is just far too harsh and rattly compared to an mtb. A further perk is that rocket rons on the road produce a fair bit of drag which coupled with the upright riding position means you can still put force through the peddles going downhill which is great for holding consistent average power. It also uses a 2x10 drivetrain which is great for gear range, shifts well even when cruddy, and is cheap to replace. I give this a squirt of water at the end of each ride but the bike remeains unwashed most of the time.
It's fine for clubruns too. In a pack there’s plenty of shelter if you need it and the extra height and riding position makes it easy to see over the tops of other riders which is nice, plus the odd pothole isn’t going to faze it.
I do a lot of miles though so have probably thought about it more than most. Currently logging about 15-18hrs a week of zone 2 riding.
Re: rims brakes and spokes, dealing with a broken spoke on the road is really pretty simple, happened to me last week, took a couple of minutes to loosen opposing spokes a couple of quarter turns, tighten neighbouring spokes a couple of turns, loosen brakes a bit, hey presto, no rubbing.
Still better than the horror of disc brakes in cold wet conditions, the noise! 😖