Sure, and I agree with you. Especially since(judge away) my daily rides in winter are probably going to be pretty much completely flat. And once winter is over, my most common climb is probably only going to be ~1500 ft in 12 miles. And I'll probably have 10+lbs of stuff in a pannier or trunk bag anyway. Unless you're racing, being 10 seconds slower up a climb just doesn't matter. I don't care if my 30 mile ride takes another 5 minutes.

It's not that I'm going to shun a 30lb bike. My other bike is about that, after putting 6 lbs on in full commuting regalia and I never minded the weight, even in hilly rides. If it had better tire clearance, I'd just ride it. But my daily ride in 20 miles of poorly maintained wet gravel and little sections of snow a few inches deep is going to be a common occurrence. 25c doesn't cut it.

But I feel that weight is, in general, a rough indicator of quality. If one bike is 18 lbs, and the other is 25 lbs with comparable components, I'm going to wonder why there is such a discrepancy.

The $800 jamis renegade is listed at 24 lbs. The $1200(800 with the corporate discount) raleigh willard is listed at 23.3 lbs. $1350 Specialized Sequoia is 25lbs? $1300 fuji jari is 23 lbs. The $1000 one is 27.5 lbs. the $1200 diamondback haanjo is 22.5. No, not all of those are steel. None of them are fenders. But I don't think aluminum and fenders bump the weight up to 30 lbs.

WHAT makes the doppler 30 lbs, and is it something that will adversely effect my usage of the bike? That's such an outlier of a number it concerns me. Even if it is otherwise a very attractive bike that tics pretty much all my boxes. Although now that I reread the description, the website says it's a touring bike. Which does make the weight a bit less of a yellow flag, I guess.

Dealers don't generally carry bikes to fit 6'5" people on the floor and I'm a 4-5 hour drive to a major metro area. Test drives aren't really an option for me. Most LBS'es aren't next to wet, poorly maintained gravel roads either. Or logging/forest service roads. So I see limited value in them for this particular purchase.

Wheel size says 700c on the spec sheet. That's the sort of thing that has me skeptical. Lack of attention to detail and poor proofreading turns me off.

Eh, maybe. But I do know that I was often a bit uncomfortable riding this same route last year on 40mm tires, and would've liked something wider. Anything that supports 45mm 700c tires with fenders seems to be more MTB oriented than I'd prefer-fundamentally I'm still riding things resembling roads, I don't need a MTB. 650b 47mm seems to be more targeted towards roads of questionable quality, which is more what I'm looking to explore.

So for me specifically, 650bx47mm seems really attractive.

I am fully willing to admit that improving my mediocre bike handling may make more of a difference than going from 40mm to 47mm. I'm also going from tubed to tubeless from last winter to this winter, which will probably make a difference?