Originally Posted by
Trakhak
Hybrids aren't sexy, but if I were in your all-leather hiking boots, I'd be looking for a hybrid in the plus-or-minus-$800 range.
For some reason, people tend to be blind to the fact that upmarket hybrids are essentially flat-bar touring bikes and are usually cheaper than the equivalent touring bikes. They often can take larger tires than touring bikes, too.
I've spent many years doing most of my cold-weather riding and all of my wet-weather riding on an aluminum flat-bar hybrid with clip-on aero bars, Aside from wear items, it's been indestructible so far.
Hybrids are probably the best bikes for what OP is intending. The big manufacturers almost all have high-end hybrids with very good components and are robust and reliable.
Then only drawback is that so many of them come with suspension forks, which really only add complexity and one more moving part to fail, without giving any real benefit. In the early 2000s or so, manufacturers started calling some of their hybrids 'flat bar road bikes' or 'fitness bikes', I think as a way to distance them from our opinion of so called 'hybrids' as clunky and dorky bikes with crap suspension.
My experience is that, when comparing less expensive components (derailleurs and shifter esp.) to more expensive one, the main difference is the reliability and expected time between adjustments - the more expensive stuff lasts much longer than the cheaper stuff, even if they work the same when new. So a good quality 'hybrid' with no suspension fits exactly what OP is asking.
Check out these babies:
https://www.trekbikes.com/ca/en_CA/b...olorCode=black
https://www.specialized.com/ca/en/me...=225855-154505
https://www.konaworld.com/dr_dew.cfm