Wharf Rat you're right about the more-upright geometry versus the 210 and 1000 models, makes the bike more fun on the road.

I used mine off-road half the time, I found it was a competent mountain bike, sturdy enough to handle a nuclear blast and with short enough chainstays for good climbing traction on the steepest technical climbs.

Mine came with heavily-scratched top tube sides, I used handlebar finishing tape to cover all that. The rear rack on mine has held up to much hard use and the rack trunk luggage adds enough rearward weight to further help climbing traction off road. I went with a downhill-specific saddle on a suspension post for my many adventures in the Sierra Foothills and on Mt. Tam.

I can't remember if mine ever had the half-step-plus-granny chainrings on it, currently running 28-40-52 with a 14-32t 6s freewheel and indexed levers.

This was my main off-road bike before "gravel bikes" were a thing!