Hi all! Wow. Lots to digest here but I thank you for all of it.
I still haven't found an ebike in my price range that will fit someone my height for the long haul.
To answer the question about commute length, it's about 10 miles RT. Most of that is actually on a trail. The problem is the 8% grade for the last 1/4 mile of my commute.
I am definitely going to upgrade the cassette. LBS said it's a pretty simple switch. I talked to the surly dealer first. Should not be cost prohibitive. I'm also going to add fenders at that point.
My decision about what to do in winter is I need to find a small MTB, I think, and add studded tires. I'm keeping a look out on our local swap groups. So far, nothing. Going to add studded tires on that sucker for bad weather days.
Husband has a top-of-the-line Scott. He got it used for a song (it's like 3k bike that he got for 900 bucks almost brand new because I knew it had been sitting at the LBS for 3 months and they wanted it gone). I guess maybe they had trouble moving the huge frame? Not sure. It's been good to him. But he doesn't do that much other than recreational riding.