DorkDisk

Modern cycling is awesome. Manufacturers are offering bikes for all types of riding, and the segmentation (some of it artificial) is going to get worse but the gist of it is that we no longer have to build our own bikes for different purposes. Indeed, the industry is doing everything to prevent consumers from frame up builds, and the large companies are pushing proprietary parts. Ironically, its a good time to frankenbike

So, one is a road bike. If you put drops on it, it loses it purpose for existing: being a flat bar road bike.

The other one is a non-race cyclocross. Cyclocross is a competetive sport and these bikes cater to the non race crowd, much like non-race road bikes. Many object to the silly term "gravel grinding," as if nobody rode on gravel before, and "grinding" just sounds like they're trying too hard to sound edgy. It seems like "non-race" is a big deal now looking at the jacked up front ends on all these bikes. This is kinda a new genre for large brands, a niche that smaller brands like Surly exploited

In the end, the cycling industry exists to sell you new stuff. Bikes last a long time and once you have a nice one, you're done for a good while unless n+1. True game changers are few and far between in cycling. Cynical people will say that these "crossover" bikes are to entice MTBers to the road and vice versa, practical people will appreciate the increased options.

Edit: I mean no offense by "cynical," if anything I'm pretty cynical about the bike industry myself.