I ride a Salsa Journeyman in the winter in Eastern Iowa. It is a quite hilly area with pretty extreme winter conditions. We had a good stretch of sub zero (F) last winter, even dipping down below -30 for a few days. Combine this with a good amount of snow and ice, as well as super salty, ****ty surfaced roads, and i think a bike that works well in the winter here would work well just about anywhere. I commute everyday, year round, and had great luck with the Sora equipped Journeyman. Granted, there is no thru axles, or hub gearing, but it checks all of your other boxes. With the full cable housings and reliable mechanical brakes, i had zero issues the entire winter, with minimal maintenance. I did install a rustbuster chain and run sintered pads on this bike. My fenders clear a 650x48 tire, and also a studded 700c (i switch between 2 wheelsets depending on conditions). I have the drop bar version, but Salsa offets a flat bar version as well, and both are reasonably priced. Lots of mounts for commuting gear on the frame, and little worry about rust with the aluminum frame and carbon fork. I didn't miss a shift the entire winter with traditional derailleur components, even through ice storms. Just my 2 cents.