Some people like taking a less expensive bike and slowly changing it to suit. That process that you see as a nuisance, I see as a hobby.
I got a great deal on a complete Pugsley, but I've spent hundreds on a new rear wheel and a drivetrain. Now I have all the stuff I need to mess with it, change the configuration based on the trip/season... I love doing that.
The bonus is, when I have my Pugsley in the stand for a (by many people's opinions, unnecessary) drivetrain swap, I clean the BB and the freehub body and the chain, and then I check the cables and adjust the preload on my headset and crank, and all these little actions keep my bikes running virtually like new regardless of how much mud and salt I'm riding through. It's a win-win!
I suspect if I had much more money to throw at bikes, I would have a titanium 29er. But, I would probably still have a steel Soma Double-Cross Disc because I like the ride quality of steel on a road/endurance bike, and I would probably still have a Pugsley as my off-road touring bike because I love the janky offset nonsense and the utility of steel, pockmarked with rack mounts and bottle cages, marred by hard use.
Bikes are tools.