This or this ?.

[dyna-ti]

Or maybe this

Still havering and humming and hawing over a choice of ebike. Its mainly for cutting about on, probably only ever see the road, but i like quality kit, i like to be on the best i can afford, and tbh to myself I probably wouldnt be happy on a hardtail or rigid. Its a full suser i want, and one capable of any situation. I hate pseudo.
Bit of a mad way of doing things i admit, but theres folk out there with sports cars that never see a race track and probably only ever get used to go to the shops, so what the heck eh

I've looked at everything. 15+ brands looked at all the hardtails, the suss's, the rigids and even took a look at dropped bar road/gravel electrics. But then a came to my senses and put looking at roadie stuff as a moment of madness.

So.THIS(1) is - Focus JAM² 6.8 150mm f&r -£4600
Very nice, reasonable level of kit. fox 34 150mm front and float DPS rear, okish on drivetrain with SLX, brakes wouldnt be my first choice, but adequate. Wheels however are I think poor for this money, bit of a let down there.
So then I thought for a few quid more, well about £400 more

I thought THIS(2) - Focus Jam 6.9 NINE 150mm f&r £4999
Very nice indeed. Much better level of kit for a mere £400 extra Fox 36 front, same DPS float rear, but more XT kit, especially the brakes, which are pretty much as good as it gets brake wise. Wheels are also far superiour with DT Swiss H1900, over novatec on the 6.8(I mean wtf are they thinking there novatec ffs.) Not as good an interface, the purion on this one and the Kiox on the 6.8. But overall for that extra 400 quid its a stiffer fork, more XT especially the way better brakes and very nice wheels. By far a considerably better deal.

So I thought. Was committed to spending about £4 1/2K, but if I'm willing to go to the max of £5k, what else is out there

Look back at the bookmarked bikes I'd taken not of and maybe THIS(3) would a better deal than the 6.9 NINE,
Cube Stereo Hybrid 160 HPC TM 27.5 170/160mm f&r £4899
Wasnt considering a 27.5, was thinking 29er, but I can live with it. Sus bits - pretty much the important part of a sus bike, are Fox 38 Float Performance front and Fox Float DPX2 EVOL on the back, oh very nice, very very nice indeed.
Has the kiox interface i'd prefer, Magura MT7 brakes, which although I've no experience of magura brakes, being a Hope fan, I believe these are one of the best sets on the market. Wheels are Newmen Evolution SL E.30, which again i've no experience of but online reviews are good to excellent. Drivetrain is probably the downside of the bike, much like the novatec on the jam, I dont know what they were thinking speccing sram NX eagle, pretty much a budget bit of kit, XT would have been better, but hey ho.. 4A charger is a good spec as well. Usually 2A, which is an overnight charge for most.
So overall if you subtract what the main spec components cost retail, the 38 is about a thou, the rear is about 1/2 that, the wheels and brakes add up to a pretty penny too, we know what the bosch kit costs, so overall the Cube does look to be the best bang for your buck.

So what do you all reckon ?. Cube the best taking everything into consideration, and remember the costs between the 6.8 and the cube is only £300, and £100 less than the 6.9 nine.
Orr is the enduro option, just a step too far ?

This is likely going to be the only Ebike i buy, and likely one of the final few bikes I'll own.

 

[d8mok]

Why not go and ride them ?

You can read all the reviews you like but if you are obsessing to this level you need to ride them as they are different. First choice would be which motor you prefer and then work from there.

Ive ridden a friends Focus Sam2 , Another friends Cube and his new Canyon Torque. I prefer the Bosch on the Focus.


Have you looked into stock availability? As this will be the limiting factor unless you are willing to wait a while.

 

[FluffyChicken]

Go ride them, see how they ride on the road, up curbs and through a few potholes and see how much room cars give you on our 20cm wide cycle paths in the gutter.

Only then make your choice.

I wouldn't buy a 5k car without a test drive.

Thought about a e-cargo bike, it'll be more useful for you, what with your intended actual usage.


So stop mulling, stop reading stats, go try them out, see how they actually are.

 

[dyna-ti]

I've a test ride on a jam 6.8 this Thursday, which is now £4800 and they only have the large size, whereas im 6'3" and thinking the XL would better suit.think im the end of the L size height wise plus it's a big outlay for me, and I dont want to feel pressurized into buying it if its wrong or nearly wrong if you know what i mean.
The only XL is a Scott genius 920, which is fairly good spec but poor wheelset (shim' m410) and its a good 500 above my budget

I also realize not many high end full sussers are in stock anywhere at the moment, and just getting something now is a bonus, could otherwise be a 3 month wait added on to get something that is much the same.

Decisions Decisions Decisions

Thought about a e-cargo bike, it'll be more useful for you, what with your intended actual usage.

I have, thought and considered everything, from tern cargo to front cargo(too long) and tbh going shopping is only a weekly affair, with the odd day picking up a days meal, so while cargo helps there, its been suggested many times something like a trailer could be an option to consider.

 

[d8mok]

My friend is 6.3 and his is a XL in the Focus. You definitely don’t want a large. I’m 5.11 and all my modern stuff is a large and perfect. Even at only 5.11 I could ride a XL Focus if I had to, so please don’t buy the large just because it’s available.

Remember that the wheels , brakes and spec will wear and be changed over the years so don’t get too obsessed. First and foremost is Geometry and which motor you want.

 

[FluffyChicken]

First and foremost is Geometry and which motor you want.

And can you get that battery off with not much effort. With shopping and cafe style rides the buggers will have that valuable battery away.
It needs to be little effort for you to bother doing it, thieving toe rags will happily put the effort in.

Some of these new accessible style bikes look better in my eyes, unless you really are going to take it down a few rock Gardens and proper off road.
Much cheaper too.
Pretty sure I've seen a new fat bike style step through that looks tidy.


I can't be much more help as I really don't understand your bike buy based on your target riding use.
That and d8mok is far more knowledgeable.

Anyway by the time an XL becomes available, the new generation of bike will be out. Already for reviewing ;-)

 

[dyna-ti]

This, this and this have been dropped in favour of this.
https://www.scott-sports.com/gb/en/product/scott-genius-eride-920-bikeDeposit paid, awaiting delivery, possibly as early as next week.

 

[Magpiegifts]

Not an ebike fan tbh. But that Scott is pretty smart

 

[dyna-ti]

Not an ebike fan tbh. But that Scott is pretty smart

I'm not keen on the colour though, really wanted something black as black, mainly as ive a bunch of hope parts in purple. Not even I could put purple on that colour frame.

I really don't understand your bike buy based on your target riding use.

Its an EVERYTHING bike.
I could possibly have justified 2 e bikes, a sus and a rigid or ht, but neither would be specced very well and from long experience, the lower end componentry just isnt up to any sort of intensive use or longevity.

the one in the link is an all mountain. Can handle as per manufacturers specs 40kph over technical terrain ,offs and drops up to about 4'. a 36mm fox fork will handle anything i could put it into or a skilled experienced rider. Had i picked a lesser bike, then that would NEVER be an option. But despite its capabilities, should I use it for town jaunts for coffee and cake, for off and about camping it is easily able to do that as well as offroad jaunts.. Plus the frame has a rear boss for fitting a Scott rack and mudguard, so it can once a week or once a fortnight have the rack fitted, a brace of large panniers and shopping becomes a breeze.
The lesser underspecced shopping ht or rigid id want to swop bits over, it would have poo brakes a poo fork and heavier than needed wheels,bar etc etc, so in fact id spend on that and still have to shell out money for upgrades.
And the same would apply to a lesser costing sus to play, etc on. Again the lesser outlay equals lesser less capable componentry, and again I'd be forced to upgrade these parts and yet again it means i have to shell out more and more money.

If i drove, it would be a swb landrover.

 

[d8mok]

How did it ride?

one thing I’ve only just noticed is that EBikes give a max weight in total. So for example that Scott is 128kg but it includes the 23kg of bike so the rider and luggage etc can’t be above 105kg. I’m guessing that many go well above that weight though from what I’ve seen out and about.