E Bike recommendations.

[Spokey]

Evening Hubbers. I wish to pick your collective brains on info regarding an e bike recommendation. I love riding my steel hard tail and frankly I am torn. I am 58, moderately fit and never thought I would look at e bikes until much later in life…….However, I am quite keen and would welcome any advice you all may impart. 
Trail riding, George area. I am wanting to get on with longer days into the mountains hence the e bike. Missus reckons I am just lazy ha ha! 

I am looking to get the cycle benefit with a little help as opposed to just rocking my Motorcycle. 
 

I am clueless as to budget as I need to visit some bike shops when back in SA……….realistically something along the lines of Giant, Trek etc

 

Thanks in Advance

[ChrisF]

May I recommend you get a demo bike from a nearby dealer - with a second battery.  Go for a nice long ride .... YOUR knees, and your terrain will determine what range YOU can expect from the ebike.  At the CTCT (Argus) I was one of a few ebike riders with spare batteries.  I know I dont get more than 70km out of a 500Wh battery, but my knees are bust.  By far most of the ebikes did the full 109km on a single battery, thus more than 110km on 625W.h batteries.

 

Brand ... uhm ja ... much of a muchness.  I have the Giant Trance E, and love it.  But certainly wont say it is better than the Trek / Scott / Specialized equivalents.  Reasonable access to a dealer and maintenance is probably more important than the brand itself.

 

Then the BIG $$$ question .... hardtail or full suspension ?  Couple of hardtail options from R50k ....  Actually Darrvin has some options under the R50k mark.  Seems most entry level full suspension now starts in excess of R100k ....

[Spokey]

13 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

May I recommend you get a demo bike from a nearby dealer - with a second battery.  Go for a nice long ride .... YOUR knees, and your terrain will determine what range YOU can expect from the ebike.  At the CTCT (Argus) I was one of a few ebike riders with spare batteries.  I know I dont get more than 70km out of a 500Wh battery, but my knees are bust.  By far most of the ebikes did the full 109km on a single battery, thus more than 110km on 625W.h batteries.

 

Brand ... uhm ja ... much of a muchness.  I have the Giant Trance E, and love it.  But certainly wont say it is better than the Trek / Scott / Specialized equivalents.  Reasonable access to a dealer and maintenance is probably more important than the brand itself.

 

Then the BIG $$$ question .... hardtail or full suspension ?  Couple of hardtail options from R50k ....  Actually Darrvin has some options under the R50k mark.  Seems most entry level full suspension now starts in excess of R100k ....

Thanks for the gen……I have been checking out pricing. Ouch! Anyways……just exploring the idea right now. I do like the Giant Trance! With the Randellas involved I need to be sure I will use the bloody thing ha ha! A demo machine is a great idea. After seeing the costs I think my KTM 690 R was a really good deal! 
I will head to the guys at the Giant store in George when I get back to SA

 

thanks again!

[ChrisF]

This couple did the Argus on their 2021 Giant Trance E bikes.

 

They were comfortable in doing it on a single battery.