I ran a bit of protective tape along a few parts of my bike - along the top tube, down the sides of the downtube and around the headtube (for cable rub).
imho you could hold off on the rear wheel and shock and see how it rides with the other upgrades. The rear suspension already works well. Nice looking bike.
I use a hose on my bike occasionally and carefully, avoiding electronics and bearings. I've previously caused rust in a lower headset bearing and shock trunion bearings by not being careful enough.
With the Bosch CX motor it's good to check that the crankshaft seals are properly greased and...
My Trailcross GTX are more or less waterproof except for the neoprene cuff. Light spray with the hose doesn't go through the goretex toe but does go through the neoprene. They're well suited to damp conditions but they're not heavy duty waterproof.
Hard-to-find bearings for the top shock mount on my Cube Stereo (12x21x7mm)
I couldn't get these from local bearings suppliers or from the local bike shop or 99Bikes where I bought the bike. Plaig Bearings was the only internet site in Australia where I could find them.
Five Ten Trailcross Gore-tex are my current favourites. The high ankle keeps gravel out, the shoe is somewhat waterproof (neoprene upper part isn't) and the tread is decent for walking up steep pinches. Before these I had Shimano GR7's which I liked, but the Trailcross GTX are better.
If you wait until after Xmas you might spot a deal on a good quality bike (Specialized Turbo Levo, Trek Rail, etc). They've already had sales all year and the pricing should be sharper in January (boxing day sale perhaps?).
The Valk would be ok if you're poking along smooth tracks but there is...
If the dealer isn't proactive in figuring out the problem I'd ask for a different bike. If they don't know how to diagnose the problem they should at least swap parts for you to try on a ride and see if the problem disappears (eg. different controller, different battery) If nothing else works...
The pin which the button attaches too can be moved in to make the cover fit more tightly - the pin is threaded with nuts holding it onto the frame - adjust the nuts to change the position of the pin.
All of the colour schemes in this article look good to me and no cables through the headset is good. Maybe dump the AXS transmission to help bring the price down, along with a 25% discount in the after Xmas sale?
If the shop you want to buy from sells more than one brand, you can ask them which manufacturers are easier to deal with for warranty support. Specialized and Orbea seem to be at opposite ends of the scale regarding support.
The Bosch CX4 seems to be the safest bet (powerful, reliable and...
Looking at a disassembly video I don't think the splines go past the inside edge of the bearing, though the grease helps to plug those splines in addition to protecting the outer bearing. In any case, the guy who repairs the motors says it's good to regrease the seal, so we regrease the seal :)