Hello from Ireland

[Johnnie]

Knee surgery following a bad accident in 2004 curtailed serious mountain bike activity for me. I still kept road/easy trail cycling though and recently bought a hybrid eBike, which is great. I’ve got the bug back now and intend to buy an eMTB in due course, I’m only at the beginning of my journey and so far my only definite decisions are to stick with Shimano and buy an E8000 machine with full suspension.

Any suggestions/tips would be appreciated.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Welcome ! There's plenty of E8000 based bikes to choose from

If you're happy buying direct/internet, there's Commencal, Canyon, YT (Decoy) and Thok for instance. Thok seem to have a good reputation for support.

If you want more peace of mind you probably want to buy from a store so you have more support if you run into problems, or just like to know that they're there if you need them. You also have the advantage that you might also be able to try the bike first which is a huge bonus.

With the E8000 you have the advantage of 2 years warranty with Shimano, so you can in theory just take the bike to a suitable Shimano service centre if you have an issue.

 

[Johnnie]

I appreciate the advice, I’m very happy with my e6100 hybrid, so that kinda biases me towards Shimano, but I shall watch & wait, keep reading the reviews etc. I did buy my current machine from a dealer, but am generally happy to buy online. Thanks again.

 

[Zimmerframe]

Just make sure you enjoy the search and don't let it become something painful where you're worried about not getting "the best" .. All the bikes are good and the differences between them for most people is tiny when it comes to real world riding .. so ultimately buy what you like and what makes you excited !

I had an E8000 hardtail which I was happy with, so my searches were for an E8000 Full suspension bike. I was all set on the Thok, but at the last moment saw a Kenevo Expert on offer for less money, so months of research went out of the window on a split second impulsive decision and I bought that

 

[Trail-Niels]

Welcome @Johnnie !

If you're happy buying direct/internet, there's Commencal, Canyon, YT (Decoy) and Thok for instance. Thok seem to have a good reputation for support.

I've just ordered the new Commencal Meta Power Team 2020 with internal battery - really looking forward to it arriving next month. It will be my third Commencal, and the fourth bike bought from a direct sales bike brand. As you might guess I'm all Commencal biased as I just fell in love with the way they handle on the trail, and personally i like the aesthetic og the bikes.
I bought my first MTB at a big local bike shop, their support turned out to be horrendous. A year later I bought my first direct sales bike, which was a Canyon (which by the way also use E8000), their service though distant very great. Later I bought a DYI Commencal A la carte bike. I've had two warranty cases with components on the bike, and they were handled promptly and to my full satisfaction both in terms of acceptance, but also in the way the handled the case. So don't worry of buying from the direct sales brand, they perform very well, and offer you a lot for your pennies.
Look more on the geometry to find the fit - you might even find a similar no eMTB that you could try just to get the right size frame.