Newb From N.Ireland advise on hardtail

[TonyDoherty]

Hi Folks looking to pick ur minds on first hardtail emtb. Always been on hardtail not into riding hard. More off-road fire roads, XC and commute to work Background surf allot and due to that and a fall, I had to get shoulder decompressing done. So fire roads and XX forest trails for me.
Looking for hardtail emtb bike for backpacking and carrying a surfboard. I was thinking Levo ht and getting 2nd battery. Checked out cube seem big and bulky but have a good giant shop not far from me

 

[cousin jack]

hey!! me and a mate both got the specialized turbo levo HT 2019,haven't had a minute's trouble with anything on the bike except a few punctures which may be down to over inflation. We've covered over 2k miles and the motor is super quiet and responsive. You can get over 40 miles in one charge if you're not too greedy with the turbo button, that's pretty good with a 400wh battery, go and demo one.....you won't look back.

 

[TonyDoherty]

hey!! me and a mate both got the specialized turbo levo HT 2019,haven't had a minute's trouble with anything on the bike except a few punctures which may be down to over inflation. We've covered over 2k miles and the motor is super quiet and responsive. You can get over 40 miles in one charge if you're not too greedy with the turbo button, that's pretty good with a 400wh battery, go and demo one.....you won't look back.

 

[TonyDoherty]

Thanks just checking,only two shops in N.Ireland sell Specialized Levo. none in stock but can be delivered within four day’s.

 

[cousin jack]

hopefully we're goin over to donegal in july to get a few hills in(coronavirus allowing)!

 

[TonyDoherty]

What part of Donegal. I’m not far from North Donegal but head west allot for surf. Sligo area is good for the bike but North Donegal is scenic. Ards forest park and glenveagh national park nice scenic areas, both close beside each other. Used to be good web page Donegal mountain bike club but they shut down the website recently. Other good page https://www.trailbadger.com/trails/

 

[Zimmerframe]

There's quite a few decent HT emtb's out there. There normally a good chunk of change better value than their FS siblings.

Levo HT's are sometimes available for reasonable money, but as said they only have the 400wh battery and they older 1.2 motor.

Plenty of people on here have the giants. One (recent) complaint there is that some have the deore 9 speed derailleur which doesn't have a "clutch" - so it doesn't keep as much chain tension and if you do decide to go on the bouncy stuff at speed, the chain will fall off (I've had the same on another HT clutchless bike - so ideally insist they change that if you go for one of them if you ever plan to venture further than fire roads.)

The Cubes are generally nicely put together.

If you're going for a bosch bike, try and find one with a 625wh battery, this will probably remove the need to carry a second battery. And a Gen4 motor (with a normal sized chain wheel) not a gen2 motor (tiny chainwheel).

 

[R120]

Get a Vitus E-Sentier, best option for a hardtail as it has fairly decent geo and can actually handle some proper riding if required, hasn't got integrated battery but means its lighter and easier to change over. And if your a compulsive tinkerer like me you can turn it into something like this

Vitus E-Sentier VR E-Bike (SLX 1x11) 2020 | Chain Reaction Cycles

 

[TonyDoherty]

Get a Vitus E-Sentier, best option for a hardtail as it has fairly decent geo and can actually handle some proper riding if required, hasn't got integrated battery but means its lighter and easier to change over. And if your a compulsive tinkerer like me you can turn it into something like this

Vitus E-Sentier VR E-Bike (SLX 1x11) 2020 | Chain Reaction Cycles

View attachment 27347

View attachment 27348

Chain reaction not too far from me 1hr 20min drive must give them call next week when off. Nice looking bike

 

[cousin jack]

What part of Donegal. I’m not far from North Donegal but head west allot for surf. Sligo area is good for the bike but North Donegal is scenic. Ards forest park and glenveagh national park nice scenic areas, both close beside each other. Used to be good web page Donegal mountain bike club but they shut down the website recently. Other good page https://www.trailbadger.com/trails/

we have 3 days staying in donegal town and then 4 days in westport co.mayo, but will be trying to ebike, kayak and a spot of fishing...thanks for the info...really looking forward to it. Hope you manage to demo a specialized hardtail....they're a fantastic bike for the money. I've tried to attach a pic.