looking at buying a good quality pair of hardtail ebikes for me and the wife.
something that has a good set of lockable forks and the ability to take a rear rack for touring.
something that i can take offroad for a bit of trail riding.

specialized and cube both do one. the cube has a 750 battery which would be good i suppose.

any thought and idea’s greatly appreciated.

Presumably you’re already referring to the Spesh Tero equipped and you did specify hardtail but Trek also do the Powerfly hardtail and full suss in rack and mudguards equipped versions. The full Susser is only a couple of hundred quid more than the spesh hardtail.

Only thought i’d add is the Focus Thron touring version, it’s a full susser, so can give you the option on your list of having something that softens the back end fatigue, can get them in a few versions, the EQP model looks like a real winner with the 750wh battery, bosch gen4 and 130mm f&r suspension, as well as kit.

Again, probably not what you’re after, but always useful to know there’s something else out there that might be fun.

Wildcard entry. I have a ’21 trance e that I use for everything from commuting to days out in the hills.
Buy whatever bike you desire/fits best etc and then budget for either topeak tetra racks or thule packnpedal kit.
I personally have the packnpedal stuff as its what was available when buying but I’ve used it for a few overnighters with no issues so far.
When you’re fully laden with kit and riding longer distances, I personally prefer having the comfort of rear suspension. Just a thought

A few yrs ago I bought a kona remote for one of our sites. It’s was a hard tail with decent Bosch motor and came with an old man mountain rear rack. It’s a great bike. Not ridden it for ages though. The uk model came in 29” wheel size but the us version was 650b+.

The Focus Aventura might suit. Bosch Gen4 and 750Wh battery. Decent display (Kiox). Or the Jarifa, which is basically the same bike without the extra attachments like rack/mudguards although you can easily add them afterwards.

From my investigations (detailed here ), I found the best value/spec/geometry hardtails in full ebike mode were Whyte, so I’d check them out. They do a 29er and 27.5 in the same bike too.
Link to Whyte https://whytebikes.com/collections/e-bikes/trail

A few years back I got my OH/son (different people, BTW) a lovely Trek powerfly 5.. It’s a small women’s, but fits them both really well.
The bosch motor is incredible..
I’ve added better forks to it (SR Suntour Aion – super cheap from CRC), but the stock RS ones actually had lockout..

I’ve stuck a rack on the back, and funnily enough me and the OH took our bikes (I was on a Tripster ATR) over to the IOW for a weekend glamping..
Carried all kit in panniers, and as it’s a topeak rack, the ‘topeak slide in system’ rack bag fits a treat..
Rode 60 odd KM on the island too…

My son also loves it, and joins us on ‘daddy’s mates MTB rides’ as he can keep up…

At the time it was a lot cheaper than a full sus, and the FS probbaly wouldn’t be appreciated by them!!

DrP