Emtb hardtails- thoughts? On-One Thunderhound?

I’ve got another C2W voucher to use at work, but unfortunately it’s limited to the C2W Halford scheme and only £2000. I fancy an emtb for winter, but only some hardtails fit into the budget. It’ll be used to ride from my door around the Ridgeway, so very tame.

Are emtb HT’s worth looking at? Only ever ridden FF FS emtbs that have been great fun but you could really feel the weight so wonder how ‘bad’ it would feel on a HT?

If they are workable, is the O-o Thunderhound worth looking at? Comes into budget and seems reasonable spec, although I know nothing about the Ananda.

For £1100 it feels like it could be worth a punt. Any other recommendations? I’ve got a nice set of wheels, brakes and 140mm 29″ to go onto something if they need upgrading.

Only ever ridden FF FS emtbs that have been great fun but you could really feel the weight so wonder how ‘bad’ it would feel on a HT?

Felt pretty bad when I had one. Was a Fazua powered one, so supposed to be “light” (though underpowered), but if the back wheel hit anything unexpected, especially when sat on the saddle, the clunky hit was pretty awful. You have to ride relaxed, stood up and smooth on any rough terrain. Takes the joy out of ebike riding imo. I’m pretty sure it was responsible for my “golfers elbow” pain from the shocks going through the bars.

Thanks for the feedback. I think that matches my expectations to be honest.
The FF FS bikes do a good job of carrying the weight. You definitely feel it but at least it’s not uncomfortable.
It’s a shame as there’s some other good value option from Lapierre and others.

Checked the Startfitness.co.uk ebike sale, I think they take some cycle scheme vouchers – https://startfitness.co.uk/pages/cycle-to-work-scheme

Some nice bargains at the mo

Honest thoughts?

It looks like it was designed and marketed by AI, I’ve never heard of the motor and the fork and wheels look terrible.

I don’t think I’m allowed to top-up, so stuck with £2k and under.
I can only see HTs for that price. I might just leave it.

Shame they don’t do framesets with the drivetrain as I’ve got all the other parts.

I spent a year guiding groups on Trek Powerflys. They were great. I’m not a fan of hardtails so had to be convinced by the folk who were paying for them that they would be ok.

They were ace. Even the bottom of the range ones that we had rode really nicely. The frame was surprisingly forgiving and I rode those bikes on all sorts of terrain. Flowy singletrack, up and down, was a hoot as was the field-boundary/woodland tracks/gravel bits that we took groups on.

They’d get out of sorts on more tech stuff, understandably, but not in any way due to the extra weight. We had to beef up the rear tyres and ended up fitting DH tubes full of slime to prevent rear punctures but, because of the Bosch CX motors, they only made the ride more fun.

I’m currently looking at getting something similar as a winter bike that I can cover in mudguards to commute on to. In an ideal world I’d also have a lovely lightweight full-sus ebike but those are beyond my reach at the moment.

Topping up the voucher is dependant on the retailer I think. Some will find a way to wangle it and others won’t.

I had a go on a Giant e something hardtail (the brand Giant, it was a actually a small bike) that we hired for my other half in Wales. Gravel tracks, light off road etc it was fine but proper off road with rocks and whatnot, it wasn’t all that great.

I love riding a hardtail and trying to float the back end over the rough bits. The weight of the motor etc meant that you lost the skippy, pingy back end feeling and the back wheel just slammed into anything and everything. Made some fairly horrible noises even taking things carefully.

I guess it’s something you’d get used eventually but I can’t see it being that much fun unless you’re only riding light off road.

Some good feedback! Thanks all.
Given it would be a winter bike riding up on the Ridgeway it’s going to be tame to be honest.
Mostly bridleways, footpaths with some singletrack, but it’s mostly smooth with gravel.
I might get away with it? I should try and find a rental somewhere locally first I guess.

How long the bike would last being run through winter.. who knows. One reason I’m mainly looking for Bosh bikes.

I love riding a hardtail and trying to float the back end over the rough bits. The weight of the motor etc meant that you lost the skippy, pingy back end feeling and the back wheel just slammed into anything and everything. Made some fairly horrible noises even taking things carefully.

I was going to make a similar point about weight and hardtails. When my hardtail is loaded up for bikepacking, it’s a completely different beast, and not much fun to ride over anything rough.

One of the lads on our group rides a decathlon ehardtail with 2.6 tyres, seems to do ok. Never moans tbh on rocky stuff, duvet think it’s due to him being stoic so maybe the fat tyres??

I have a Vitus eSentier which I bought because at the time it was way cheaper than an  eFS. It is actually an excellent bike which is well capable of most Peak stuff and has had excursions around all the Seven Stanes. You won’t win any down hill cups but you will have a good time. Having said all that bike spec is as important as any other bike. Mine came with Revs, Guide REs , DT Swiss wheels and XT gears. The On one looks very low rent.

My Dad is riding a Whyte e-hardtail and is very happy.