That Banshee is a beautiful looking bike though, as is the Paradox.

Northwind

The actual bike is as important as the material tbh- there are stiffer steel frames and there are some surprisingly compliant alu frames.

^^THIS^^

However a good Steel frame is and feels awesome…
My Steel HC HT with the same wheels and tyres “feels” far more like my 160/150 FS than my alloy frame.
If I was to do a “marks out of 10 for compliance” and put the 160/150 at say 8/10 then the alloy would get a 2/10 and the steel HT a 6/10 .. you can stand on the pedals and bounce and feel the compliance so different to the horrible feeling of running wide tyres.

You’ll ride it once and then remember why you ride an eBike?

Then you’ll get back on the eBike and remember why you bought a nice steel HT.

My local riding is very similar to yours (Surrey Hills vs FoD) and I ride my HCHT more than any other bike, probably more than the other 4 bikes (incl. the e-MTB, Enduro, DJ, XC HT) together… it’s simply my go-to bike. Last time but at FOD I actually rode the eBike (because I was with mates on eBikes) and had a blast, time before I got uplift and rode the HC HT on the DH’s.. had a total blast and was fully ready to keep going and do some pedalling after the uplift stopped. The FS Enduro just sat in the van…
However I’ll use the eMTB/Enduro + uplift if for example I’m driving a long way and want to maximise descending time.

Locally if I’m by myself I’ll sometimes take the eMTB if I just fancy a couple of hours blasting about.. but it’s just more fun on the HC HT.

If I’m with mates all on eMTB I’ll obviously take that… but if it’s a group ride I’ll take the HC HT…
The only time the Enduro gets used locally is if I’m riding with my son to help me not be as terrified.

So if you’re tall enough for a 29″ rear wheel (you don’t need to be as tall as on a 29″ full-sus because the wheel stays where it is and doesn’t try to bite you) then I’d go full 29″ first and steel second with any hardtail purchase. Only exception is if you’re wanting something that can also do pump tracks, dirt jumps, flow trails better at the expense of speed everywhere else, then mullet or full 27.5″ would make sense.

Possibly… but it really depends on what you want the bike for.

I don’t think there’ll be any significant difference in ride feel (tight triangles, big volume tyres etc) so just get the one that you like the aesthetic of the most!

It’s obviously personal preference but large volume tyres just take away the whole point of having a steel HT.
I tried a 2.6 on the back (because it came free with a wheel) and it just feels horribly vague and the whole direct feeling just went away OR I had to run insanely high tyre pressures and it turned into a pogo stick but then I guess some people just prefer the feel of wearing a thick condom or two for sex??