Trek Powerfly 7 hard tail or alternatives?

[Cavalol]

Had a test ride today (albeit a brief one) on a Trek Powerfly 7. What a nice bike! Sods law, trying one of the better spec bikes out means lesser ones seem well, lesser, but they are not cheap!
Went to the shop and can get a PF4 (with a 625 watt battery) but the 7 has better forks, a dropper post and I think a better group set. I don't do a huge amount of 'actual' mountain biking (yeah yeah, all of the gear and no idea) but a couple of quite long rides on rough srfaces planned, plus Llandegla would be much easier for a fat old bloke!

Any good (and especially cheaper) alternatives to the Trek? 625W would be bice, as would air forks and a dropper, though I suppose the latter could be had off eBay or something.

Oh, ideal price range £2,500-ish. Thanks in advance.

 

[Cycleops]

Not qualified to suggest alternatives but might you not be better off on a regular electric bike with fat tyres? Can only comment from the point of view of someone who rides a lot on rough unmade surfaces, a suspension fork won’t give much if any extra comfort compared to a hybrid or similar with fatter tyres and lower pressures . That Trek weighs 30kg too.

 

[Jody]

Not qualified to suggest alternatives but might you not be better off on a regular electric bike with fat tyres? Can only comment from the point of view of someone who rides a lot on rough unmade surfaces, a suspension fork won’t give much if any extra comfort compared to a hybrid or similar with fatter tyres and lower pressures . That Trek weighs 30kg too.

A decent air fork won't give much comfort above fat tyres?

Actual weight showing as under 23kg not 30

Plus, not sure I'd want to smash a rigid hybrid bike around Llandegla

 

[fritz katzenjammer]

I work at a Trek dealership but have worked on a few other makes of e-bikes as well. While a machine like the Powerfly does seem like a ton of money I do believe you are getting a lot more quality for your money. While there are a lot of less expensive bikes out there that offer similar performance I would weigh in the size of Trek and its service organization against them. When servicing those other makes it can be extremely hard to get replacement parts or service information and the no-name motors and batteries they are fitted with just don’t seem to last. The Bosch equipment is well proven, parts are available should you need them and both Trek and Bosch are pretty good at providing software assistance and up dates. If you do not go for the Trek bike I would suggest that you at least be careful to stick with machines which come with brand name drivelines like Bosch or Yamaha. The extra cost will pay dividends in the long run as they will last longer and can be serviced. Lesser stuff is sadly too often just throw away stuff once problems arise.

Yes I am a bit of a Trek fan but I am not blind to their faults or the advantages of other makes. Buy a quality bike with a brand name driveline from a good solid dealer and you should be happy. Avoid department store e-bikes or small shops that do e-bikes as a sideline as they may not have the equipment or expertise to service them. The last shop I worked in carries both Trek and Giant and had quite a few expensive e-bikes on the floor but nobody in the back had any idea how to service them beyond trying new components until it worked again, which meant that some of the new bikes had already been used as guinea pigs having parts borrowed to fix some other ride.

 

[Cavalol]

Thank you for the replies.

Cyclops, thank you. I'd prefer a mountain bike as will be doing some actual MTB courses etc.

Jody: Cheers, pretty much exactly what you said.

Fritz: I'm a big fan of Treks, so would be my ideal brand of bike really. My local dealer are brilliant, have been around for light years and had three new (Trek) mountain bikes off them in a row, albeit last one was 2016 I think.

Thank you once again, much appreciated.