iam in the moment cycling a lot with 3 bikes..
my electric bike (2 big-apple 26"x2,35", no suspension, stell-frame, 19kg without batteries)
another mountainbike (mountainbike-tires but with a ring int he mittle so you can go very good onroad as well), steelframe, front spring suspension with about 4cm suspensiontravel, about 14kg heavy, no lock-out
another mountainbike, alu, 11,9kg, front-suspension with air, 8-10cm suspensiontravel, lock-out
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first: at mountains you realy feel, that a suspension costs energy..
how bad will this be with an (cheap) rear-suspension ?!?
with the alu-moutnainbike and the soft air-suspension i realy have to lock it out going up a hill, otherwise it luffs all time
and you realy feel that it costs energy, your energy..
on the steel mountainbike the spring is so stiff, that it does not luff (or does only very minimal, maybe 1cm) also it does not have an lock-out
so for onroad its better than the not-locked-out alu-moutainbike
(it also seems to be quieter because of the steelframe compared to the alu-frame, i like it more)
so this stiff suspension only helps on bumps,... but does not do much when going up a hill..
for the electric bike:
today some guys on my flying-field realy wanted to testride it, so they did..
they were all very fond of the motor, the power, the speed AND mentioning, how smooth it was going over the gravel-road
and its true: the big-apple works great...
i also feel safer with this at wet rouds than with smaller tires.. no tests so far, just a feeling
i made today (14km one direction) a 32km/h average WITH the trailer and a 120m high hill and moderate motor-use (used only 36V and 2,6Ah for this 14km)
http://www.kraeuterbutter.at/Bilder2/Modellbau_Anhaenger/Bike_Anhaenger_am_Flugplatz_DSCF2757.jpg
do i miss a fork on the electric bike ?
no
unless you have realy bad roads with lot of bumbs or going offroad,
i prefere the smooth ride of the big-apples
compared to the harder ride on a only-front-suspension-bike