Both designs certainly have their merits, and owning both designs, I can confirm that neither should disappoint.
Hardtail V full suspension is very much a personal decision though, but my hardtail is my go to bike if that makes sense.
A few plus points of hardtail ownership are as follows.
- They are easier to wash
- They make better winter bikes
- There is less to go wrong
- Cheaper to maintain than full suspension bikes
- Power delivery is more immediate
- There is zero squat at the rear, which makes them more efficient at climbing
- And if riding off road, you know exactly what the rear of the bike is doing
Obviously a full suspension bike is always going to be more comfortable and compliant, but you could always fit a suspension seat post if required.
The Macina Hardatil Cross range is very good, but if I am correct the bike that you are considering has the CX motor, and 400wh battery. The CX motor is quite a power hungry motor in respect of the battery, and it would be worth trying to either negotiate a deal to get a 500wh battery in place of the 400wh one, or if that isn't a possibility and the CX motor is the appealing feature, then maybe look at other models that have both.
I now have a CX motor fitted to both KTM's, but the Performance Line and Active Line, are still superb motors. In respect of the Active Line motor NoDTMF has one fitted to his KTM, and I recall him saying that it did want for more torque on certain climbs. Hopefully he will be along at some stage to advise further in that respect.
I really loved the Performance line motor when I had it, and off road, never once found it lacking, and even on my very limited road riding, it performed brilliantly. The only hindrance being that my bikes are not set up for road use, and in the case of the Lycan, each tyre weighs a hefty 2.7lbs each!
I reviewed a Panasonic Cross hardtail some time back, and found that it was real pleasure to ride on road, and whilst it only had Schwalbe Marathon tyres fitted, it coped very well with dry grass slopes, and dry trails. Obviously it was never going to a full on mtb with the set up that it had, but I was still kind of sad to see it go.
One final quick comment in relation to KTM frame sizing, the frames seem to edge on the side of being small. Please make sure that you get the right frame size to suit you.
Sadly I have to shoot off now, so have to cut things short, but I'm going to watch this with interest.
