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More specifically - My Cotic Jeht (140/150) or Orbea Wild Eeb (160/160) for uplift days. BPW / Stiniog / Dyfi.
The +/- are quite obvious - The Jeht is lighter and more nimble but also has less travel and less able to blast over techy bits as if they are not there. The Orbea is a very stable juggernaught but less nimble and obviously harder to repeatedly lift onto the uplift truck.
What would you use?
what's more fun? you're paying good money for the uplift
take both, swap bikes if/when you feel you've made the wrong choice
take the cotic, i have history of the crappy bearings and rear suspension wobble on an orbea, took it to bpw, i skimmed a jump on popty ping and i heard a loud crack a bearing had shattered. game over, so hired a trek slash for the rest of the day, then bought one two weeks later, not changed the bearings yet, 2 years on
ps. what kind of trails do you plan to ride, chunky rock strewn then bigger travel will always win
I've done BPW a good few times on a normal bike and once on the e-bike. Either are fun, but when I took the ebike - yes, it's a pig to lift on the trailer, but for some of the pedally starts to the reds at the top and one that has an uphill wooded section half way down it was ace. Also, if you get spat out at the very bottom run, it's a godsend pedalling back up to the bus when you're knackered later on
All those venues you are responsible for getting your own bike onto the trailer - so I'd probably go for the ebike to be honest. If you'd had Dirt Farm on the list (which you absolutely should), then for that venue I'd say an ebike is a bit of a dick move as the drivers tend be the ones lifting the bikes up on to the (very high) trailers.
“If you'd had Dirt Farm on the list (which you absolutely should), then for that venue I'd say an ebike is a bit of a dick move as the drivers tend be the ones lifting the bikes up on to the (very high) trailers.”
I only have a hardtail and an ebike nowadays and lifting my Levo up onto the Dirt Farm trailer (which I did, just needed someone else to help manoeuvre it into place) was quite tiresome and made me the target of a lot of comedy from the drivers! (It did give me a good head start on all the faster riders at the top, so I could ride at my pace without worrying I’d be holding up someone quick).
Would you rather be riding the Jeht or the Orbea after hours of descending?
If I could go for a couple of hours of uplift I’d take my hardtail - I’ve done full uplift days on a hardtail (my old Cotic Soul 26) before but the afternoon becomes more of a survival mission. But the Jeht is a long slack 140mm 29er!
I'd use the Cotic, but if you've space take both - take the battery out of the ebike though, no point carrying it around.
I'd say due to the fact your asking, taking the enduro eeb bike, you'd know already if you'd enjoy the trail bike at BPW.
Given theres only 1 or 2 cm travel difference and the Jeht is a hugely capable bike, put some bricks in your camelback to make the Jeht weigh the same as the ebike and you should get the same monster-truck-esque quality of losing any kind of nimbleness and just plough through everything because its not leaving the ground. It'll mean you do need to pedal up those huge hills to the uplift and that 30 mile slog to the top of some of the reds from the drop-off.
The Jhet will be fine, the eeb will be great as well.
I've done both, but now I've just ditched my trail full sus for a hardtail and just take my ebike for trips. It also means you can self uplift at some places which I think I prefer. Plus points for the ebike is that it's already got tough wheels and tyres on it, so no faffing around changing anything either.
Taking the battery out of the ebike is a 4th option on top of adding weights to the Jeht.
Edit:per intheborders.