Electric Bikes - Donor mountain bike?

Last year we put together an ebike from a two speed Crystalyte rear hub wheel, 48 V SLA battery pack, etc.
We used a plain ole Giant Sedona - no suspension, rim brakes.

We'd like to upgrade the bike this year to something with at least a front disc brake, and a front suspension. We're wondering if the rear suspension is worth it since we have a luggage rack and panniers mounted (the battery pack is on the front downtube).

Any suggestions if we bought new? We've been looking on CL but haven't found anything suitable as yet.

TIA

Rear suspension bikes can carry cargo, but its hard to get *good* racks for FS bikes, a lot of them are tubular aluminum and wont take a lot of weight. Racks worth your money will be made of Cr-Mo or Stainless steel. I personally really think having good carrying capacity on a bike is nice, and you cant get solutions for FS that work as well as for hardtail.

I have a 2001 Fuji 2 Diamond which is spec at LX level components, but it wouldn't suit your needs well.

For an e-bike I would personally suggest Hardtails, most e-bikes are for transportation purposes. A good hardtail can take a lot of punishment and haul a lot of junk, and its more fun to pedal around than an FS bike is. Thats not to say that full suspension is bad, because its not, but its not the best match IMO :)

Now, if you are looking to buy new, I just bought a Rocky Mountain Fusion and its probably the best bike for the money that ive ever owned, hands down. Rocky Mountain makes nice stuff. The only problem with the fusion (and a lot of other new disk brake equipped bikes) is that it hasn't got rear brake bosses, so you would need to buy a disk brake plate for your Crystalyte instead of a regular cover. I think that should be easy enough, email ebikes.ca about it.

let me strongly recommend against getting a lower-quality full suspension bike. If you are willing to spend over $500 you can probably find a full suspension bike of good quality, but if you buy one at Wal-Mart you will probably wish you had bought a bike without suspension.

For myself I find that 2 inch tires provide enough cushioning without suspension, although 1.25 inch tires do not.