Ohai Adam!
The new Karate Monkey looks the ducks nuts. I’d get one of those or a Hunt. FWIW thats what I’d get.
IMHO best get something relatively plug and play.
My 2c.
They are all frames so all need equal amounts of plugging to play?
Wait, he wants an ebike now?
+1, all the mounts you could want, cheap and SSable. Also 30.9mm seatpost so can whack a dropper in.
I think Liam has already made his decision.
^^ would ride
Looks great fun, needs bar end plugs though
Yeah… I was thinking about that after I wrote it. I guess I meant something that has bikepacking capabilities as opposed to something that you have to faff workarounds to make it work well for that purpose. They both have braze-ons for extra bottle cages, racks, are easily routed for dynos etc.
Boost(ish) and BSA are positives with the KM too.
ZING!!
…eBikepacking! 
Sorry my bad. I was a bit TL;DR.
Juice - Meh. …should have bought a KM;)
I haven’t bought anything yet…
The reason I am going the Juice over the KM is that the KM is probably not really suited to the riding i will mainly do on it, which is stromlo fanging with a single speed set up. Stromlo is hard packed dirt and from what I have read the KM with 650+ is more suited to the loamy conditions. It would drag a bit along the stromlo singletrack I would think.
Happy for discussions to be had if you think I am making a terrible mistake.
How about you buy and try both and I’ll take the one you don’t want
I would love to test ride both, but you can’t unfortunately. They don’t stock any of these models locally.
The beauty of a ‘boost’ style rear triangle is that you can run either 27.5+ or 29. I think the idea of a bike where you can run two wheelsets (29 and 29.5+), and switch between 1x10/11 and SS very easily and quickly is awesome.
Re the 27.5+ They do drag a little bit but I think with the right tyres a 27.5+ bike would suit most conditions. Some of the lads that I ride with ride both SS 29ers and geared 27.5+ bikes. They call the latter their fun bikes—AKA cruise up, smash it down. They’re still much faster than my 26 dualie on the way up too.
Why does boost make swapping wheels/SS easier?
Sorry 'boost’ish
The boost thing doesn’t necessarily make it easier in itself. I was more meaning bike with boost(ish) that are touted with plus/regular interchangablity—i.e. have a style of chainstay yoke*, or elevated/dropped stays, that allow clearance for 3" tyres.
The KM would make switching easy because it has external routing AND boost.
I do this a lot with my El Mariachi and I would be able to switch wheel sizes save for tyre clearance in the rear stays.
I’m fairly surprised that Salsa went for internal routing on their new Woodsmoke, as it would make conversions a bit of a faff. That said I think the QBP folks obviously want to differentiate their value proposition from their Surly brand; hence dropping the El Mariachi from their line.
*Hunt Bikes has this same yoke with a 142x12mm rear end.
Today I saw that pink SS Prova ripping around Majura. What a beaut.
I’m currently looking for something similar to yourself, came across these online:
http://www.marinbikes.com/au/bikes/family/pine-mountain
Not sure if they’re stocked locally, but could be something to consider if you go down the + path. I’m leaning more towards 29er myself but am new to the world of mtb / bike packing so just trying to wrap my head around it all.
^^good suggestion. Ticks many boxes.
A mate of mine bought the rigid version and got himself a nicer susp. fork for it.
The components spec’d aren’t great but they’re cheap as chups for a fairly nice steel frame with boost and BSA BB.
Loving the retro decals too.
Yeah, if money allowed I’d be hitting him up for a bike.
Yup, saw these in a few reviews last night.
Only box not ticked is the sliding dropouts 
And old mate BSNYC has been riding the rigid one for about a year too.