And this is where ebikes fit in. Utility bikes. Transprt. Load luggers. And that’s why they sell in their hundreds of thousands. Practical, healthy, cheap (than a car) fun.
That’s what we struggle to understand here in the UK. And that’s why blinkered attitudes like the OPs come from. Open your mind.

And (I bet) no one has a problem with that, and it’s what the law envisaged.

The issue is people who take them on trails and do far more erosive damage than a person ever could. If it’s enough to annoy other MTB’ers you can be sure it’ll annoy ramblers.

Not all e-bikers are idiots, but from my experience there’s a disproportionate number.

[dreamy heart strumming music plays as audience gains a view into a ramblers wet dream]

NIMBY Rambler : electric motorbikes are ruining Clunge Dyke in the Bresticles national park.

Warden and MTB’ers : they have the same legal status as push bikes and barely any more power, no they’re not.

A while later after much tooing and froing, and a youtube video of a nobber on a e-bike wheeling up Clunge Dyke spraying mud everywhere going viral (amongst ramblers anyway) all bikes are banned.

[dreamy heart strumming music plays as ambler wakes up with a bit of a mess in his pants]

They’re all £2.5k+ enduro gnarrr chariots. No one making or selling those is concerned with shifting UK attitudes on sustainable transport.

Kiss goodbye to pedal-powered bicycles, says Brompton boss

http://www.bikebiz.com/news/read/kiss-goodbye-to-pedal-powered-bicycles-says-brompton-boss/020094

If it’s enough to annoy other MTB’ers you can be sure it’ll annoy ramblers.

not a good example – everything annoys ramblers (most entitled people I have come across)

Again, no examples of what most people are actually using eBike for (getting to shops, work – with aim of making the ride easier not faster) I have seen just one off road this year where I live and that was a guy with his young daughter sat in a baby seat on the back.

You are making it a bigger problem than it is and then trying to blame everything on them in some theoretical future.

The issue is people who take them on trails and do far more erosive damage than a person ever could. If it’s enough to annoy other MTB’ers you can be sure it’ll annoy ramblers.

I’m really not convinced how an e-bike can do any more damage than an average bloke on a mtb.
Plenty of people ride faster than an e-bike can on sections I ride, drag brakes etc.

The argument of people de-restricting them is a pointless one. Plenty of mtber ride footpaths and only last week i was overtaken by a motocross bike on a bike path.

I have a tough commute to work and i’m really starting to fancy a 29er hardtail e-bike makes far more sense than getting a car for mornings when i haven’t got full steam and have a tough day ahead.

That argument would be fine except none of the many eBikes in my local LBS are designed for pootling around town and doing the shopping. They’re all £2.5k+ enduro gnarrr chariot

And as per pp post your lbs is in the UK I assume ? Kinda backs up pp post.

Ebikes are just another example of our instant everything culture, instant gratification, instant credit, have it now. Want a six pack, strap this device to you, and voila, no effort required 😉 Now instant fitness, with ebikes.

More erosion, quite possibly. I have a big climb at the start of my ride, with some slippery chalky sections. I’m just getting some fitness back, and the other day I cleared the climb for the first time in awhile – cue sense of (small) achievement and a sense I,m making some progress. So I met an ebiker on the same hill, “hi l’ve just ridden up and down this trail 8 times” – so more erosion, yes, l reckon!

The comparison with uplift days is a flawed one, unless your saying that it’s normal to have a truck follow you everywhere and give you a lift up every hill, on every ride you do.

Aye instant gratification and erosion.

Or perhaps infact making it a viable car alternative for carrying decent loads. – motor hasnt arrived yet hence no chainset.

But there shall be no trail riding here its purely for shops/recycling/transporting family//errands and taking another car off the road for menial tasks that mean you take the car because a regular bike doesnt have capacity and humphing about the weight(up to 200lbs) under own steam results in you turning up a sweaty git.

Im actually thinking about getting rid of my car and using a combo of my regular bike and this to cover all local journeys if it works out.

Already had my first serious enquiry about doing a conversion for someone who has a lower like distrophy issue resulting from a car crash to allow his wife and him to ride together.

Ebikes are just another example of our instant everything culture, instant gratification

Anyone that says that has just misunderstood the point of them. Talk to some users of them and ask them why they are using them. It is to make riding easier and more enjoyable, It is rarely because they want a quick fix to getting faster without doing training. Those people are just in your head I’m afraid.

Think outside of the box a little.

How about putting the same amount of exercise into ebiking? It could mean that you just travel that much further and do that many more climbs, because you have pedal assist. It may mean that you do a 40mile ride instead of a 20mile ride in the same amount of time…

^ yup.

Me and my OH, her 1st bike camping trip – 85-90 miles in the Chilterns and on the Ridgeway over a weekend. Usually she does 10, 20 miles tops as an easy social ride.

E-MTBs get used in a pretty similar way from what I’ve seen. No roost. Only quicker than an ‘averagely quick’ rider when climbing.

Not convinced by extra erosion, an ebike at top whack will put of 400ish watts, which even I can manage in short bursts. Also, I’ve never managed to lose traction simply by applying too much power. In the situations I have, I’m pretty sure I would have with a normal bike. The extra weight also is a non starter, as me and my ebike combined weight less than a few of my riding buddys and their normal bikes

Well he makes some valid points amid all the waffle, but the access debate in the US seems more sensitive to MTBs being power assisted anyway.

Anyone that says that has just misunderstood the point of them. Talk to some users of them and ask them why they are using them. It is to make riding easier and more enjoyable, It is rarely because they want a quick fix to getting faster without doing training. Those people are just in your head I’m afraid.

You contradict yourself “making riding easier” = instant gratification/quick fix.

Would I get the same satisfaction completing the same climb on an ebike? I don’t think so 😉

I’m off for a real ride 😉

“making riding easier” = instant gratification/quick fix

Unless you’re on a rigid SS isn’t that all a grey area?

.. you are, aren’t you : )

It might just make riding less of a grim sufferfest for some. Not everyone likes riding up hills and tbh I think a lot of the ego-efforts / suffer score / KOM stuff in cycling can do one : ) I like a physical test on a bike but cycling is about a lot more than that.

Chains and cogs cause unnecessary erosion providing instant gratification, keep it real.

Re erosion, travelling further = more erosion, no? If average rides double in length due to ebikes, then that’s twice the erosion.

I expect the tarmac road to my house is worn out from all the extra trips I’ll be doing on my bike.

You going to limit mtb use on those same trails Futon? What the strava heatmap usage like? Or are only your allowed to use them?

I mean it’s not like ALL natural trails you ride are cause by some form of erosion, whether it be animal, hiker or bike.
Though what actual evidence do you have that (uk legal) e-bikes cause more erosion, than a normal mtb? Obviously that e-bike rider you saw is only ever going to session that one trail…

I think he seen some in his LBS too that’s all the evidence you need, that and a trip to Europe where you only stay in the city.

You contradict yourself “making riding easier” = instant gratification/quick fix.

Making something easier does not equal instant gratification, it just means making something a bit easier.

I’ve spent the summer with three ppl on e-bike’s, I do not have one. The only ppl who noticed they were on e-bike were those who were told, even other MTb-ers didn’t notice unless they were being passed. Those same ppl (the non-mtber’s) would then look at my bike and ask, is that an e-bike too? It’s a non-issue to the general public in my actual experience of e-bikes on trails.

Also my local trails have not suddenly exploded, due to erosion, well other than the natural erosion caused by heavy rains every year.

Whose side am I siding on here? My price is a bacon butty and a pint.

Why can’t people be allowed to have fun? If someone wants an e-bike so what? All this ‘ruining the trails’ stuff is twaddle.

‘Real’ cyclists damage the environment too. How about the litter that gets dropped by mistake or at events? Shall we ban events then?

How about the fact you fall off and hurt yourself and then my taxes pay for you to get mended in the NHS? Shall we stop you on your ‘real’ bike?

Or the opposite..what cost is reduced by enabling a les abled person get outside and have some positive and emotional experiences..might even relieve depression and save money on drugs..

oooh makes me agitated all this getting aggro at e-bikes…

Is this classified as a rant? Please rate me if so… 😀