Chatting with mate about the number of electric bikes seen at the cycleshow…going to play havoc with strava leaderboards. Wonder if they’ve got any solutions up there sleeve for that one…

Must only be a matter of time before it is mainstream enough on both road and mtb

Care less about strava and it doesn’t matter?

Who knows. People might have to start racing fo real. Strava means nothing anyway.

29ers play havoc with Strava too…. Or like others have said, care less about Strava and more about riding

Use Strava to compete with myself and see what my mates are up to, why would I care how fast you are? No offence.

Raced every single season since 1990 also a heavy strava user for the past three years.

I know what you mean DT78. Strava is a fun way of seeing how well you’ve done on a ride and it will be a real shame if these electro bikes ruin it.

Oh…also love riding…..

I think strava means more to those that get a mood about it than those that actually use it. Just saying…

Unlikely to be quicker on the descents and twisty singletrack. Only on the climbs.

You’ll just have to start training harder to remain competitive 😀

**** the electric bikes.
You should see the damage my sherco 290 trials bike does too the leaderboards. 😀

Plenty of ways of cheating strava already. Your only cheating yourself.

Concentrate on relative performance and it won’t matter.

Strava is a fun way of seeing how well you’ve done on a ride and it will be a real shame if these electro bikes ruin it.

If it’s only ‘fun’, then who cares?

You do

There’s a guy local to me who uses an e-bike. It’s actually part of his Strava account name, he’s very open and up front about it. He had a heart condition and the e-bike was the only way he could carry on riding.

Quite often get the “uh oh…” email with his name on it but I know that within a couple of hours he’ll have removed the ride from the leaderboard. I’ve never actually met the guy but we seem to have quite a lot of mutual friends/followers and there’s always some good chat on his ride comments section.

Strava is a useful tool, I really like it but cheating on Strava really is quite tragic.

I regularly strap my GPS to my dogs collar then call her up the hill. Its amazing how quick I am!

TBH i doubt if electrics going mainstream – the prices for anything tasty is eye watering.

The typical joe public ebike specials pretty dire and tbh they probably won’t be stravites.

(Ive got some bosch bike battery packs on my table here and They are about 649 quid a piece and these things are pretty much a consumable and aren’t particularly lightweight)

On what kind of climbs are electric bikes an advantage? Asking (not trolling) as the few I’ve seen ’round here are not hard to pass, even the rack mounted strimmer engined things. Or is the motor used in conjunction with a handy rider?

i rode a ebike for two years through a heart problem, as soon as i was able to get rid of the ebike, i did.
nobody in their right mind just rides on for fun like you would a normal bike.
they are good for people with health problems, and for older folk who want to keep riding.
if you feel threatened by someone like this taking your strava kudos, i suggest that you grow a pair……. 🙄

As long as you train and build your candace pace it doesn’t matter what wheel size, frame style or type of terrain you ride you’ll eventually become faster than the ebikes as they’re motors are limited to a certain speed when designed whereas our legs are always growing and getting stronger and constantly breaking our own limits. Also we are benefiting from riding and pushing our boundaries that’s what makes riding fun not flicking switches and knobs to operate a machine. Just my personal opinion I’m sure many riders share with me

I reckon over short flat out segments it wouldn’t make any difference, it’s over longer drags that having a little bit of a “boost” would help out. The tech is only going to get cheaper, lighter and more powerful.

you’ll eventually become faster than the ebikes

I suspect that even Olympic XC riders may struggle to keep up on many climbs.

FWIW I keep reading about all the journos who are e-bike cynics, saying a lot of what has been said above, then they have a go…and love it.

Just have to cycle faster then……….. if you can!

FWIW I keep reading about all the journos who are e-bike cynics, saying a lot of what has been said above, then they have a go…and love it.

I tried one of the HaiBike hardtails at the Cycle Show. It was brilliant! Had 4 modes, Eco, Tour, Sport and Turbo. 🙂 Had an integrated handlebar display showing mode, range left and speed.

Turbo was actually a bit scary, it’d beat any car off the lights but then there’s a bit of a lurch once it reaches 15mph and tops out. On a steep climb though it’d be a fit roadie who could keep with it – you could easily chip along at 12mph with the power-assist.

I bet Strava are all over this already.

FWIW I keep reading about all the journos who are e-bike cynics, saying a lot of what has been said above, then they have a go…and love it.

I was more cynical about why the mags are giving e-bikes a bit of a push – ie. a potential new stream of ad revenue.

Have ST mag stated a position on them?

I actually do like ebikes I just dont find whats generally available that
interesting unless its mega money and then its stating to become an electric motorbike as opposed to a bike.

I’d like a stealth bomber for my commute(winter only)but at £8,500 I think i’ll give it a miss 🙂

^ what do you mean? All the ones I’ve seen in the MTB mags are essentially a regular full susser fitted out with motor and battery. You still have to pedal

I am never going to be anywhere near the top of the Strava leaderboards, I don’t have the natural ability nor do I put in the hours I would need to be a top cyclist.

This doesn’t stop me using Strava to track my progress or to compare some of my rides against a few friends I ride with locally. Does it really matter if the person 500 places higher than me is on a e-bike, a unicycle, EPO or anything else?

BAN THE EBIKE SCUM!!!!!!!!!!

– sounds like a UKIP policy

seriously who gives a shit really, apart from the 0.1% of the population who use it for racing themselves on public roads/trails

Plenty of ways of cheating strava already. Your only cheating yourself.

Go riding on a windy day!

Maybe having a separate leaderboard filter for riders with HR or power data is the an option. That way is someone just whipped up a 15% incline at 29mph with a HR of 120bpm you could spot em…

It’s a similar issue to those guys on mopeds and the like on road except offroad.

Tbh as I get older and more creaky and can see the appeal of an ebike, by then I’d have given up with being competitive I’d imagine.

People really use Strava to compete on climbs?!

Where is the fun in that?

Where is the fun in that?

I think people over-complicate Strava; it records your times and lets you easily compare against others. People have been doing this since bikes were invented. It was fun then and it’s fun now…but even easier with Strava. It’s just a tool.

People really use Strava a stopwatch and a logbook to compete on climbs?

I see the fun in competing against others, wouldn’t race if I didn’t – it was more the “up” bit I was struggling with.

All those Strava warriors are just going to have to suck it up. As it stands Strava is already massively unfair. I don’t see why a genetically gifted rider with the drive and determination to realise their full potential should be compared to a poorly motivated couch potato such as myself. There should be a handicap system based on the average weekly number of hours TV you watch.

It’s all about the ups with roadies 😉

King of the Mountain wasn’t invented for the downhills

The only useful thing about e-trailbikes is that they would help a slower rider keep up with a faster rider to sort of ‘equalise’ the speeds. That way, hubby don’t freeze his whatsits off while waiting for wifey somewhere on Cutgate, a bit like the ride I went on, on the Royal Wedding Bank Holiday a few years ago…

If you are going to cheat, there are cheaper ways of doing it…

http://www.digitalepo.com/

You left your wife? Bet you still hear about that one.

I actually really like the idea of a handicapped system, I haven’t got the foggiest how it would be implemented though.

I actually really like the idea of a handicapped system, I haven’t got the foggiest how it would be implemented though.

Its already there, If you go premium dial in your weight and age and it gives you a corresponding leaderboard.

People really use Strava to compete on climbs?!
Where is the fun in that?

by and large, climbing segments are fairly safe so I’ll “compete” (badly) on those, downs I just keep half an eye on where I finish compared to my mates. Racing on public trails is sketchy, racing downhill ie at speed, is pretty damn dubious.

I really like it but cheating on Strava really is quite tragic.

+1 but getting upset about losing your kom (when there are so many variables anyway) is a bit sad too.

I think strava means more to those that get a mood about it than those that actually use it.

I concur

Should they also adapt a local weather forecast in there so wind should be taken into account?

Its got so much data on there now that its all irrelevant, however its great for monitoring overall performance, i.e. constant top 10% on major climbs or descents means that you are up there with the best and on a same day race you would do ok. Its also useful for comparing your own performance over time or against your mates. Beyond that its little use now as most KOM’s will have been set with strong tail winds so the chance of getting it on a still day is slim!

You left your wife? Bet you still hear about that one.

Er, yes. We split up last year. Funnily enough the final ‘row’ happened after a mountain bike ride…

I use Strava to check my progress against myself. I fitted lighter wheels and tyres recently and was interested to find I set a PR on a local technical climb of about 1.2 miles.
I discovered that I did a downhill trail a bit faster after fitting wider bars.
I created a segment on part of a popular local downhill trail specifically to find out if the ride I crashed on was a ‘good run’ (from the start to the place just before I slammed into the ground!). It was a good run and faster than any run I’ve ever done up to that point (and since), so I want to ride faster and equal or better my previous best time without crashing.

Some people like the geeky self-analysis of Strava. And some people (like myself) find themselves single with a lot of time on their hands…

When I lose a KOM by a few seconds I try to retake it. If I lose a KOM by a large margin I just concentrate on PRs until I get nearer to the KOM again.

After using Strava for the last 2 years I find that I’m tons fitter which can only be a good thing. And I think I’m fitter than I would have been just riding for ‘fun’ because I’ve pushed my limits, especially on the climbs. The endorphins you get after completing a gruelling climb or challenging downhill are multiplied when you do the upload and discover you’ve done better than before.