[Closed] All my riding buddies are getting e-mtb’s, what would STW do ?

find new friends..

I'm in a similar position. My kenevo turns up on Saturday 😁

This being STW - get a rigid steel singlespeed, obvs.

😉

Getting to work, moving the kids about, cargo bike - yes.

Recreationally - no no no unless you have some kind of medical need for one (then it’s a big yes)

Race them.

Ride with them on your normal bike and make them wait at the top of the hills or cadge tows off them - you get to have more fun on the downhills 🙂

Lose 2 stone, get super fit and beat them up the hills.
And make sure every section that you can go over 15mph on you do.

Find BETTER friends.

I don't see anything wrong with them but I like the uphill bits as much as the downs so i just wouldn't be interested in getting one just to miss out half the challenge. If they are happy to wait then thats up to them!

My main bike may or nay not be a rigid steel singlespeed.

I'm not allowed friends :o)

Yep, sounds like an inadvertent but awesome opportunity to get faster!

Just start preparing for rides with your mates as if they're a big training session, eat well, make sure you're rested, pack a couple of gels or something for the last climb or two of the day when you're maybe flagging.

Will they REALLY be going faster up each climb? Or do you think they'll just end up going the same speed but using less effort? Or are they good enough mates that they'll wait for you a bit?

Get an ebike.

Everyone I know who's got one and kept a clockwork bike has now sold the clockwork bike.

Give it another year, I'll be doing the same.

Will they REALLY be going faster up each climb? Or do you think they’ll just end up going the same speed but using less effort? Or are they good enough mates that they’ll wait for you a bit?

If I go out with one or two of them, we'll all ride at the same speed. If there's a group of them, forget it.

I've been out on rides where I've annihilated a PB on a clinb, and still been way behind a smoking biffer at the top.

They are going to have to wait for you then. That will hiss them off.

I know someone who binned his e-bike as he was always having to wait for his non- e-biked mates. I regularly ride with an older chap who has an e-bike - it allows him to keep up with us !

Lure them out into a long ride in the countryside with lots of climbs. Long enough to make sure their batteries conk out with a few serious climbs to go.

Practice looking sympathetic.

The advice about exceeding 15mph wherever possible is good. The eBike motor cuts out at that speed so they have to pedal the heavy turd of a bike all on their own.

They will go riding without you. In a group ride where the majority are on legacy bikes I accept I will be going slower and covering less distance when on my eeb.
But in a group ride with other eeb'ers then I'm afraid retro bikes aren't invited.

Epiccyclo, actually laughing out loud at that, thanks !

Will see how it goes, like the idea of an epic ride to drain their cells.

Lose 2 stone, get super fit and beat them up the hills.
And make sure every section that you can go over 15mph on you do.

Would have been the correct answer until I saw some bloke going up Embsay Crag the other day. No idea what E-Bike he was on but no one, however fit would have kept up.

Still don't want one myself though.

The advice about exceeding 15mph wherever possible is good. The eBike motor cuts out at that speed so they have to pedal the heavy turd of a bike all on their own.

There's very little chance of outpedalling an ebike, how many of us can keep 15mph going on a MTB, Never mind exceeding it?. Unless it's downhill, in which case the slightly heavier ebike is going downhill too!.

You've got a couple of months to get fit over the winter...

routes with stiles, lots of them.

Recreationally – no no no unless you have some kind of medical need for one (then it’s a big yes)

It's recreation, do what you want. No one has a medical need to go mountain biking anyway. There's certainly no medical reason to make it as miserable as possible.

Just start preparing for rides with your mates as if they’re a big training session, eat well, make sure you’re rested, pack a couple of gels or something for the last climb or two of the day when you’re maybe flagging.

That sounds like my actual riding nightmare.

OP have you ridden an e-bike off yet road? They're brilliant. I WISH my mates were ready to buy them. It'll be another year or so for me then I'm going all in.

Had a quick ride on one, I can see the appeal but I actually enjoy the pedal up hill bit, allows me to drink beer in the evening.

Time to get an ebike.

All those saying get fitter have clearly never ridden an ebike - there's no way someone really fit on a normal bike will keep up with someone not very fit going up hill on an ebike. And even if you managed a herculean effort on one single hill and beat them up it , you're not going to be able to do it again, and again, and again for the next 3 hills.

People saying take them on a long ride and flatten their battery - if they're going slowly (because they're matching your pace) they will use very little juice, I can get 7000 feet of climbing out of mine using mostly eco mode if I go at normal bike pace.

Or you could make them go on a ride with lots of lifting over gates and stiles.

Get a towwhee and let them pull you up all the hills 😉

My estimation from steep winch and descend places is that e-bikes get about 3 trails done per 1 on a manual bike. I can't see mixed e and manual bikes being compatible on a ride without a lot of waiting/ going slow.

there’s no way someone really fit on a normal bike will keep up with someone not very fit going up hill on an ebike. And even if you managed a herculean effort on one single hill and beat them up it , you’re not going to be able to do it again, and again, and again for the next 3 hills.

And you'll get your arse handed to you on descents too after said herculean effort, as they'll be fresh.

I'd ask the Lord to buy me a Mercedes Benz.

If you get one, and you've done FoD to death, make sure to ride Follow the Dog at Cannock when it's really busy - so that everyone who's "slow" (like kids) HAVE TO GET OUT OF YOUR ****ING WAY.

Entire loop with the dropper slammed for extra awesomeness, obvz.

Revel in my superiority.

Embrace the opportunities for motorpaced training.

I love riding with my 2 mates who have ebikes. We can ride together that way and all get a workout. I use my ebike for lone exploring

“Everyone I know who’s got one and kept a clockwork bike has now sold the clockwork bike.”

I sold the clockwork full-sus but have kept the clockwork hardtail - it’s set up to be as similar to the Levo as possible despite the smaller wheels and lack of suspension and motor. The front end feels similarly confident so I can swap bikes easily enough but the simplicity and stupidity of no rear travel on a slack low bike with 150mm forks is always entertaining.

I find the ebike is a bit manic - normal MTBing is more relaxing. They both have their place. I think I pedal harder on the ebike when I’m on my own, it’s always so keen to go flat out!

Not having a spare £5-8K (yes, I know "and the rest") to spend on my hobbies, I would just go riding alone or with someone else.
We haven't all got second homes in the Alps round here.

routes with stiles, lots of them.

this, and also really soft stuff or really steep stuff where pedaling just is not possible, plenty of hike-a-bike stuff, where you need to shoulder the bike.

The advice about exceeding 15mph wherever possible is good. The eBike motor cuts out at that speed so they have to pedal the heavy turd of a bike all on their own.

Everyone just hacks them so they have no upper limit.

Overtook some kid on the way to (private) school on his ebike, he was doing 30mph. Obv I was on a road bike....

Depends if the social aspect is more important than the physical/mental benefit you get from being human-powered. Personally, I'd just let them know that I would be riding at normal pace so they are aware of it and then they either include you - and wait at the tops of the climbs - or they arrange rides without you.

Your decision obviously needs to take into account your financial position/priorities too. I simply couldn't afford the cost of a semi-decent e-bike so that would inform my decision.

Edit: I was going to add that I'm surprised no one else has mentioned the cost, but I see Debz now has. (Solidarity Comrade!)

there’s no way someone really fit on a normal bike will keep up with someone not very fit going up hill on an ebike. And even if you managed a herculean effort on one single hill and beat them up it , you’re not going to be able to do it again, and again, and again for the next 3 hills.

Yeah this - i'm pretty fit with a semi decent w/kg number, but i'd be destroyed by anyone even a bit fit on an ebike. They all put out 250w or more, so even if the person on it is only pedalling at 100w you're not going to be sustaining that up more than a couple of climbs - if the person is fit and matching the 250w that the motor is putting out, then even a TDF rider isn't going to be catching them on a long (steep enough not to top 15mph) climb.

Theres definitely an ebike in my future. I see their merits. Even at the relatively young age of 47 (compared to some on here) I can feel the slight but nevertheless extra demand on my body to maintain peak efforts, and recovery times are starting to take a little longer too an ebike is clearly going to be able to extend my rising and doo more of the good stuff I enjoy.

At the moment I can afford to run two really nicely equipped clockwork bikes, but its pretty clear if you care to use the google that the running costs of an ebike let alone the purchase prices are much higher and I'd only be able to have the one if it was an ebike. I'm not really convinced that they're a properly mature product yet either.

I'm not keen ongoing to one bike right now, nor am I keen on the purchase of an ebike cutting groups in two due to the disparity in capability, which I've seen on a number of occasions on the periphery or my riding circle.

I mostly ride with one other person and we've agreed to time the purchase of ebikes to coincide to avoid this.

Offer to pick the route.

Make it gravel bike friendly where all the climbs can be done nice and swiftly (ie over 15mph).

Ride on gravel bike.

I can feel the slight but nevertheless extra demand on my body to maintain peak efforts, and recovery times are starting to take a little longer too

Apparently, owning an e-bike makes no difference to either of those things.

Why would you not ride your Ripley. I have an ebike and a bunch of normal mtbs’s. Which bike I take depends on the type of ride and the mood I’m in - I’d say my rides are emtb/mtb in a ratio of 1/5..

New friends or an EMP device.

Sell all your bikes. Buy something with a V8 and rear wheel drive for the same price as a bike with a motor.

Sell all your bikes. Buy something with a V8 and rear wheel drive for the same price as a bike with a motor.

Already got one of those, so what do I do now (apart from donuts in PBA car park)

 

Sneer?