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I just can’t get my head around ebike racing , can’t see getting the same satisfaction from completing it on an ebike .
I'm with you.
If you were otherwise incapable then sure, crack on. Seeing Martyn Ashton do the Fort William WC DH on one was brilliant but that was for fun and most people are more than capable of racing without one.
Note the use of most, not all.
As someone above said, it's a Motability bike.
educate me on an Android phone please
https://www.imbikemag.com/issue77/?page=79
On the IMB app, click on the share icon, then copy.
From a browser, copy the url
What the hell is a neeb and an eeb? Absolute dickhead patter.
A bike and an ebike. Ya ****ing tools
I had one day at the Golfie where I only saw ebikes apart from mine .
I regularly have days at Golfie where I'm the only person on an eebr.
I also have it the other way round when I'm the only one on a manual bike.
Makes no difference what so ever to me what anyone else is riding.
It's just another bike to choose from as far as I'm concerned and they can exist pretty well side by side.
My occasional family trail centre trips this year would suggest that I'm just not fat enough to own an ebike.
That said, if I lived at the bottom of the Golfie, I'd already own one. As it is, I live in Calderdale, our hills are steep but not that high and have a lot of variety.
Put me down for one once they are fixable and my knees pack in.
For the price of a half decent E-bike, I could buy myself 2 or 3 perfect capable analogue bikes.
I know where my money is going.
In the same way as fat bikes will take over from normal bikes by the end of the decade.
And Gravel bikes.
Gravel to a lesser extent, but they were both fads, fatties being a bit more niche. Yes fat bikes are still around and gravel edges more and more towards HT MTB territory.
No one really imagined either of them taking over the world though. Ebikes will continue to rise in popularity over the decade and will have a lions share of the market at a guess. Maybe not the death of analogue, but there will be some manufacturers that possibly stop making certain bikes due to lack of demand
For the price of a half decent E-bike, I could buy myself 2 or 3 perfect capable analogue bikes.
I know where my money is going
Cool. You going Bosch or Shimano? 😉
I just can’t get my head around ebike racing , can’t see getting the same satisfaction from completing it on an ebike
That's because you appear to be thinking that it's the same race, only perhaps with fag breaks and mandatory pasty eating sections.
It's a different type of race and still won by the fittest, with the best technical skill and endurance.
Depends on where you live and what you ride surely? Forest of Dean, or pottering around an up and down trail centre, it’s now 90% e-bikes.
Somewhere like Dyfi, e-bikes are very much in the minority for good reason.
I regularly have days at Golfie where I’m the only person on an eebr.
I also have it the other way round when I’m the only one on a manual bike.
Makes no difference what so ever to me what anyone else is riding.
I wasn't suggesting there was anything wrong with it , I basically said I'd have one if I could afford it . I was saying that some days it feels like the balance has already shifted well towards ebikes in terms of numbers .
It’s a different type of race and still won by the fittest, with the best technical skill and endurance.
I was talking personally about why I do enduros . But now you mention it is it really won by the best technical skill and endurance? If you put 2 equal riders on different ebikes with different motors and batteries your adding something extra into the race equation that isn't endurance or technique.
It's human nature if you offer people an easier option they will take it. Ebikes are great if you are less fit older or suffering from impediments to riding a pedal bike.
You apparently still get a workout but people who ride ebikes wear more clothes.
I might get an ebike if it's a choice between an ebike on not riding, but until then I will stick with a real bike
It’s human nature if you offer people an easier option they will take it.
How does this work for people who ride both?
You apparently still get a workout but people who ride ebikes wear more clothes.
Everyone I know wears the same kit irrespective of what bike they happen to be riding.
a real bike
Are eebrs just made up then not real.
Dude they're just another type of bike no need to feel so threatened by them.
Obesecycles are great. Love seeing Gnarwhales enjoying the hills.
Difficult to not feel threatened when you have been rammed by one on a climb
I have not ridden at a trail centre since.
Who is even buying flintstone bikes these days? They seem to be owned by those who should take up hiking as a hobby as they spend so much time walking their bike uphill compared to riding it.
Yeehaa! Coming through peasants!
Difficult to not feel threatened when you have been rammed by one on a climb
It wasn't the bike that "rammed" you.
****s gona ****.
Perfectly illustrated by davey up there.
But now you mention it is it really won by the best technical skill and endurance? If you put 2 equal riders on different ebikes with different motors and batteries your adding something extra into the race equation that isn’t endurance or technique.
There are strict rules surrounding power output, batteries etc. Innovation in those areas might bring you tiny gains here and there but that's the same in any sport that uses equipment.
The technicality of the tracks evens things out. When people started riding 29ers in dh, we didn't see only 29ers on the podium.
Whatever tiny gains they offered (imagined or not) the technicality of the tracks means that still, the fittest and best riders still win, with a handful of luck on the day.
I am nearly 70. I like riding my bike. I want to ride a normal bike and value simplicity, hence I still ride my single-ended when I can.
I get plenty of crap from cars when cycling on the road, I don't want the same crap off road.
The vast majority of cyclist are fine whatever they ride but people like daveylad really need to have a change of attitude.
Gravel to a lesser extent, but they were both fads, fatties being a bit more niche. Yes fat bikes are still around and gravel edges more and more towards HT MTB territory.
I'd say Gravel bikes are the Fad that has stuck now, mostly because they cover a few bases. A decade ago if posed the 'only one bike' I'd have said HT MTB. These days it would have to be a Gravel bike.
I can see me owning and riding a Gravel bike for far longer than I will an MTB, never mind an E-MTB.
WTF is an analogue bike?
I do wonder if some form of regenerative braking is around the corner. Personally I don’t have a motorised bike, but that could be a massive game changer for them as do?
I doubt that it's worth the complexity and expense. Yes, you might be able to recover some energy, but it will be a fraction of the energy you've used to get the bike up to speed or elevation.
To run regenerative braking with a mid-mounted motor, you'd need to eliminate the freewheel in the hub and run a gearbox instead of a rear derailleur so that the chain can drive the motor. But then, you'd create drag for when you want to coast, which I think would be annoying. If you set the system up to only harvest when the rear brake is applied, you'd lose a lot of energy if the mechanical brake was engaging alongside regenerative braking.
Probably the simplest way to do it would be to use the rear brake lever only for regenerative braking and have the front brake lever used to operate the front brake plus a small mechanical brake on the back. You could then program the regenerative braking to ease off when the rear wheel starts to lock so that you don't just lock up the rear wheel on steep descents. However you do it, you will need a much more complex braking system in order to make it feel like a normal system while also harvesting energy. I can't see it being worth the cost and complexity for the modest amount of energy you would recover.
I've no issues with e-bikes but I don't particularly like the derogatory nature of the names for a normal bike used by people who now ride e-bikes.
I won't consider buying one though until they are A, more reliable or easier to fix and B, cheaper.
I'd like to have a go on one, but they're not gonna kill of normal bikes anytime soon.
Surely a flintstone bikes is a Rothan or something like that.
I’m sticking with muscle bike to describe a bike you only use your muscles to shift.
And as those there lecky bikes aren’t for me (until I get an e-gravel bike with pannier mounts for the commute) the lecky crew can chose their own preferred name.
PS - if the chairlift in Les Gets is running on electricity does that make me some sort of e-biker that week whether I like it or not?
I’ve no issues with e-bikes but I don’t particularly like the derogatory nature of the names for a normal bike used by people who now ride e-bikes.
Check back. Goes both ways.
How does Aphex Twin clean his analogue bike?
With Analogue Bubblebath.
As OP maybe I should clarify, 67 retired ,averaging 400/500 miles a month less than 100 of those are assisted.E Bike is an Orbea Rise , I'd had a full power bike before found it overkill for my riding liked the idea of a halfway option waited for Orbea to bring out the alloy version .
I just thought I'd share the article on here to see people's opinions and once again predictably you haven't let me down 😁😁
Who is even buying flintstone bikes these days? They seem to be owned by those who should take up hiking as a hobby as they spend so much time walking their bike uphill compared to riding it.
Ironically I recently went for a ride with a mate who is mostly a hiker/climber, but has bought some weird, rack-festooned, full-sus Trek emtb/trekking thing, which seems to be the nearest he can find to hiking on two wheels. He has no interest at all in conventional bikes, but likes the minimal effort involved in riding an ebike quickly up hills.
I rode up the same climbs without motor assistance. It was fine. We were both happy and had a good day out.
I think for a sub-set of riders* who want to enjoy being on a bike, enjoy the outdoors, and the technical challenge of riding difficult terrain with their friends, and who have zero interest in the fitness aspect of bike riding, he's probably correct in predicting the death of push-bikes. For those folks; normal bikes effectively already may as well not exist, they have zero interest in buying one ever again.
Why spend £6K on a bike on which you won't enjoy the uphills, you won't be able to do as much riding as you want, and go to all the cool spots in a ride, when you invest that money in a bike that makes the whole ride (for them), way more fun? It's a no-brainer.
* It's probably a larger group of folks that most people who're invested in the fitness aspect of bike riding would think it is.
I’d like to have a go on one, but they’re not gonna kill of normal bikes anytime soon.
Here's the thing, e-bikes are by any definition, heaps of fun. I mean in a laugh out loud "OMG this changes everything" levels of fun. The sort of person that rides a MTB regularly that when handed an e-bike for the first time, doesn't laugh out loud with just the joy of thing is probably a psychopath.
I don't own an e-bike because a large part of my persona and ego is invested in the fact that at 55 I'm fitter than a good proportion of my peers, and I can still fit into jeans that I wore as a 20 year old, and I will bet money that I'm not alone. If I owned an leisure e-bike* I doubt I'd ride much else and I'd get fat, I don't want to be fat more than I want to have fun at the weekend.
*Mountain biking being the thing that I do for leisure, I don't earn money from it, nor do I need to do it, other forms of cycling my be different.
I’m having a year off my ebike because although my average heart rate on a ride would be about the same, and I was putting plenty hours in over the winter, jumping back on a road bike and TrainerRoad this year showed I’d lost about 40w of my FTP and peak power was down massively too.
For places like Golfie, Inners or anywhere else with a load of off piste, nadgery stuff but repeated dull fire road climbs to reach them I think ebikes make so much sense, you can just get so many more runs in. I’m going to Golfie on Monday on a normal bike and it’ll take me five hours to do what I could do on an an e-bike in 2.5.
I think any body who loves riding, but can only get out to the trails once a week, would be nuts to buy a normal bike given a choice and opportunity. Their fitness means they’d be in much less pain, and having a lot more fun on an ebike - and I reckon that’s a lot of people in work, with family commitments and so on.
I wonder how many owners have one - like me, but would rather not.
Whilst I like the bike and at 17.4kg - it’s not particularly heavy - it’s a tool to keep me outdoors, doing the thing I love.
it’s a tool to keep me outdoors, doing the thing I love.
And that should be all that matters. I know loads of top humans that ride eebs. I know loads of top humans that ride bikes.
Sadly ****ing dicks ride them both too.
How does Aphex Twin clean his analogue bike?
With Analogue Bubblebath
Because Aphex is clearly slumming it with the deeply uncool peasants on his pedal bike - with all the associated walking up hills - does that make him a Squarepusher?
I think any body who loves riding, but can only get out to the trails once a week, would be nuts to buy a normal bike
Yeah but that's the conundrum at the moment - how many can justify the cost of an ebike based on that level of usage?
I reckon there's a fair chance that my next purchase will have some level of e-assist but I'm looking 4-5 years out and at a time when I'd likely be reducing my current stable of bikes down from 7 to 2, or thereabouts. At the moment, for the type of riding I'm doing, I just don't want electronic assistance. If I was regularly heading up Burnside, or Cairngorm, then that would be different.
Locally ebikes are still very much a minority. I see more elderly riders on ebike hybrids (often arriving on the back of motorhomes) on roads and paths than I see ebike MTBs on the trails. And, to follow up on a point above, they do seem to be rather over-dressed, though I've heard blood thins and it's more difficult to stay warm when you're more elderly.
I've got bicycles for when I want to pedal and motorcycles for when I don't.
I'm sorted thanks.
I can't see me buying another none e mountain bike, it's e all the way from now on(for mountain biking) *
* I reserve the right to change my mind
No one really imagined either of them taking over the world though.
Really? Because the way people waxed lyrical about either of them that's the impression I got.
The entire industry is fuelled by fads and fuds.
Gnarwhales
Keeping that one.
Because the way people waxed lyrical about either of them that’s the impression I got.
The Fatbike scene was certainly full of evangelists telling everyone that a "skinny" MTB was no longer required. Of course, they mostly moved once they'd bought their On One Fatty and actually ridden it for a year. Of course many riders still own a Fatbike in addition to something else now. Truth is, later Fatbikes actually became more capable as a result of geometry changes, suspension and better tyres.
After saying that I had no wish or intention to get an ebike I've now changed my mind. I had the chance to borrow my son's girlfriend's ebike for a week.... it was a bit too small and a hardtail but.... first of all I rode Swinley, the next day Tunnel Hill Deepcut and then a few days after the Surrey Hills with my son. It was a revelation. I had a lot of fun and realised how many downhill type runs I could get in without totally knackering myself keep climbing back to the top (I know this is the reason for many people). It got me thinking about how more recently I've tended to do more gradual downhills to try and avoid keep having to make steep uphill climbs back up.
Anyway, I haven't pushed the button on buying yet but will probably do so soon. The good thing is that I'm still capable of doing relatively steepish climbs on my current mtb but at 76 age does catch up with you eventually.
I don’t own an e-bike because a large part of my persona and ego is invested in the fact that at 55 I’m fitter than a good proportion of my peers, and I can still fit into jeans that I wore as a 20 year old, and I will bet money that I’m not alone. If I owned an leisure e-bike* I doubt I’d ride much else and I’d get fat, I don’t want to be fat more than I want to have fun at the weekend.
I feel the same as this in some respects.
I enjoy doing exercise and enjoy being fit, I honestly think that with an e-bike I’d become lazy and just let the motor do the work with little effort from me.
It’s also a bonus being in better shape in your 40’s than work colleagues and mates who are 20 years younger.
After saying that I had no wish or intention to get an ebike I’ve now changed my mind.
Forum rules are that, if you want to change your mind about anything, you need to start a new account and log in with a new username. Changing your mind without changing your username will go down in your permanent record and you will never achieve the status of Heavy Hitter.
Just been out on my HT with 10 gears, 26" wheels and 2.35 tyres. Rode the same trails as I'll ride on my 180mm 50lb ebike
Equally as much fun on both, was just a bit slower and sweatier today.
90+% of my riding is on my ebike - 5'11 12st 11. Not all eeeebers (to annoy the delicate) are fat biffers
I'll buy another ebike and I'll buy another normal bike at some point
Keeping that one.
I also am enjoying becoming fitter in my 50s having come late to cycling. Interspersed with normal solo bike climbs, we hired four Scott Strikes for a family outing in the French alps this August, 2000+m of off road climbing with a generally lazy 13 and 15 year old and recently diagnosed arthritic knee'ed wife, was an absolute hoot. So much so that Mrs Davy90's head has been turned and she is after one for her commute. We have looked at some aftermarket kits to fit to her ancient 26" HT and it hasn't gone further than that as she is currently completing a programme of physio before getting back on the bikes proper.
I totally get the further/faster thing as well as the age/disability compensation thing. For me though, I wish to resist becoming a Gnarwhale (superb) for another couple of decades or so 😀
Looks like some of you would rather post on here all day when you could have been out on a nice ride...
Here's some fat over dressed lazy Ebike ****ers that joined me on today's ride.
Bunch of ****s ramming everyone off the trail.