My mum hadn't cycled for years, although my dad was still riding regularly. She felt she couldn't keep up and would hold him back. She got an e-bike and never looked back. They are doing lots of cycling now, runs of up to 40+ miles. My mum doesn't actually use the assist as much as she expected, but it's there when she needs it, and gives her the confidence that she can get up the hills.
That's the ideal application for me, where an e-bike removes a barrier that would otherwise prevent someone from participating in cycling.
The problem I see is where e-bikes become ubiquitous, and are used simply because "it's easier". Removing "unnecessary" effort from life has happened in lots of other aspects of the modern world, and I think we'll see this in cycling. Cycling is a human powered pastime for me, and my preference would be to cycle shorter distances, more slowly, as I age. However, I wonder if I'll see 15mph minimum speed limits in a group ride in a few years, because e-bikes level everyone up. There's also the possibility that the speed limit could rise as demand grows. I think the Dutch are planning for special lanes for higher powered e-bikes.
Mountain biking's f@c£ed, it just doesn't realise it yet.
Give it a few years and it'll just be a self imposed ghetto; fat, middle aged men on overpriced, over-engineered machines riding round in circles following little signposts.
Uh, hang on...
Interesting thread.
Instead of pontificating on what other people ride, why they ride or what their motivation or otherwise may be, I'm just going to carry on biking.
My actual influence only extends to what I actually do or say, so I'll make sure my interactions with other bikers and other user groups are as positive as possible, even you folk on ordinary pedal bikes...
The rest of you can beat each other to death with your handbags behind the Nationwide, in Swindon.
Reminds me too much of people who go 'fishing' with all the gadgets they can muster - wireless alarms to tell them they have a bite, cameras and fishfinders attached to their floats and even little radio controlled barges to take their bait out for them. About as far removed from what I class as going fishing as you can get.
Sadly I see the potential for mountain biking to go the same. Strava, gopros, wireless shifting, electronic suspension, electric motors, where will it end up?
All I know is that no-one wants to go fishing with those guys except other weirdos. Thankfully I mostly fish and bike alone.
Km79 stalking in the margins with a bit of floating crust, proper old school is the best by far fishing wise.
This thread is a sham too much talking and not enough hating.
I think pedelecs are a great idea for fitness training.
You can keep to a specific heart-rate zone, regardless of the topography.
You could do that 'recovery' workout even if you're surrounded by hills.
I also like the idea of the 'walking-speed' mode. Kind of like riding a pukka Yamaha ty trials bike and using your skillz to get up real techy sections.
Anything that gets people out their cars has to be a very very good thing.
With current lifestyles, people are better off going from car to pedelec than car to mobility scooter.
With current lifestyles, people are better off going from car to pedelec than car to mobility scooter.
^ This statement confuses me. A pedelec requires input, ie some actual effort (variable depending) whereas a car (for sole-occupant local trips/visiting/shopping etc of under say 15 miles) is basically a mobility scooter for people without disabilities, no matter how much 'sexier' the user imagines it to be 😉
@malvern rider
I figure that it's better that joe public bite the bullet and leave the car behind and opt for a more energetic mode of transport before type2 diabetes/ general decrepitude set in.
A lot of the people using cars now will be suffering ill health in the not too distant future whilst still having to work as the pension age is raised.
I believe ebikes are a great thing as long as they help to replace car and motorbike traffic.
I will probably get one as I get older.
I just don't get the point of a road e-bike... maybe a fat one makes more sense
I figure that it's better that joe public bite the bullet and leave the car behind and opt for a more energetic mode of transport before type2 diabetes/ general decrepitude set in.
Agreed. The thing I feel most often missed in these ebike/pedelec (still don't see people differentiating, what's that about? [s]rants[/s] discussions is their potential to replace car use (in cargo/utility mode) for all local journeys involving one or two adults or an adult and a few toddlers/nippers. There is no need to use assist unless loaded with goods or struggling/makng time up massive hills. But having that ability if required could mean the difference between an able-bodied healthy person hopping in the [s]mobility scooter[/s] car or hopping on a cleaner, leaner and healthier option which also reduces traffic congestion.
Offroad potential is 'just another option' at best or an access-rights/weaponised anti-ped sled minefield at worst. This rather depends on people behaving unlike dangerous nobbers/keeping within regs. Humans are so often disappointing.
Tested 3 of the latest E bikes yesterday, it was a rite laugh. Downhills are pretty much the same, the flats and slight ups become downhills and steep techy ups become flat. Just have to watch how steep and techy you try to climb or you can end up looping over backwards. Not for me but it was fun for a change, can see them as a hire option at trail centres.
I think under the right circumstances they're great. However getting dropped on the climb from ladybower to derwent edge by a young couple really annoyed me at first. However when I realised they were new to the sport I understand it more from their viewpoint. Personally at the age of 34 they're not for me but if it gets new people into the sport then that can only be a good thing.
@ Chris, why did it annoy you that you had been "dropped?" its not a race, surely with different levels of riders, the only person you are riding against trying to beat is yourself ?
@lester Because the climb is gruelling and he was flying up the hill on his ebike. More demoralising than annoying I guess.
gives you something more to aim at? 🙂 i did ladybower 2 years ago and i was Knackered lol, dont think ive ever overtaken anyone on the way up lol, everyone i ride with can drop me if they want.
look at it another way, the only people that dropped you were on e bikes ! id settle for that !
if it gets new people into the sport then that can only be a good thing.
I'd be suprised if many people start of on a ebike and then move onto regular cycling. I'd have thought the normal progression was the other way round.
@malvernrider
I don't think pedelec applies only to cargo bikes.
It takes a pretty big carrot to get joe public out of their cars, and anything that eases that transition has to be welcomed.
Pedelec also means that joe public can ride to work in their 'normal' clothes.
hit the lip of a gap jump yesterday and wrecked my helmet. I'd've made it on an eBike.
@malvernriderI don't think pedelec applies only to cargo bikes.
Agree, me neither. I just mean that utility/cargo use hardly ever seems mentioned. Cars are so ubiquitous that the emerging options of pedelecs/ebikes as everyday transport and load-lugging are barely considered, lost in the chest-beating 'real' cycling vs 'fake' cycling' debate. I wager that the many anti-e-bike voices see no benefits of ditching the car for a pedelec, even when they drive their 'real' bikes around in a car to get to the 'real' trails 😉
@malvernrider
Yes, it seems that we're both on the same page as regards the benefits of pedelecs.
Though in my experience, it's not just hills or cargo weight that deters joe public from cycling but the weather too.
I've cycled into some real headwinds in my day!
chrisrobs - MemberHowever getting dropped on the climb from Ladybower to Derwent edge by a young couple really annoyed me at first.
Getting dropped by a couple of noobs on bikes would be annoying, you were merely overtaken by mopeds. 😉
Relax. 🙂
