[Closed] Electric bikes need to be stopped.

How many people responding have actually ridden an ebike?

Appeal to me is instead of doing a 20 mile loop around local singletrack i could do 40 miles and enjoy seeing so much more of our b 8)eautiful countryside.

I bought the ebike in order to ride more.

Riding a normal bike takes it out of me in terms of climbing really. I'm fine for everything else, but I get a pain in my left thigh which restricts my riding. I wouldn't be able to ride the next day.

I went out yesterday on the normal bike for 25 miles, and the ebike for another 25 today.
Feels good to get out more often.

Tomorrow will be a day off the bike, probably ride the normal bike on Wednesday again.

Allows me to ride more often, sometimes further.
But I enjoy both of the bikes, just riding and being out.

I'm still baffled as to who these people are who think someone doing a maximum of 15mph (probably less) on an electric bike uphill is any more a threat to cycling off road than someone doing 40mph down a fire road, or 20 down a singletrack, on a normal bike.

E bikes aren't a threat to cycling at all. They're just another way of enjoying bike riding. I'd probably enjoy one if I could afford one and I love the fitness bit of biking. If I had an e-bike I could go 40 miles for the effort of 20. I wouldn't need a car to get to the best trails. Sounds great!

My uphill speed is not that much greater than some of the faster bike riders to be honest.

It just makes it easier.

For instance, the Skyline climb out of Glyncorrwg is achievable by young fit fast riders in about 30 minutes, that the same as I can manage on the ebike with a little bit of effort.

Therefore, in reality I just become quite fast at climbing if I put my mind to it. It is still an effort to go this fast for me, just makes climbing a bit easier if I don't push too hard.

My uphill speed is not that much greater than some of the faster bike riders to be honest.

and thats the point but some people [i]do [/i]ride up hills in turbo mode

I'm still baffled as to who these people are who think someone doing a maximum of 15mph (probably less) on an electric bike uphill is any more a threat to cycling off road than someone doing 40mph down a fire road, or 20 down a singletrack, on a normal bike.

because the impact velocity is doubled. currently nothing out in the wilds goes up hills at over 10 mph, apart from maybe a deer or frisky badger.

So you pedal up there with some effort at a relatively normal speed? You should be banned, you're spoiling it for everyone else.

😉

Canopy - I would be amazed if anyone could pedal an ebike up anything off road that isn't a fire road at 15mph even in turbo mode. So there's still nothing that can go over 10mph.

Sorry for the straw man response to both of you but aracer if the concern is nothing to do with appearance why aren't people on here clamouring to ban horses because of the potential damage to trails they might cause and the risk that damage might be attributed to mtb?

Canopy those sane trails are also suitable for people with push chairs or wheel chair users who generally don't dodge on coming mtbs yes? Ok they can't (generally, but what about e pushchairs?) move that fast. What about dogs? Ok they're generally smaller and should be on the lead and are in no way inclined to run at mtbs. What about horses, they go pretty fast, uphill, weigh a lot, act erratically when scarred (such as by a fast moving mtb). The list goes on. I'd wager an e bike doing w5kph up hill will stop a lot more effectively than the mtb doing (likely much more than) 35kph down hill. So which one is the threat, which one is the risk, which is the nuisance?

Coming downhill the ebike weighs more but in theory isn't traveling any faster sho it's no more of a risk than the normal mtb surely?

because the impact velocity is doubled. currently nothing out in the wilds goes up hills at over 10 mph, apart from maybe a deer or frisky badger.

Strava begs to differ. Even for non ebike riders

You won't get far riding in Turbo mode.

Turbo drains the battery very quickly, and then you are left with a flat battery. Haven't tried to work out the range in Turbo, but can't be more than 10 miles off road.

I usually ride in Eco for about 85% of the time, only time turbo gets used is on the sharp climb on Tarmac back to my house.

I have a 500 watt battery, and the range is about 35 miles off road.
Turbo will severely restrict the range, as will the other increased power options.

Eco is like being 25 again

why aren't people on here clamouring to ban horses because of the potential damage to trails they might cause and the risk that damage might be attributed to mtb?

A. There's no way you'd confuse damage caused by horses with damage caused by MTB's - unless the horses were on MTB's....

B. Mountain biking is pretty new to the rural party - horses have been around wayyyyyy longer & they aren't going away..

C. Your average countryside stroller can quite easily get irate at the most benign of MTBer.....they get really quite riled by motocross bikes but can usually tell the difference plus you can here the bigger coming from the next county. Turn that into a stealth machine that looks like an MTB.....& you don't have to have the brains of Einstein there'll get the hump with both groups..

Access is hard won - by all means ride your eMTB/electric motorbike but do it where it's appropriate & respectful for all our sakes..

[quote=dangeourbrain ]Sorry for the straw man response to both of you but aracer if the concern is nothing to do with appearance why aren't people on here clamouring to ban horses because of the potential damage to trails they might cause and the risk that damage might be attributed to mtb?

Eh? The concern [b]is[/b] that e-motorbikes look just like e-bikes (to anybody untrained in recognising them) - that is exactly the reason for the problem. Nobody thinks a horse looks like an e-bike. I'm not sure what's confusing you about my previous reply - I simply pointed out that nobody is suggesting they are the same because they look the same. However the fact they do look the same does result in one being mistaken for the other.

Sorry aracer, largely a problem with knowing what i meant and not reading what i wrote, "are the same" should have read "are to be treated the same."

However many people do seem to think they (emotos/ebikes) are the same thing, the complaint being xxx is ridiculous so they should all be banned, only xxx is an emoto and is already banned (at least from doing said things).

Mrlebowski, my point is maybe rather lost on the basis of the above and my subsequent arguing against a point which was never made, but I'm not totaly bonkers, i can tell the difference between a bike and a horse.
Ime pretty much all whinging about damage caused by a user group comes after the fact though and many people [s]couldn't[/s] will choose not to try tell the difference between a motox bike tyre track and a mtb one, they just see tyre tracks tearing through bluebells and hillsides.

Eh? The concern is that e-motorbikes look just like e-bikes (to anybody untrained in recognising them)

I cant help but feel that if we as mountain bikers (riders, industry and media) side with e-bikes then we'll only have ourselves to blame when we're banned from trails.

who are the "they" that are going to ban the collective "us" ?

I can't help but get the feeling that:

A. There are some here who really don't give a sh1t about anyone else as long as they can get their buzz on.

B. Some really thick folks who think that acting like a d1ck is totally cool.

[quote=dangeourbrain ]Sorry aracer, largely a problem with knowing what i meant and not reading what i wrote, "are the same" should have read "are to be treated the same."

I live with a woman, I should be used to that 😳

Not that it changes my reply much - I don't think they should be treated the same, but ordinary members of the public won't be able to tell the difference so will think they should be treated the same. I can also see some official bodies wanting to treat them all the same if e-motorbikes cause issues.

Evolution of cycling. I suppose Lance Armstrong performance enhancement is part of cycling evolution as well??

Pish and piffle.

I dont believe the hype around perfomance enhancing drugs.
The reason being, after one particularly heavy weekend a few year back, me and a mate did Gisburn, and to get round in one piece in a reasonable time did pure ephedrine.

It was not succesful.

not quite the same thing though is it.. 😆

I can't help but get the feeling that:

A. There are some here who really don't give a sh1t about anyone else as long as they can get their buzz on.

B. Some really thick folks who think that acting like a d1ck is totally cool.

I haven't seen any that fit into either A or B, could you point them out?

I have seen people suggesting that the OP is over-reacting, and that calling for banning of thing X based on people mis-using thing Y, which is already banned, but that's not the same thing at all.

In fact I think most people have gone out of their way to say that acting like a d1ck is the problem in it's entirety, rather than than the use of a particular tool to be a d1ck with.

There's no way you'd confuse damage caused by horses with damage caused by MTB's - unless the horses were on MTB's....

Very true - the horses really rip up the trails (to the point where it is uncomfortable to ride them on my rigid bike when they are dry)