[Closed] First negative encounter with the "ebike mob"

Jean Claude Van Dam will sort them out for your.

Well if they muck about too much perhaps they will be banned from trail centers.

Can't see them being banned, the hire shop was doing a fair trade in rentals today, wonder if they account for the biggest percentage of hires nowadays?

The lower the barrier to entry the more people. The more people the more ****. ****s are emboldened by seeing other ****s. The results. ****ageddon.

I read somewhere that the average demographic for bikes in the UK was a middle-aged couple who were not 'cyclists'. I found this in the week when using the Monsal trail to get back to the car from a ride . The afore mentioned middle age couple were pushing there bikes up the small rise onto the Bakewell end of the trail and then  overtook me. Not a big achievement but they then seemed to struggle to keep this pace . I couldn't be bothered to overtake them and just followed until I got to where my car was. Afterwards I was puzzled by their behaviour. Why use an ebike on a flat cycle trail but push it on the only bit where power would have been of some use?

I had my tyre buzzed a few weeks ago by someone on an ebike after I had the audacity to overtake him on my road bike. He then overtook me when the road started to rise slightly and deliberately cut me up in the process. I was doing 35-40kmh and he must have been doing 5-10kmh more. I presume he must have chipped his bike but it seems to be the norm round these parts with younger people.

I borrowed an e-bike and was nice to everyone I met.

The bike isn’t the problem.

As above its not the bike its the rider, some people will be dicks whatever they are doing

Non e bike riders can be ****s too, had a few sarky comments from them, just smile and carry on enjoying my ride, the friendly ones i chat to and have a laugh with

I'm always careful coming up behind people on my e-bike and will hang back waiting to be heard, wait for a clear place to pass or give a friendly excuse me

Just like not all Audi or BMW drivers are speeding, non indicating, tailgating ****ers, some of us obey the the rules, some are just ****s

When I get an ebike I’m going to put a loud exhaust on it so people know I’m coming.

Sounds like you just meet some eejits rather than being caused by the type of bike they were on...

I was on my ebike the other day plodding up a long road hill in eco, road guy came past me, we said hello and off he went up the hill and continued to pull away from me.

cocks will be cocks no matter what they ride.

The bike isn’t the problem

Of course it isn't but if it's easier for people to do then more idiots will do it. See drving a car.

You did well to throw a right bollocking into him wrightyson, only language these types understand.

Horse has bolted as far as trail centres go, I am afraid - ebike leper colonies up and down the land. It's probably a good thing that we cede them this territory in the bigger picture, keeps them contained. It's a shame for family riding, though - trail centres are great for younger riders to learn the ropes.

I can't remember the last time I rode a trail centre as they tend to be nobhead magnets anyway, but we went to Gisburn last weekend. Full of e-bikes. On the singletrack climbs, I was constantly pulling off the trail as I had someone on an ebike sat on my back wheel.

They're just different forms of transport to a normal bike, capable of a totally different pace (especially on the climbs) so throw them all in together like that and there's bound to be issues. I think you're just best surrendering the trail centres to them (they're welcome to them). I doubt you'll bump into many of them out on the moors

I wish people would stop with the 'there are idiots in every group thing', sometimes people just want to vent. Honestly, you could come on here after being beaten half to death by Hells Angels and you'd be told, 'oh well, it's not all Hells Angels that are lawless, violent thugs there are idiots in every outlaw bike chapter. And hey, have you never ridden on a footpath or assaulted an innocent passer-by just because you could?'

I think e-bikers are probably worse to be  honest and I totally sympathise with the OP.  Can people not just allow him to be cross?

ps: I was overtaken uphill by an old couple on small wheeled eb-ikes a while back. They were amusingly apologetic. Not all e-bikers are idiots...

If someone is quicker than me, I let them through. Maybe not if it's a real tough tech section and I can't really pull over without ruining my climb/descent. Possibly a bit rude to buzz your wheel. An excuse me would have been far more polite.

Same thing happened to me 3 weeks ago at Cannock. One chap had the audacity to shout ‘Mooove’ at me just I was entering a technical section. Cannock is getting progressively worse for this kind of thing.

I haven’t been back since....shame really

Cannock is shit at the best of times, arseholes on any sort of bike isn't going to improve it.

I do my best to be courteous when I'm catching people up and I'll tell them not to stop just for me. Some still do though so they get a cheery "Thanks". I'm spending far less time on the marked trails these days so tend not see too many people outside my riding group but we always have a chat when we do see them. There is virtually none of the anti-eBike sentiment in the real world that we see on the forums, perhaps the fun-bike hating keyboard warriors don't actually ride.

The lower the barrier to entry the more people

Silent motorbike that is allowed in the countryside and you can pretend it is healthy.

they have a place but idiots be idiots. Much like hover boards and micro scooters the excitement will drop off

I also have nothing against e bikes.

I would say this though, e bikes amplify a riders abilities to a degree and they can also amplify negative behaviour of the rider if he/she is a bell end.

e bikes amplify a riders pedal power

FTFY.

The technology is enabling access to trails without requiring any qualifying skills. Usually a cyclist would have to ride a bike to get fit, gradually allowing them to build up awareness and technique along with fitness.

An ebike allows someone to bypass all that and just get out there, removing all entry criteria and allowing the rider a delusion of fitness.

Trick is to ride early at trail centres and avoid the ebikers as they waddle to thier full english breakfast.  Or ride more technically challenging natural stuff which doesn't seem to appeal to most of the ebike community.

The trick is to get there late to avoid all the Lycra clad, wheels never leave the ground, roadies pretending to be mountain bikers so you don’t get held up on the descents.

Know who I hate? The people community. When are they all going to take responsibility for the thing that one of them did that one time?

I don't want to confuse you further, but getting there early means you don't have to worry about those who might be slower on the downs (because you got there early, so it's generally empty).

Anyone else wondering why the Op gave the ebiker a tablet? Typo or an ipad?

We (me and lad) ride all the local stuf, which is as technical as it gets,, but as above, trail centres are handy proving and training grounds and tend to be a little bit more forgiving for the newbies as it's all a bit more groomed. I've had a bit of banter with lads at cannock before who are desperate to get past on the ups/flats and then precede to hold you up on anything remotely gravity assisted. But today was next level with the ebikes, almost seemed like Strava must have been on fire! Went to llandegella for the first time in must be two years the other week and it didn't seem that bad at all.

Anyone else wondering why the Op gave the ebiker a tablet?

Never heard that saying before? As in have this? Take this?

Much like hover boards and micro scooters the excitement will drop off

Nope, can't see it tbh.

Went to whinlatter last weekend and got passed on the climbs by a group of guys in shirts and board shorts on hired ebikes. Every descent they were stopped in the middle of the trail on anything remotely technical.

Think hire of ebikes is getting people way in over their heads as ganic said.

I think we should just start blanking e bike riders 😀 and also politely....ahem....ask them to build their own ****ing trails when they use our cheeky ones.

There's a guy in the place who's got a bittersweet face and he goes by the name of Ebeneezer Goode.

Can't say I see too many of them up here in Scotland.

However I was staggered by how many I saw in Finale Ligure a couple of weeks ago. Up at the Nato base they pretty much outnumbered normal bikes. I can kind of see the point when its a 4,000ft climb and it'd 40 degrees. Hopefully in the cooler months they revert back to non assisted pedalling

An ebike allows someone to bypass all that and just get out there

Which is kind of the point of them. They are also keeping the cycle industry afloat so expect to see a lot more of them

Singletrack loves the money they will bring in so expect to see lots more of them.

Oh the irony.... mountain bikers, who for years have been winding up walkers over cheeky trails, complaining of being wound up by cheeky ebikers. What goes around.... etc.

Oh the irony…. mountain bikers, who for years have been winding up walkers over cheeky trails, complaining of being wound up by cheeky ebikers. What goes around…. etc.

Sounds like you'd be better off posting on walkmagic.

I think they're brilliant, they make soooo much sense for the enduro type riding that lots of us do, slogging up boring as f fire roads all day to get to the good stuff. A few of my mates have them, bloody quick riders as well, they're out biking all the time on them, getting in more than double the descend time on each ride, and for me, thats what it's all about.

I've no plans to get one in the near future, but I definitely will at some point. One mate has a focus esam,  nearly 7k worth, it's bloody rapid down as well.

Trail centres have always had balloons stopping in the middle of the trail, the  fact they're on ebikes is neither here nor there.

I had a great chat with a couple of lads that had made it out to Calderdale from Blackpool on their e-bikes, they seemed to having a great time, as was I. TBH Cannock is probably the nearest trail centre to the largest population in England being where it is, so it's always got a large subset of "Idiots who will be idiots regardless of what they're doing" to select from.

There'll be more ebikers coming, so may as well either like it or lump it.

My 2p - I see lots of e-bikers, my riding mate likes to  give them some stick for whatever reason but they don’t bother me. They’ve always sat in the usual spectrum of personalities I’ve met at trail centres.

However I’ve visited Cannock about 4 times from memory and suffered complete and utter Nuggets every time. Still a small minority, but a very vocal one! I don’t know why, but It seems to attract arsehole riders like no other place on Earth.

Tire buzzing is unacceptable on any bike by anyone.

Should have ejust cut his battery leads with your gransfors bruks.

Just ordered a new battery for my ebike 🙂

I’ve visited Cannock about 4 times from memory and suffered complete and utter Nuggets every time

very much this, Swinley is the worst for it, followed by Cannock, then Llandegla

Binners post resonates with me, being riding a using Gisburn since the mid 1990's and thrilled to see it's development I to a great trail centre, mainly riders are brilliant - met a young fella pushing three bikes to the cafe from the crags after two riders he did not know got injured we have him a hand - then you get the other extreme of bad tempered ignorant arses who are Strava chasing or just trying to be something fantastic in their world and negatively impacting on others - e.g five male riders who surrounded my eldest daughter attempting to stay with her on a climb to slow her down and chat her up, and then got abusive when she asked them to leave her alone through to seeing riders fly past little uns and scaring the life out of them, however the most ignorant arses are the ebikes who charge around so aggressively  it is unreal, I have been forced off single-track climbs by ebikes charging through, told to shift as they have right of way and generally have to deal with idiot behaviour.

But they are now moving to the fells and one off road climb seems to attract a couple of riders who love to power up and zip along and be oblivious to any other users, it is the move from undeerstanding how fragile our access is to this self entitlement of I will do what I want, when and how that worries and angers me the most.

Have folks genuinely had their tyres buzzed? You know actual contact? Or is it just someone sat on their wheel?

If you’re sat on my wheel & want to pass just ask.

But buzzing a strangers tyre is the height of F-whittery & you do it to me & you won’t do it again! You & your bike will get launched off the trail!

First rule of life: Don’t be a dick.