owned 2 x Ebikes about 12 years ago, to continue riding whilst ill.
once i got better, i got rid, because i enjoy a bit of suffering.
and i have to be honest, the thought of riding a assisted bike whilst i am fit and able enough to ride a normal bike is not for me. it would mess with my head.
so for me, Yes if you are fit and able.
or No, if you are using it as a aid to keep cycling.
I can see myself doing that a bit later on like masterdabber, but for now quad powered riding, increasing fitness and distance, getting up iconic climbs in the alps is giving me my kicks.
Thinking tho of getting Mrs Epic one, as that might allow us to get out together again, which hasn't happened much post kids.
I'm waiting for the Ohlins edition of this and I'm all in.
Yes, it's giving up biking to go e-biking.
'There is no calamity greater than lavish desires There is no greater guilt than discontentment And there is no greater disaster than greed.'
Meh, same old argument that's gone round the bazaars since MTB came in to existence, be it about suspension, aluminium, carbon, singlespeed vs gears, etc, etc.
Use what you want to use, it's your limited time, if an ebike fits you better, use it, if not, use the other, i love my normal bike for going downhill on, it's lighter, more manoeuvrable and feels better, but the ebike is great for a couple of hours where you want to go and see a few areas and cover miles, for me it's about the limited time i get to go on the bike and what bike fits that better on that day.
When I cycled across the Netherlands last year - ebikes were everywhere - some old dears were hammering past me - to the shops - those old girls have not given up. They had kept going because of the ebike. Contemplating getting one as a commuter / shopping / utility bike.
Contemplating getting one as a commuter / shopping / utility bike
Perfect uses IMO.
But if you actually enjoy cycling and want to get out in nature on a bike then why over-complicate it with a motor?
(Said as someone who did 45km on an SS, rigid, cable disc brakes MTB yesterday 😉)
But this is a circular argument, and will go round and round forever.
Those who like them will like them, those who don't won't.
Just don't get annoyed when the piss is taken (I love making a vroom vroom noise when passed by an ebike) shows that you have a thin skin 😁
Not for everyone, but for most people yes.
I've a cargo bike that can carry 180kg that has a motor. That makes sense, imo.
I get it for cargo bikes, commuters, recovery from illness, (properly) old people. For everything else it feels like it’s just the human race’s quest for convenience over a bit of hard, but ultimately rewarding, work. Always backed up with excuses like too old, bad knee, not enough time.
Meanwhile the 75 year old audaxer is still putting out 200 miles on their old touring bike.
If this really is the future then it makes me more than a bit sad. How long before we have electric walkers for climbing the Munros?
It just feels a bit like this
^^ agreed.
Loving the idea of it becoming the norm. That could only happen on here. They are way out of your average persons budget. I think they are great if you’re old, knackered, recovering from accidents/illness, commuting etc. Not for me but I don’t begrudge anyone else using them. I’m only just at the place where I think rear suspension could make sense and I’m in my late forties!
All the folk saying you can choose how much effort to put in on an eBike also fail to realise that 99.9% of riders aren’t going to do that. They’ll just whack it in turbo or another higher setting. People, in the main, are lazy ****ers and will take the path of least resistance.
Meanwhile the 75 year old audaxer is still putting out 200 miles on their old touring bike.
Does the 75 year old audaxer want to do some laps of the Golfie or Wharncliffe or BPW? If he did he'd probably need a different bike.
I'd rather put my nuts in a beehive than pedal for 200 miles.
I was always of the opinion that ebikes were cheating.
Then last year I bought one, a Giant E-Trance.
Now I love it and ride it almost twice as much as my HT and FS put together, both of which are good bikes.
I'd simply say it is as hard/easy as you want it to be. Cheating - no, as you still need to put effort in.
Easier, of course, if you wish it to be so - but does that make it cheating?
What surprised me, is just how hard work it is to keep up with it in the 'turbo' mode.
By this, I mean using heart rate to measure my effort. By putting the same effort in as I would on a non ebike, the speed and skill needed is far greater than non assisted.
Clearly you can't ride like that in most places and it does need hills and varied terrain to allow you to put that much effort in, but in such scenarios it is in no way easier than a normal bike.
However, 90% of rides are not to that level. I use mine in the mid power setting and probably use say 50% of my own power compared with a non eeb, but I can go out for twice as long.
For me, I'd say that if you are fit enough to ride all day off road and/or climb mountains etc, you maybe won't feel the benefit of an electric bike.
For everybody else, they are great. Cheating in terms of power required - absolutely. Cheating in terms of riding pleasure and smiles - absolutely not 🙂
I can’t ride all day without being knackered but I enjoy the being knackered bit. So I’d fall under your everyone else and still not want one. I enjoy the challenge of riding and doing it under my own steam. The idea of adding more faff to a bike doesn’t appeal either. There’s enough to go wrong without having a motor and batteries to look after, clean, service etc. Big fat nope from this unfit rider.
I was short of time today, but wanted to get out as the weather has been decent & the trails were running well.
So I did. 1h33m of riding & 1552m of descending in 23km. Obviously on my ebike.
Try doing even half that on a normal bike in the same time.
FWIW, fit & able, healthy BMI, mostly ride a normal bike & capable of bashing out a regular 2000m vert climbing day trail riding without having to make it an ‘event’.
It’s not giving up, it’s being effective with my time.
Now I’m going out for a beer & burger.
Meanwhile the 75 year old audaxer is still putting out 200 miles on their old touring bike.
Does anyone not have a mental image of audax that features a grey-haired man grimly pedalling his Dawes Galaxy through incessant rain?
Like it or not in time MTB will be a powered sport for the majority and riding off-road on a standard MTB is a future niche.
‘There is no calamity greater than lavish desires There is no greater guilt than discontentment And there is no greater disaster than greed.’
Maybe I'm not understanding the context of the second quote but it seems to summarise my distaste for e-bikes, lots of fit and otherwise healthy people now investing in buttloads of expensive (and frequently warrantied/replaced if my neighbours experiences are typical) batteries and technology so they can get one extra run in/enjoy the climbs a bit more.
Feels like the wrong direction for capitalism to be taking us in from an environmental perspective (same as: how on earth were single use vapes ever allowed on to the market?).
BUT I guess it's all relative, me and my garage full if bikes that I've accumulated over the last ten years is probably closer to owning an e-bike in terms of excessive consumption than someone who just owns a pair of running shoes 🙄
Always backed up with excuses like too old, bad knee, not enough time.
How do you know they are excuses?
Just don’t get annoyed when the piss is taken (I love making a vroom vroom noise when passed by an ebike) shows that you have a thin skin 😁
I'd not worry about anyone getting annoyed if I were you.
They'd be too busy laughing at you itching in your hair shirt to notice any silly noises you made.
I don’t get people getting angry about other folk using them or worrying about what others may think if you choose to ride one. As long as you’re not being a dick about it, whichever type of bike you ride, then crack on. Just respect each other and where you are riding.
Meh, same old argument that’s gone round the bazaars since MTB came in to existence, be it about suspension, aluminium, carbon, singlespeed vs gears, etc, etc.
As has been mentioned already. I don't think it's the same as any of those other things.
A fundamental thing about a bicycle is that it's human-powered.
An ebike isn't just another kind of bicycle - it's something fundamentally different.
Not that one's necessarily better than the other but they're completely different past times.
It's the genius of marketing that they've been so effectively blended together.
It doesn’t worry me
It worries you so little you felt the need to post about it...
Seems you like to give but can't take it to me.
BTW. I'm not an ebiker any more than I'm a hardtail or full suss rider. I just ride bikes of all flavours.
Never encountered anyone making daft noises at me while out riding any of my bikes.
If i did i'd think they were a little strange and carry on as normal.
I’m going to take the opposite tack and predict that this comment will come back and bite you on the bum. 😉
: ) I may well be wrong... tbh would be quite happy to be wrong. It seems more likely now than the first time I said it though.
There will always be non-electric MTBs about and not all will be XC riders, but culturally MTB is not about pedalling uphill so I don't see why e-MTBs won't become what most riders have or aspire to.
(when people stop seeing it as 'giving up', cheating etc that will be a milestone along the way)
Yes.
Actually, I changed my mind. No.
You forgot maybe
Maybe not.
More importantly, @weeksy, what did you take? How did it make you feel? Did it actually matter?
I've read all the responses but I need some closure, I gotsta know!
As a relative noob to a kenevo SL, I would respectfully suggest that anyone that hasn't used an eeb for proper riding is talking out of their hoop. It's already clear to me that its not what I thought it was going to be.
The Kenevo is a decent bike and the power is a tool. How one uses a tool is up to the user. There isn't one of us on this thread thats identical in the way we use our non-powered bikes, let alone eebs.
It's surprisingly myopic not to recognise that. To group all eeb users together is just classic binary thinking.
Eebs give choices for mtbing in a way that ones own little legs just can't.
My garmin metrics show I'm working more overall, I'm gaining fitness and recovering more readily from my efforts.
My riding experience is I'm getting more trails, both up and down and doing more of the good stuff. The extended range and time on the bike before I'm spent means I'm even feeling more benefits on a whole body basis from the greater proportion of 'body english' trails.
Will someone present me with a counter argument as to why any of these things are bad, or 'giving in'?
You know all those bits of singletrack that are quite flat but have just enough gradient to be fun downhill? Add a motor and put some effort in and you can have fun on them downhill (no motor required) and UPHILL too!
I was reminded of this when riding home up one of these gentle climbs on my singlespeed, thinking how I work just as hard on the ebike but I go loads faster and it’s way more fun.
i'm in a road biking club with a number of older guys - a number of them have E-Bikes, and its a regular topic of discussion.
Basically the collective opinion seems to be that as you get older a bit of assistance brings a bit of joy back to cycling as you can get up the hills without knocking yourself out, none of them are chasing strava numbers anymore - just riding for enjoyment.
3 of us went out this morning, the oldest was 79 (28 years older than me) on his new E-bike. He had it on the lowest assistance setting (+50w) and flew up the hills. He's really happy with it and its really nice to see people still getting a buzz from cycling at that age - i hope i'm doing the same if i'm still around.
The ebike evangelists are in town.
I like bikes to be simple, uncomplicated.
I enjoy riding my bike, I don't feel I want to bother with an ebike at the moment. I spent half my cycling life riding a single speed, I have gears now to help with the hills. When the time comes I might get an ebike but not yet.
I normally cycle 40 to 60 miles when I am out. I am not fast, but I enjoy cycling, I don't need smart comments from ebikers.
I think we can agree that e-bikes for 79 year olds are great, but for a 20-30 year old, significantly less so.
But the same has been leveled at folk cycling on the road using 32t rear sprockets.
I'd like to know what the next step will be after everyone (or pretty much everyone) has moved onto ebikes. Is just an incremental advance in motors, power and battery life? Or something completely different like MTB Zwift with a headset?
Pretty close to "pick a side and be a dick about it" after 4 pages... no-ones forcing anyone to ride a fixie, gravel, downcountry, fatbike or whatever you've chosen to spend your money on. Just ride the frikkin thing!
don’t need smart comments from ebikers.
No doubt you'd rather they be dumb to satisfy your prejudice without challenge? 😉
But the same has been leveled at folk cycling on the road using 32t rear sprockets
And multi speed cassettes and derailleurs.
and so it continues.
He’s really happy with it and its really nice to see people still getting a buzz from cycling at that age...
Aye, but he's not cycling. He's doing something different.
Doesn't mean it's bad but it's not cycling.
My garmin metrics show I’m working more overall, I’m gaining fitness and recovering more readily from my efforts.
This seems a bit delusional to me. The idea that riding an ebike is better for fitness than cycling.
When you are struggling up a hill, you should get one of these is not what you want to hear.
Ebikes remove some of the misery from cycling, remove misery and you loose the essence of cycling 🙂
Sorry, after riding I had to drive to St Davids. I took both but ride the Orbea today. Did it matter, well yes and no. It mattered because there's no way I'd have completed the riding I did on a manual.
Did it matter from the context of being mocked by someone, not at all.
It wasn't my hardest day ever on a bike I'll admit, but it was bloody enjoyable razzing the blues and red (extended version) at FoD.
Top fun, top day. No pics. Pub now
Did it improve your inner grin?
Every single time.
Not a chance I'd have done this ride on a normal MTB. Granted, most of it was gravel, but some bits weren't
Also not a chance I'd keep up with some of the young lads uphill on a group ride. It wouldn't be enjoyable.
Giving up, no, I still ride a normal bike
