[Closed] I've just lost my odlest, bestest, riding buddy to.....

For the vast majority of us and for the OP in the way his rides are described it is a pastime not a sport

just for the haters !

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^ that's a rancid mutant looking munter of a bike

Yeah, even I can't defend that 😉

A bit of sabotage for the greater good could be the answer 😆

Welcome to my world, everyone does that to me on climbs even when there's no assist going.

cozz - Member
And ill tell you now - trying to sell a (non E bike) in a few years will be like trying to sell a camera that takes film !

Tongue in cheek? If not... well let's not go there.

As to op.. I am always slowest in group rides. If e bike friend is dropping you tell him to slow down. Else he's not really a mate. He's showing off or just inconsiderate.

Never seen an e.bike - What's they typical range of one if your up in the hills (say lake district) sloggin it out all day ? surely a normal bike will win out after a few hours in the mountains. Also a lot of high mountain riding is push and carry, so these must be heavier and harder then ?

Seeing as most of our electricity still comes from gas, coal and nuclear...these e.bikes are hardly good for the environmment.

trying to sell a (non E bike) in a few years will be like trying to sell a camera that takes film !

an ebike is a MOTOR-bike, and as for the demise of pedal bikes, last time they had a good idea of strapping a motor on a bike the same thing was said. Today, how many petrol motorbikes are sold each year? Not many.

Nothing against E-bikes they have a place, but they aren't bikes and won't replace them.

an ebike is a MOTOR-bike

No it isn't.

Of course they won't replace normal bijes, for exactly the type of riding coconut mentions. My favourite rides involve a good chunk of hike a bike up mountains and trails no amount assistance could get you up and, in answer to coconut's question, an ebike will not be suited to that at all. Certainly not in the near future.

Has he had it chipped or something? Thought they were supposed to be about 250w?

How did he react when you said it was a bit annoying?

Maybe suggest an epic hike a bike in the lakes to get your own back?

''I appreciate you like your new bike, but I come out riding with mates to ride with my mates...'' ?

Exactley! tell him you fancy a day out around the lakes and take him up Helvellyn... Sit at the top having a tea while he struggles up, take a deour home so his battery goes flat and make him cycle a 22kg bike home over hills 😀

I've got a friend who is significantly amazing going uphill - miles ahead of me (I'm very average at best uphill).

He always picks the hilliest routes with nastiest climbs and then just buggers off up them. No social climbing involved. So tempting to hire an e-bike for a ride without pre-warning him. Can't see myself buying one though - I need the fitness.

I have another mate who is nearly as fast as the first one uphill - but he paces himself generally so he doesn't bomb off and you can actually talk to him.

Much less ****ish.

Range varies massively according to terrain.
Flat? 80 miles
Steep enough for even fit people to get a good sweat on? Less than 10 miles.
Variable due to rider weight and assist level too.
I reckon I could flatten mine in 10 miles, if i just sat there and made the battery do all the work.
As noted on several previous threads, they dont ride like a normal bike, not as lively or responsive, they don't ride like motorbikes either though.
Imo, no match for a rider who is actually fit/on a decent bike/is putting an effort in.
Just so we are clear, i have one, and ive ridden half a dozen others too.
And i used to have a 145bhp kawasaki too, so the idea that these things are motorbikes is, frankly, hilarious.

E Bikes are probably great to ride but there's one worrying thing about them. They could increase the popularity of mountain biking immensely. People who never considered the sport might try it now. The complaints towards mountain bikers from dog walkers are already high, think how pissed off they'd be if there were 5X more bikes flying past - mostly E bikes going just as fast uphill as downhill ? It could lead to us all getting banned.

Other problems arise with E Bikes tearing up the trails, damaging 'soft ground' when its wet & muddy - especially in Winter - inevitable as the popularity of mountain biking increases - especially so with MUCH more powerful bikes.

They're not 'much' more powerful though, the assist only takes them up to the level of a good fit rider.

I've lost a couple to road bikes, I'm sure at some point someone's going to turn up with an e-bike. If I was in the business of selling them I'd be looking for a way to make them credible to fully able riders, a plausible excuse to say they're not 'cheating'.

I reckon an F1 style KERS system, some way of charging the batteries when you're coasting or braking so you 'redeploy' on climbs or when you want to go a bit faster rather than just cheat - I think that would be enough for a lot of people to buy one. You don't use electricity, you store otherwise wasted energy to get up hills I can see the forum posts now, thick with denial that's it's as part of MTBings as gears "oh you think using the parts of your bike to make it easier to get up hills do you? Well I suppose you ride a fixie the?!!!!!11?!"

It's all over.

Losing friends to road bikes is far worse. Is somewhere you can't follow. Not without quitting MTB for a life of tarmac, sportives and being miserable to everyone you meet.

😛

Turn up on a Batavus, that'll teach him.
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agree 100% with the DONT GET A EBIKE if you are a able bodied person with good health.

I want one to commute/visit in hilly coastal areas. I have need at certain times to get places 5-20 miles away in order to photograph/paint these places. I need to carry certain equipment and I need to climb (up to) a combined +9000ft each time. I don't wish to use a car as I'm (usually) fairly able bodied and anyway a car won't get me some places I need to get at (via often overgrown bridleways). Why shouldn't I use a pedelec instead of a car? A regular bike for this schedule would finish off even the most hardy cyclist, I promise. In fact it's not possible within required time frames even given giant thighs and lungs of oxen!

But as for riding with company for leisure:

''I appreciate you like your new bike, but I come out riding with mates to ride with my mates...'' ?

^This!

I feel guilty for going on an uplift day now. 😕

@max I think you should just tell him (over a pint) that you won't be riding with him as its no longer any fun. He needs to find other e-bike buddies.

I've ridden a few now and taken one around parts of the puffer/catsback. Both rides were carting stuff to the hills (camera and stuff) and it made it a piece of piss. I like the idea of one to go for after work jaunts with a sleeping bag,bivi,mat, fishing rod and food. This all weighs quite a bit and the thought of getting into the hills from Coulags etc would be a breeze. Then still fun coming back down. It's just such a slog dragging all that gear and pushing it. The assist/walk modes on E bikes are real handy for this.

You don't slate people for having motorbikes when they're perfectly able to ride a push bike. This is just something different. Fun, not just a walk in the park without breaking a sweat, far from it. Try one.

Anyone who criticises E Bikers must also criticise Motorbikers by 5X more.

So, unless you actually have a medical condition that means an Ebike is the only way you'll be able to ride (which is fine with me) then please, please, don't get one of these dammed things!

5thElefant - Member
Pretty obvious solution. N+1.

They are pedal bikes with assistance.

re. ebikes getting the whole mtb scene into trouble.... in Bavaria there is a hut situated in the hills, always popular with hikers and bikers. easy enough for most regular cyclists to get to with a climb/descent on a gravel path. since ebikes have come along there have been lots of accidents where people have washed out on the gravel, either through inexperience of riding a bike or possibly the extra weight of the bike, who knows... but the mountain rescue people have been called out so many times over the last few years that there are signs saying you have to walk this section. the fear is that bikes will then be banned.

You don't slate people for having motorbikes when they're perfectly able to ride a push bike

to compare a petrol engined motorbike with an ebike is daft. however, what is the battery for if not to power a motor? so technically ebikes are motorised bikes...

for people with some kind of disability, for people commuting long distances (negating the need for a car), on cargo bikes or people towing their kids/photography/fishing gear.... yes, ebikes make sense.

IMO, it is ultimately cheating, against the spirit of riding. i see those with ebikes as having capitulated... as weaker, lesser beings not worthy of my pump or patches.

I'm just waiting for the cheap Chinese e-bikes to hit the market, they then become trendy with chavs who then act like dicks on the trails.

🙄

i see those with ebikes as having capitulated... as weaker, lesser beings not worthy of my pump or patches

That's a very very sad outlook on the world.

I don't know anyone who has one yet, but i certainly wouldn't hold it against someone to buy one.

Its a moped end of.

Every group of fitter-than-thou riders needs an e-biker in tow, who can bomb up the hill and hold open gates for them, then bomb past them all and hold open the next gate, depriving them of the tactical rest they thought they were gonna get halfway up.

That's what Kev, the e-biker who comes out riding with us does. So technically he's improving everybody else's fitness and endurance to the point where we'll all be able to keep up with him. 🙂

Seriously, I don't have a problem with e-bikes. In 10 years' time when all the 40 and 50-something STWers are 50 and 60-something, and the battery technology has improved to the point where they can be secreted away in a seat tube or bottom bracket shell without unduly affecting the aesthetics of the bike, they'll be [i]de rigeur[/i]. Unassisted riding will be regarded as another niche, the way singlespeeding is now.

E Bikes are probably great to ride but there's one worrying thing about them. They could increase the popularity of mountain biking immensely. People who never considered the sport might try it now. The complaints towards mountain bikers from dog walkers are already high, think how pissed off they'd be if there were 5X more bikes flying past - mostly E bikes going just as fast uphill as downhill ? It could lead to us all getting banned.

Other problems arise with E Bikes tearing up the trails, damaging 'soft ground' when its wet & muddy - especially in Winter - inevitable as the popularity of mountain biking increases - especially so with MUCH more powerful bikes.

This is my concern, I can only see the e-bikes getting more powerful, it's human nature to want the best/fastest........

Anyone who criticises E Bikers must also criticise Motorbikers by 5X more.

Why? It's a different thing altogether. Folk get excited about it because some people reckon electric bikes are pumped up mountain bikes and therefore push bikes and other people reckon they're dumbed down motorbikes cleverly trying to exploit a loophole, and therefore something else entirely.

Having just returned from a weeks riding with a very mixed age group of friends 62 to 28 years young
One of the guys had an e mtb he is 60 and openly said he could not have done the rides without it .
I am considering one for myself before next years week away .
And so is the other over 60 mate then we can keep up with the whippets on the climbs .

I have a dodgy knee ( carpet fitter ). So if it keeps me riding and working I see nowt wrong with em .

The OP s issue is one he needs to sort out with his riding buddy

i see those with ebikes as having capitulated... as weaker, lesser beings not worthy of my pump or patches

You won't like it 50 miles down the road in Austria then where maybe 50% of bikes you see now are E-bikes.
A lot of the mountain huts have charging stations.
You see so many families out riding now that probably wouldn't have attempted to ride up the mountains before, and they're still burning at least 50% of the calories you would on a non e-bike.

If the only reason you are into mountain biking is the fitness side you should sell all of your bikes and get an exercise bike in the house.

A lot of professional athletes have them now for training, Guido Tschugg, Paul Bolton the Enduro rider (proper motorbike enduro). They'll be shocked to know they are weaker, lesser beings I'm sure.

Don't hate ebikes. I'm sure there will be one in my future somewhere.

Having said that in my view it isn't the same sport/pastime/hobby, whatever you want to call it, as riding a normal bike. It's a different activity entirely.

Most posters seem to be ignoring the anti-social aspect to the OP, which was that his mate is an antisocial git.

You need to be honest with him, and soon. He'll start using the excuse "oooh, I won't be able to keep up with you without my e-bike now" though of course "well I'll wait for you because what sort of mate would ride off without his mates....."

I can only see the e-bikes getting more powerful

They can't. There's a law to stop that.

Not read the whole thread, but the issue here isn't with the OP's mate's bike, it's with the OP's mate.

You should explain to him that it's ruining the rides for you and is antisocial. Assuming he still has a normal bike that is.

well I'll wait for you because what sort of mate would ride off without his mates....

Well yes. I'm no whippet but I'm fast enough that I could leave some people behind on climbs, but if I'm out on a social ride I don't, because they are *social* rides - that's the point.

For people with some kind of disability

Agreed!

for people commuting long distances (negating the need for a car)

Agreed, would also suggest for people using a bike for majority/all personal transport/utility (what a concept!?) medium to long distance in hilly rural areas. For me to avoid the A39 (and you do want to avoid that) I either have to tackle ten V-shaped river valleys over 15 miles or else take a wide loop Eastwards. Either way this is another reason why everyone drives to work hereabouts and why I am horribly wedded to the car - forced into using my regular bike simply for leisure.

on cargo bikes or people towing

Agreed, so there's quite a few people for whom an E-assist bike would make enormous sense as part of a cycling life, for transport, leisure or both?

IMO, it is ultimately cheating, against the spirit of riding. i see those with ebikes as having capitulated... as weaker, lesser beings not worthy of my pump or patches.

Oh...

Let's just call them laZebikes

They can't. There's a law to stop that.

The OP's mate seems to be riding one that's twice the legal limit.

He could have got it wrong of course, but the OP usually comes across as a huge geek (no insult intended) so I'm inclined to suspect that figure is accurate.

Anyway, I agree with the comments that it's a personal issue best resolved with a man-to-man chat. Though I suspect the OP may need to get over the ebike prejudice displayed in his later comments.

Personally I've done a full 180 on them, totally respect anyone's right to ride a legal ebike on the trails. Though if any of my healthy pals do (for normal recreational riding), the piss will be ripped mercilessly.

reading this with interest...

When i ride with my mates, i'm the fat lad at the back who can't keep up. Any ride with that lot is essentially a ride on my own - to the point where strava often doesn't recognise that we were on the same ride... So i've started riding on my own a lot more.

am i the slow old git who needs an e-bike?

LaZebikes.....I like that.

am i the slow old git who needs an e-bike?

sounds like 🙂