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Compared to the commentators on Pinkbike, everyone on STW seems pretty relaxed about them.
As someone who regularly gets passed on up hill sections and is usually the last one to the top, on or off road. I wouldn't be bothered at all being overtaken by someone on an E-bike. In fact I'd welcome it! it's the cheery ****ing roadies who try and start a conversation up while i'm struggling for breath that piss me off. I can barely managed a hello....
I haven't ever ridden an E-bike but would give one a go. probably wouldn't buy one as they are pretty expensive for a good one.
mountain biking seems to have failed to develop any underlying ethos. It’s just an exercise in consumption. And maybe that’s OK, depends on your standpoint I suppose.
On a wider point I think this is true. As a group it's too much of golf type activity for many. As a group there is a very limited community compared to other outdoors or action sports.
You don’t see roadies on e-bikes, and it’s not because of ‘lack of intelligence’ or limited speeds. It’s because there’s an underlying ethos to their chosen activity.
Erm, while there's a grain of truth there, you have to consider that the 15mph limiter makes them pretty useless for fast road riding.
but mountain biking seems to have failed to develop any underlying ethos.
Fancy words but I think you really mean MTB has become something that you don't feel part of?
@montgomery - Re: bolting climbs - don't go there, really, don't go there! 🙂
While a few in the climbing/walking fraternity are of the "I can do what I like and hang the consequences", it appears much more prevalent in the mountain biking world.
@dissonance - serious XC types on e-bikes. Alan Goldsmith explicitly states no e-bikes for the HT550 group start.
E-bikes might make sense at somewhere like BPW rather than using the up-lift service. Complete speculation as I've never been.
One person I know with an e-bike has it because he's been told not to strain his heart so makes sense for him. He's also approaching 70 and was keeping up with the group anyway.
If someone's on an eBike, they're not a "roadie" or a "mountain biker" - they're an eBiker! This is [i]not[/i] a negative comment, just a fact.
I'll put my hand up and say I have an irrational dislike of them.
I guess I see them as just being a bit lazy if I'm honest, but that maybe more around why I ride bikes and how I've always ridden them than anything logical. I've always felt you have to earn your turns, take the pain going up hill to get the pleasure going down. It also feels a bit too "easy" and as society moves towards instant gratification this feels like another step towards this. It feel like people want the fun ying without the yang, and that doesn't sit well with me. Saying all that i am aware that ultimately we're all just adults playing on bikes so I know I should not care what bike someone else rides as long as they're having fun.
I have thought about how I would react if one of my group bought one. My instinct is the following:
Would I take the 'P' out of them? yes, unless they had underlying medical issues that meant it was the only way they could keep riding.
Would I try and get mega fit to beat then up the climbs anyway? oh yes.
Would I plans lots of rides that involved lifting said bikes over stiles? yes, of course.
And would said rides involve the odd bit of false flat where you can go 15mph plus slightly up hill? yep, that too.
So yeah, not for me, I can see why people would like them, but I can't get my head round liking or accepting them. Sorrry.
So what are the negatives? Strava is now meaningless? Oh well.
my only issue with e-bikes, particularly when used by those less able/medically fit etc.. is that I've seen a few in quite remote places, which is ace. However the old mountaineer in me, has always been for self sufficiency and self rescue. If you are out and about on the moors with an e'bike and it dies/suffers a mechanical, you are left with a potentially unfit/medically challenged person with a 40lb plus bike and an inability to get home. This then potentially becomes a drain on Mountain rescue teams to go and get them.
*For lazy buggers using them because they are fat and unfit, well man the F-Up get pedaling some more and actually get some fitness benefits of cycling rather than being a passenger on an electric motocross bike. You wouldn't use a mobility scooter to pop to the shops because waddling along to buy a gregs sausage roll is a bit of bother would you?!
*had to put that bit in, it was all seeming a bit too reasoned and polite 🙂
As somebody who’s been mountain biking for 28 years, it pains me to admit it, but mountain biking seems to have failed to develop any underlying ethos. It’s just an exercise in consumption. And maybe that’s OK, depends on your standpoint I suppose.
Interesting point, but I think the activities are too different to be compared like that. Rock climbing is about hands and feet on rock, technique, strength and endurance. It's a purer activity to start with. "Can you climb that climb, that grade? What about that one?" the simpler the aims, the simpler the argument about whether you're doing it right or not. the tech is there for safety, not to make it easier*.
Whereas there are dozens of reasons that people have for cycling, so it's very hard to point to someone and tell them they're doing it "wrong". Also, the development of cycling has always been about going faster, more easily and more safely (and though safety improvements generally results in going faster, but keeping same risk of crashing as before)
Wheels get you there quicker and more easily than walking, pedals quicker still, bigger wheels even quicker, chain drive and a gear safer and/or quicker, pneumatic tyres safer and more comfortable, gears quicker and easier, suspension and fat tyres and disc brakes safer, quicker, easier...
... batteries and an engine?
* yes there's aid climbing, but generally it's there to make things possible, rather than easier. You're not going to turn up at Stanage and aid up Hollybush Crack. Probably.
...challenged person with a 40lb plus bike and an inability to get home. This then potentially becomes a drain on Mountain rescue teams to go and get them.
Do what they do in La Grave when someone fails to follow advice and needs a heli rescue (free to rescuee, paid for by local's taxes). Tell them they the need to leave skis behind because of weight on the heli. Then drop the guides office a note saying there's a pair of newish katanas at the top of the abseil into couloir "".