first of all I’m not against e bikes in the right situation, (ie) if someone has an injury or heart problem, or is un fit but still wants to get out and enjoy the trails with fitter friends etc .but why is it that fit 20s to 30s people are riding them , everyone seems to have e bikes now , I thought that we mtb to keep fit and you needed to put the work in on the climbs to get the reward of coming back down the other side . Is every one going to end up fat and lazy in 10 years time ( go on then everyone lay into me now)

Meh.

This is a lazy rant, you could do better with an e-rant.

needed to put the work in on the climbs to get the reward of coming back down the other side

Human nature…. And most people are ****s. Simples.

I’m with the OP.

but why is it that fit 20s to 30s people are riding them , everyone seems to have e bikes now

why do you give a shit what people are riding.  If they were lighter and cheaper I’d buy one.

Plenty of fat and lazy people about before eBikes, quite a few of them might actually be out riding now. Also, what if I just got anormal bike and rode everywhere really slowly rather than got my heart racing? The eBiker might be putting more effort in than me?

Are you riding with gears, suspension and brakes unlike the proper hardmen on penny farthings, etc?

As for  “thought that we mtb to keep fit and you needed to put the work in on the climbs to get the reward of coming back down the other side” you’d be better having a moan at the uplift bikepark lot.

Not everyone rides MTB for exercise.  A sizeable chunk only really want the fun bits and only ever saw the exercise part as a necessary evil.

Not everyone has the same motivations as yourself. Personally, I love the endorphins as much as the adrenaline so I’m on pedal power still.  However, I can see a good use case for me personally to make cycle commute a reality again after moving and changing job.

I can get behind objections over illegal modifications etc as ultimately that will harm everyone but the ‘ebikes for the old and sick’ trope is very tired now.

If people want to ride them fair enough, You could maybe double your ride length if you had one (it doesn’t necessarily make you lazy). What does pee me off is when they upload on strava as a normal bike taking times off people who have earned them.

Chocolate HobNob anyone?

Just waiting for SSStu and Geex to turn up and spit roast the OP.

What a very narrow minded view. Bet you have a gravel bike, don’t you?. 😂

We could even film it for you tom.

If that’s what turns you on.😵

OP have you tried one?

You might even like it if you gave it a try.😜

Yawn.

The Strava aspect is not slightly concerning to me. In fact, it would not upset me at all if ebike ‘pollution’ of Strava leaderboards caused large numbers to quit the platform, but that’s a whole other deliberate argument.  One’s enough for this thread! 😂😂😂

Not everyone rides MTB for exercise.  A sizeable chunk only really want the fun bits and only ever saw the exercise part as a necessary evil.

That’s basically my entire 30 something years experience of riding bikes.

I quite fancy an e-bike for photography outings because my camera backpack is heavier than my normal bike.

I thought that we mtb to keep fit

You might. I do it because it’s fun

I go to the gym 4 times a week to keep fit

and commute 100+ bike miles/week

and walk 35/40 miles a week

Mountain biking is about having fun.

And it’s even more fun if I know I am pissing you off while I’m doing it 👍

and you needed to put the work in on the climbs to get the reward of coming back down the other side

No. you really don’t

You get an ebike, or an uplift ticket.

More fun downs, less sweat. Bingo!

Are you against uplifts also??  They have been around forever and I don’t remember anyone ever complaining about those riders not earning the right to ride downhill by not riding up the hill first.

I’d love an ebike but they are expensive and seem a bit ‘breaky’ at the moment. So my eRant would be for manufacturers to make them properly sealed and more reliable with longer range for less money and weight….doddle yes

Edit @trailwagger to be fair plenty of people complained about uplifts when they first appeared (and probably still do)

As an aside I remember slogging up Mt Ventoux decades ago for the first time and seeing all these seemingly sweat free smiling cyclists whizzing down on really nice road bikes with full kit, some quite old. If they can do it so can I and i redoubled my efforts. It wasn’t till I reached the top that i realised they were all being driven up the other side and decanted at the top to zoom down my side which was the nicer route….bastards!

Is every one going to end up fat and lazy in 10 years time

Majority of people are already fat and lazy, I don’t think eBikes are going to change the numbers by more than 0.000000001%

Don’t have one but trialled one at Ard rock for a laugh… It was awesome fun blasting up the climbs… Doing what took me over an hour in 20 minutes… Meaning I got to do it again several times.

I love my fully human powered bikes…. But I want an ebike for those days where I just want to smash out as many downhills as I can.

Also I don’t just bike to get fit and get the occasional downhill in. I ride to get an adrenaline rush most of the time, the climbs are just a necessity (a rewarding one at times).

first of all I’m not against e bikes…

Let me guess, you’ve got friends who ride ebikes? Do you know any people of different ethnic backgrounds as well :p

and seem a bit ‘breaky’ at the moment.

Sam Pilgrim seems to get on ok with his Haibike

I was well anti ebike up to a few months ago, not sure what changed.

Love the idea of motoring about mid slop season on an ebike, will actually move and get some frills from it.

Love the idea of steep loops full of nasty climbs and getting in more than a couple of descents.

Do still see them as pointless as a like for like replacement for a traditional bike, you just can’t play with the trail, pump and make gaps in the same way.

I also see the same people that were always just sitting down twiddling, not really working the bike, but wanting to get rad, but couldnt because they were conserving energy just to get around, are still the same sitting down twiddling on an ebike and still not being rad.

Also screw the typical such and such pro can do this trick or jump on their ebike, yes they can but it looks effing disgusting, looks like more work than its worth and I imagine it feels that way too.

I went to Sherwood Pines last weekend with 2 mates, we had a brilliant ride. Without ebikes it would have been 1 mate only. He’s not old, not fat, he’s a bit lazy, but he rides for fun, it’s like a trackday to him. He doesn’t want to earn it, he wants to enjoy it.

He kicked my butt. Them things are fast fast fast!

Do still see them as pointless as a like for like replacement for a traditional bike, you just can’t play with the trail, pump and make gaps in the same way.

From my limited time on an ebike, not sure I agree with this entirely… It was the cube 160mm e bike version of the stereo I used… Seemed plenty playful on the descents, different but I was popping off things, pumping into and out of corners etc.

Had the added bonus of making traverses nice and fun and plenty of airtime when usually it would have been head down and grinding. Also flat rock gardens became sources of extra pop and fun as well.

you just can’t play with the trail, pump and make gaps in the same way.

I bet you can ya know.

The Strava aspect is not slightly concerning to me. In fact, it would not upset me at all if ebike ‘pollution’ of Strava leaderboards

Fair enough your not interested in strava leaderboards. But why would you be happy in pissing on other people’s chips ??? Loads of people enjoy the leaderboards and work hard to move up them. Thats their fun, it doesn’t harm you in any way.  E-bikes have their own, leaderboards, if you can’t log an E-bike ride as such your more than a bit of a tool.

Yes I do, ( flag every E-bike ride that comes up on the regular boards on my local trails)

I’m half-tempted to get one to provoke the impotent-rage of the high horse riders!

They are really fun to ride, but I just don’t have a use for one. If I lived somewhere with loads of hills, I’d have one for the quick spins after work. Or if I had t he money and space, I’d have a burly one to compliment my smaller travel whippets 🙂

I would like to know how people can tell someone’s fitness levels just by glancing at them…

I would like to know how people can tell someone’s fitness levels just by glancing at them…

Its not hard, I kind of know all the quick riders on my local trails. E-mtb rides tend to have a very average average speed, but somehow manage climbs at 500w. Also there’s a few exceptions (not many near me) but their times on downhill/technical segments are completely out of step with their ability up hill. Fast guys/girls are fast everywhere 👍

Fair enough your not interested in strava leaderboards. But why would you be happy in pissing on other people’s chips ???

I don’t.  It doesn’t interest me at all.  I understand why people might get pissy if they’ve lost their high score, but that’s completely up to them.  Ebikes are just bikes with a speed advantage.  As far back as I can remember if a game got popular but was really hard, someone thought up a cheat so they could sit in the cool place on the leaderboard, then many people followed and the people who were actually good at the game had to deal with it.

I don’t see the Strava vs ebike thing as being any different tbh, it’s hust another cheat code, autofire module or whatever.  If you want someone to blame, blame the Strava team for not seeing it coming and thinking of a way to police the charts …

People that ride often fall into 2 camps. The riders of enjoyment ( was that a 70’s prog rock band)  and the achievers. The riders of enjoyment don’t give a what other people ride or how fast they are on an ebike or pedal power bike, as long as they and everyone they ride with and meet are enjoying themselves and gaining personal satisfaction from what they do. The achievers do care. They what to be seen to make an effort, They care that someone can put less effort in but still go faster than them,  because this goes against their sense of achievement, they want to be seen to ride at 110% whatever that is. Achivers believe everyone should make a 110% effort.  Achievers don’t  like ebikes because ebikes are unfair, and they think ebikes will dilute how others appreciate their  efforts. We all have a little achiever inside us, but don’t let it rule your rides.

i had a ebike about 5/6 years ago, when suffering a heart problem. it was fantastic, kept me riding and was good for my mind state.

once i was mended i got shot of it, because i wanted to be a proper cyclist again. but after being ill for 6 years meant my fitness was gone, as was a lot of my muscle tone and strength.

i have plodded along, doing 100-150 miles per week, but slow steady miles.

i am now considering buying a e mountain bike to blast around on, at weekends and to put some fun back in my riding.

so OP, not all who ride em or want to ride em are lazy feckers.

If I lived somewhere with loads of hills, I’d have one for the quick spins after work.

This is why I’d like one. I live in Sheffield at the bottom of a valley and it’s a long, exhausting, uphill slog in every direction to get out. I’ve only been a couple of times since we moved in. Never on a night after work. Can’t be arsed.

Fast guys/girls are fast everywhere 👍

Horse shit.

What I want to know is; can you put one on a turbo?

FFS

1) You can still pedal just as hard, you just go faster

2) Why do you give a shit you judgemental sod?  What’s it to you?

3) You can do far more climbs to the top of the tech on an ebike, like having your own uplift.

I have an ebike and I am slimmer than I have been for 20 years.

I thought that we mtb to keep fit and you needed to put the work in on the climbs to get the reward of coming back down the other side .

I used to think this, but realised that whilst that was what I thought, most people didn’t feel that way. I cycle for fitness and if anything like climbs more then descents, but I’m a minority, most people want to go up easily and blast down. And that’s OK, just because it’s not for me doesn’t make it wrong.

I have an ebike and I am slimmer than I have been for 20 years

Me too as it happens.

12st dead on, and 30” waist. I Have regularly been 16st over the last 20 years, and never less than 13st until August this year when I got an ebike and started riding 100miles a week more than I used to.

Ive always ridden mountain bikes, since the late 80’s  but never cycled as much as I do now

I’m a Fat lazy arse though clearly 🙄

But hey apparently it’s OK to have an ebike if….

….if someone has an injury or heart problem, or is un fit

…because some judgmental dick on the internet told me so.

And I did have a new hip 8 weeks ago (aged 46!) so I suppose I’m “allowed” an ebike by those rules 🙄

nealglover, i must be eligible for 3……….  ;o)