Is ebiking “giving in/up”?

Moot for me – ££££

The getting them over fences/locked gates thing is the worry, otherwise I would be very interested if I could get one. The time has definitely come.

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. 

I’m going to take the opposite tack and predict that this comment will come back and bite you on the bum. 😉

I feel like I’ve been cheating recently, riding the gravel bike 6 of the last 7 rides and avoiding the hills , struggling to hit 1500m a week at the moment. and I’m coming home clean from avoiding the inch of muck on my gear

Last few times at wharnie seems everyone’s on an ebike, some riders do tend to get a lot more runs in, but plenty of fat lads who blast past you on the uphills and always seem to be chatting at the top when you catch up .

been chatting to my regular riding buddies and asked the same question, when/if , sticking to legs for the time being

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.

I really don’t know about that one, people keep saying it as if the demise on unassisted MTBs is inevitable, but honestly I don’t see it. Surely there will always be a place for human powered bikes. For one thing does anyone really want to watch/participate in e-Bike racing?

I got my first singlespeed MTB a few years after replacing my full-sus with an ebike. The Levo does the commuting (a lot off-road and always some air time), and the away trips (uplift days etc). The singlespeed hardtail does most of my local MTBing.

Having a motor lets you choose to pedal hard or soft depending on time pressures and/or fatigue and/or mood. It’s a very good thing when you have a life that is annoyingly busy due to children and work and don’t get to ride as much as you’d like to, and you don’t get the time to recover between rides because of other life pressures.

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.

All depends on what people want out of it, doesn’t it? Point of entry for eMTBs is still very high and while some of you seem to find this hard to believe, there are people that enjoy the climbing more than the descents.

I really don’t know about that one, people keep saying it as if the demise on unassisted MTBs is inevitable,

Its probably based on a skewed view of off road riding. If you usually go to certain trail centres you might get the impression that unassisted MTBs are on the way out but its not a representative sample.

If you usually go to certain trail centres you might get the impression that unassisted MTBs are on the way out but its not a representative sample.

This. I don’t really go to trail centres, and it’s good to know where all the chubby whingers are corralled.

Most of the people I see out on local trails eMTBs are… distinguished. But if it keeps them riding, it’s a good thing, and given that I do most of my riding midweek the other people I see out tend to be retired.

If it’s getting people out, when they possibly wouldn’t ride, then great.

Me and the lads I ride with have cycled for years – road and MTB and none of us will get an e-MTB unless we’ve ‘something’ that will stop us. Three of us have had bad accidents on bikes, multiple times, but got back on.

Little and regular is the key to keeping fit – I’m back commuting after getting my spine broken 8 years ago. It took me five years to road bike again, but I now do lots more MTB. I bought a CX bike this year to mix up some of my road routes to avoid the crappy traffic laden roads.

If you can nly get out once a week, then an e-bike can make some sence and you can get the miles in.

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.

For me its a completely different pastime.   I have both.  I still ride both.  The e bike is too noisy too heavy and has too limited range to replace my normal bike.

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 feckers 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.

They’d be too busy laughing at you itching in your hair shirt to notice any silly noises you made

And there we have the thinnest of skins 😆

It doesn’t worry me, but it does amuse me how easily many ebikers are wound up.

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!