Alright then, fussy pants – you can switch the front wheel with a normal one when you want a perfectly balanced bike.

If you had drive on the front wheel, you could lean on it as much as you want

Assuming that wheel won’t spin out…

Singletrackminds post is interesting, kind of shoes how limited benefit there is and how limited the bike was too.

Given that nearly all your weight is on the back wheel, bugger all?

TBH it depends upon the bike. A hardtail won’t be subject to pedal induced suspension movement, but something like an enduro bike will. If you’ve ridden a slack enduro bike up a chalky, slippery incline then you’ll know that it’s a constant balancing act – the incline will push your weight backwards, so you need to keep your body low to hold the front end down. Moreover, any pedal induced squat will break traction, causing a loss of momentum when least needed. A 2wd system with a locked torque distribution would allow you to put more weight over the front when climbing.

Admittedly, this is a bit of a straw man example that only applies to me when my local trails are sodden through and I normally get off and push, but if a 2wd system could be incorporated into an e-bike then it would be a giggle to climb.

Alright then, fussy pants – you can switch the front wheel with a normal one when you want a perfectly balanced bike.

I’m really just pointing out it’s quite possibly very niche.

I can see it being a good laugh .. (like road bike hill climbs etc.) but going from what’s possible on a RWD e-bike to a “hill climb challenge” would be creating a bike pretty much dedicated to a one trick pony. Even a lazy unfit guy like me 99%? of my riding I can get up unassisted (sometimes I don’t but that’s lazyness) but there is always that little bit but its generally such a tiny part of the overall ride.
If you were to say on the other hand where an ebike might be “nice” (for a lazy,unfit me) that’s over 50% of the ride by time… so I’m more willing to accept cost/compromises etc.

I’m really just pointing out it’s quite possibly very niche.

Of course it is!

Even a lazy unfit guy like me 99%? of my riding I can get up unassisted

You might find that your local trails are your local trails because they are rideable. More capable bikes tend to open up more trails.

Anyway I think that 2WD bikes coudl also be useful in loose conditions too – could make drifting interesting!

You might find that your local trails are your local trails because they are rideable. More capable bikes tend to open up more trails.

I can sorta see that… it’s just current e-bikes are quite capable of climbing stuff you really don’t want to stop/fall anyway…. and whereby on my bike I often have a “can we ride this” or “how far up can we get” it’s more a bit of fun BUT it’s fun because it’s such a one off. I can’t see it being fun if its something like 50% of the ride? Maybe I’m wrong .. lots of people do trials .. and perhaps its like that?

On the times I’ve borrowed/hired e-bikes the most fun for me is the uphill flow bit… with the odd “cool that would have been next to impossible on my bike”…

On the times I’ve borrowed/hired e-bikes the most fun for me is the uphill flow bit… with the odd “cool that would have been next to impossible on my bike”…

Yup. One local spot here has 6 or 7 cracking wee tracks cut in from one fire road down to the next one, with no way of pedalling back up to do repeat runs, only option is to push up, which gets a bit grim after a while.

But take an ebike there, you can pedal up any of them, that’s a whole lot more riding, and way more fun.

My biking consists mostly of slogging through boggy stuff. Rear wheel spins are frequent trying to maintain some momentum through the gloop. This in a fatbike with 4.8 bud and lou (that’s tyres for non fatbikers).

Forget 2wd for climbing, it would be great for just getting along the flat at the moment.

Off to the alps fatbiking tomorrow, really fancy Singletrackminds Rossignol 😁