With @Mountain Bike Mike and @jimvreeland going to Raystown recently, where ebikes are not allowed on the trails, it re-sparked me thinking about ebikes on trails and how it is probably the biggest threat to trail access since Starva and also since the local IMBA reps started skidding up central jersey parks (just kidding, sorta, but seriously, stop it, just kidding, we know you aren't the one).
Pic courtesy of Mountain Bike Mike Inc, LLC. All rights reserved.
All kidding aside, someone may be able to shed light on who pushed making ebikes illegal at Raystowns, meaning was it MTB organizations getting ahead of the high probability of issues or did one of the other groups get ahead of it first. It is likely an easy sell to convince land mangers to extend existing motorized vehicle bans to include ebikes and there are more than a few parks where there is already tension between MTB and other trails users.
In general, ebikes would allow slower riders to ride faster in the woods. Typically, the faster riders are more experienced and have gained the skills to ride at high speeds over time. With an ebike, you now have riders that dont have the skills to ride at higher speeds which can lead to the greater probability of personal injury, damage to the trails, other traiuls user conflicts and injury to other trail users.
I don't think the MTB community suggesting that parks add ebikes to the motorized vehicle bans should be out of the question. Lets discuss and see how we can make that happen.
Also, this is probably already on Jorba's list but would be nice for @michael.su, @KenS and @Frank to weigh in.
Pic courtesy of Mountain Bike Mike Inc, LLC. All rights reserved.
All kidding aside, someone may be able to shed light on who pushed making ebikes illegal at Raystowns, meaning was it MTB organizations getting ahead of the high probability of issues or did one of the other groups get ahead of it first. It is likely an easy sell to convince land mangers to extend existing motorized vehicle bans to include ebikes and there are more than a few parks where there is already tension between MTB and other trails users.
In general, ebikes would allow slower riders to ride faster in the woods. Typically, the faster riders are more experienced and have gained the skills to ride at high speeds over time. With an ebike, you now have riders that dont have the skills to ride at higher speeds which can lead to the greater probability of personal injury, damage to the trails, other traiuls user conflicts and injury to other trail users.
I don't think the MTB community suggesting that parks add ebikes to the motorized vehicle bans should be out of the question. Lets discuss and see how we can make that happen.
Also, this is probably already on Jorba's list but would be nice for @michael.su, @KenS and @Frank to weigh in.