Monkey Soup
Angry Wanker
Please, for a sport that supposed to be about challenge, focus, and fitness, promoting laziness is not the "winds of change". Its the "winds of a business" looking for a way to drive new sales.
E-bikes are a thing
- Thread starter jdog
- Start date
I'm not sure how many people are doing it for the challenge, but I suspect it's well under half.
You know, you don't need to buy one. Vote with your wallet.
And to Jim's point, I ride my bike because it's a fun way to stay
Seriously why do you care? E-bikes may take a long time to be adopted by NJ and CA, but most of the rest of the country is going to allow them.
Monkey Soup
Angry Wanker
I think that you speak for most when you say you also do it to stay fit. I mean, you could have chosen running as your stay-not-too-fat sport, but you chose MTB.
And once we have a quorum of e-bikers, how long until we start making/changing existing trails to suit them and that style of riding? Unlike most of the videos you see on-line, the e-bikers I see aren't exactly the hard-core technical type. You can say it will never happen, but what happens when the directors of most trail advocacy groups become e-bikers themselves?
I guess what I would ask is this. What does it mean to build a trail to suit an e-biker? I just don't see Molly McBiker riding Jungle Habitat, like ever. If anything, if you have the trail builders riding e-bikes you might have more technical trails as opposed to less. It would probably mean less time building switchbacks to get up the hill. More time spent building other stuff. You could make the argument that in some ways, e-bikes could make he trails shittier because who cares about that crappy road gravel climb? I'll just e-ride up it. I could see that as a very real possible negative here.
But I mean how do you make 6MR or Allaire *more* e-bike friendly than it already is?
If you want to say that e-bikes are a step towards throttle assist, I can't argue that either.
For 6 mile, it would be increased cut throughs to straighten out all those annoying turns (kinda like your switch back theory).
I think the bigger issue is inexperienced people whiskey throttling into trees and other trail users. Yes I know you can’t really whiskey throttle pedal assist but I almost crashed a road ebike into a curb when the assist kicked in on max and I was turning. Could easily see that happening on a mtb.
Also, consider the fields at 6 mile. I can hit around 20 on those open sections, add 5 -10 mph more for e bike and you have someone slamming into a tree when the open section stops. I know I am exaggerating here, but it is very plausible.
So my e-bike experience is with like a dozen people, maybe more. But this is what I have seen:
1. At KT almost 2 years ago we saw a group of 4. Maybe 2 of them were older and riding at a pace I would call moderate, not fast. Totally in control.
2. In Stowe this year there was an octogenarian who literally could barely stand up straight when he got off the bike. The e-bike was the only thing keeping him going. I understand that this is an edge case. But it is something that older people actually do.
3. Green Woodlands in NH. We saw numerous e-bikes. Absolutely none of them were a) out fo control or b) faster than us. Many many older guys just riding. Honestly in that part of the world that seems like golf for them. Just 4 older dudes out shooting the shit on a gorgeous day
4. One douche nozzle at Allaire maybe 6-12 months ago, older(ish) guy, blasting past us in the weeds. I truly hope he crashed and fell into the ocean. Ok not really but the way he was riding was totally & completely asshole-worthy.
So there you have it. In Vermont & NH people act like civilized human beings and in NJ we are a collection of assholes who ruin everything.
Sounds about right, and you don't need an ebike to be inherently one either 🤣
Are the e-bike riders of today the IROC drivers of our childhood?
F’ing NJ…
But the market is assumed to be growing to not just be old and out of shape people. i think that is what we are planning for.
Why?
High end non-eBike is $5000+
High end eBike is $10,000+
Not sure the current body of evidence supports it...yet.
Because the industry wants it to go that way? Yeah, I have no plans to buy one but we live in a society of “how can I get there quicker” in almost all respects (physically faster, how can I get fitter faster, how can I get my ‘x’ faster). I guess in theory the price comes down, if the market wishes it.
All of our MTB ebike sales have been to aging mountain bikers, Motocross guys or wives of mountain bikers. The aging MTB'ers and Moto guys have the skills to handle the bikes and the trails as is. Whether they act like douches in the woods probably doesn't change when they switch bikes. The wives never ride the bike in the woods even though that's why the husbands bought them.
If you are riding for the "challenge" note that everything is easier on a long travel ebike once you get used to what they are capable of.
Geezers want cheaper, more upright casual ebikes for the D&R or to ride around their 55+ development. Or they are roadies who can no longer keep up and purchase E road bikes.
If you are riding for the "challenge" note that everything is easier on a long travel ebike once you get used to what they are capable of.
Geezers want cheaper, more upright casual ebikes for the D&R or to ride around their 55+ development. Or they are roadies who can no longer keep up and purchase E road bikes.
EJphotos
Well-Known Member
I'm young, but like I said before I built an e-bike for the main purpose of being able to commute to work 22 miles at a good pace (17 mph average) without arriving to the office a hot sweaty mess. It worked yesterday very well. I'll still be using my acoustic bike for trail riding.
Monkey Soup
Angry Wanker
This notion of marketing to the “aging” MTB’er is complete nonsense. Just look at all the rippin edits they put out there. All young guys and sponsored riders. Pretty clear who the target audience is. Everyone I’ve seen in NJ and VT on an e-MTB has been younger. One dude was riding in flip-flops. Not would be what I consider “hard core”. I saw a woman today who had to be in her 80’s, full kit, on a Tall Boy. That was hard core. Making the climbs easier, smoother, and everything less technical is what can happen when the e-bike crew inherits the sport.
There will always be good, challenging shit for the less scrupulous to ride. Let me know when this happens and I'll show you some.
Currently, the majority of Ebike buyers are 40-70 years old. I'm sure the manufacturers are trying to entice the younger riders to buy too.
This is actually completely false based on the demographics of eBike sales.
It was in reference to “us”. People who ride now and have/will for a long time. I understand that the current demographics buying these bikes may be on the older side, which obviously makes sense. Not sure if market analysis has taken into account people’s riding history.
However it’s yet to be seen if people who currently are riders and may have been riding for 20 30 40 years, will they buy an ebike one day? Will be a long time be for we know those number and will probably be on hover bikes by then.