E-bikes are a thing

Ebikes??

  • I have never ridden one

    Votes: 100 41.3%
  • I have ridden one for over an hour on a trail and I’ll never buy one

    Votes: 9 3.7%
  • I have ridden one in a trail for over an hr and I am considering one

    Votes: 19 7.9%
  • I’ll never give up my analog bike but I’ll still get an ebike

    Votes: 35 14.5%
  • Did he just say analog bike?

    Votes: 35 14.5%
  • My knees are failing and an ebike in inevitable

    Votes: 17 7.0%
  • My next bike will certainly be an ebike.

    Votes: 19 7.9%
  • I’ll never own an ebike, even when I’m 90

    Votes: 25 10.3%
  • Ebikes cause more trail damage than analog bikes

    Votes: 8 3.3%
  • Ebikes have no more trail impact than a traditional bike.

    Votes: 63 26.0%
  • I hate anyone on an ebike

    Votes: 7 2.9%
  • Anyone on a bike is a friend of mine, ebike or not

    Votes: 91 37.6%
  • I’ve been seeing ebikes in the woods regularly

    Votes: 52 21.5%
  • I’ve never seen an ebike on the trail

    Votes: 15 6.2%
  • It's called an Acoustic bike

    Votes: 14 5.8%
  • “I may consider one after my body is all used up and broken"

    Votes: 64 26.4%
  • I already own an off-road Ebike

    Votes: 34 14.0%
  • I have no interest in an e-bike

    Votes: 13 5.4%
  • Arguing against ebikes is kerfuffle

    Votes: 14 5.8%
  • I like Matty no matter what he rides

    Votes: 17 7.0%

  • Total voters
    242
Dupont State Park. Western NC.

Which this now made me think of the conversation I had with a guy who runs the bigger bike shop here. Tourism is down overall likely due to Helene, maybe economy? Typically they would have 20 bikes out on rental for the weekend and now it's 10.

But due to E-Bikes being banned in Pisgah/Dupont they get a lot of people from Florida who just won't come up now as as they want E-Bikes to deal with the elevation.
I don't see how me riding a Class 1 e-bike in Eco mode with a group of regular bikers should be illegal. Sigh
 
"In following up with Manasquan Captain Nick Norcia, “The bike in question was modified to allow it to get up to 80 MPH, that being one of the reasons we had a challenge with catching the person."
Not Just Toys: Modified E-Bikes Can Hit 80 MPH — And Manasquan Is Cracking Down
 
Sterling. Not that we didn’t run into groups of e bikers anyway.

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True, I stopped riding there when the signs went up. I have stopped riding in NYS parks , they don’t want me there, screw them.
Agree to a certain extent. If an area is somewhat dependent on out-of-state tourism, it seems counterproductive to actively exclude potential customers that almost by definition are more likely to spend money in your town.
 
NYS parks are heavily influenced by the hikers. I would not be shocked one bit if mountain bikes were removed from all trail access . I have a buddy that is involved with Blue mountain and there are a bunch of hikers pushing to get mountain bikes off the trails even though it was mountain bikers that cut the trails in the first place.
 
If there isn’t a Brewery across the street, mountain bikers ain’t spending money in town anyway.
Is that experience or just "jaded bike shop guy"?

In my own experience with my friends when we do mtn biking trips, we spend a fair amount of money between lodging, food, occasional parts purchases from the LBS and yes - beer.

Example - my friends and I went to White Clay in DE over the weekend. Just a day trip, so no lodging, but the 6 of us did go to a local pizza place after the ride for lunch. Is it a huge amount of money, even between the 6 of us? No, but it's still activity. In the same shopping center is a bike shop. I need new brake pads for the Spot. M9100 XTR 2-piston calipers. Rather than rolling the dice on me ordering the correct pads online, I figured I'd go there and buy sets if they have them since I had the bike with me to check. Unfortunately, they didn't but I did end up buying a bottle of chain lube and a couple of Clif Blocks. There's also a wine store in the shopping center where I bought a couple of bottles. In the end, I spent over $100 during my visit.

Did any of my friends spend a similar amount? No - they just bought lunch. But even if a 10% of visitors spend a similar amount that can represent an impact.
 
Is that experience or just "jaded bike shop guy"?

In my own experience with my friends when we do mtn biking trips, we spend a fair amount of money between lodging, food, occasional parts purchases from the LBS and yes - beer.

Example - my friends and I went to White Clay in DE over the weekend. Just a day trip, so no lodging, but the 6 of us did go to a local pizza place after the ride for lunch. Is it a huge amount of money, even between the 6 of us? No, but it's still activity. In the same shopping center is a bike shop. I need new brake pads for the Spot. M9100 XTR 2-piston calipers. Rather than rolling the dice on me ordering the correct pads online, I figured I'd go there and buy sets if they have them since I had the bike with me to check. Unfortunately, they didn't but I did end up buying a bottle of chain lube and a couple of Clif Blocks. There's also a wine store in the shopping center where I bought a couple of bottles. In the end, I spent over $100 during my visit.

Did any of my friends spend a similar amount? No - they just bought lunch. But even if a 10% of visitors spend a similar amount that can represent an impact.

I can tell you from speaking to the biggest bike shop in my town that the lack of E-Bikes on the trails has hurt their business. Their rental business has gone down as Florida people now refuse to ride regular bikes anywhere with hills. Tons of people just don't come to this area due to only being able to ride E-Bikes at the bike parks. Doesn't mean there isn't a ton of visitors though.

Tourism is a huge amount of $$ here but banning E-Bikes is for specific reasons. Pisgah it's mostly due to SAR issues primarily but also keeping motorized vehicles off the trails. Dupont just can't handle any more users as it's bonkers packed during busy times so they're working to exclude new user groups. The issues/concerns of fast E-Bikes is the reason the current user groups don't want them.
 
Is that experience or just "jaded bike shop guy"?

In my own experience with my friends when we do mtn biking trips, we spend a fair amount of money between lodging, food, occasional parts purchases from the LBS and yes - beer.

Example - my friends and I went to White Clay in DE over the weekend. Just a day trip, so no lodging, but the 6 of us did go to a local pizza place after the ride for lunch. Is it a huge amount of money, even between the 6 of us? No, but it's still activity. In the same shopping center is a bike shop. I need new brake pads for the Spot. M9100 XTR 2-piston calipers. Rather than rolling the dice on me ordering the correct pads online, I figured I'd go there and buy sets if they have them since I had the bike with me to check. Unfortunately, they didn't but I did end up buying a bottle of chain lube and a couple of Clif Blocks. There's also a wine store in the shopping center where I bought a couple of bottles. In the end, I spent over $100 during my visit.

Did any of my friends spend a similar amount? No - they just bought lunch. But even if a 10% of visitors spend a similar amount that can represent an impact.

Been riding and doing this for over 30 years and talk to hundreds of people a year, so it's little more than just an opinion.
 
Been riding and doing this for over 30 years and talk to hundreds of people a year, so it's little more than just an opinion.
As have I. Granted, I don't know if I would consider Summit a tourist destination, mtn biking or not. I've been there numerous times for work (currently BMS sites and various past-owners) and for one or two of the car shows with my ex-.

Or maybe the people you talk to are just stingy... hell, when we were at Davis earlier this year, we dropped over a grand at a tequila bar...
 
As have I. Granted, I don't know if I would consider Summit a tourist destination, mtn biking or not. I've been there numerous times for work (currently BMS sites and various past-owners) and for one or two of the car shows with my ex-.

Or maybe the people you talk to are just stingy... hell, when we were at Davis earlier this year, we dropped over a grand at a tequila bar...
For any spot that has mountain biking, there's gotta be an affect even if it's not noticeable.

I just think of something as simple as how much more business the coffee shop in High Bridge gets just because of mountain bikers. I'd hit up a convenience store just to get a Gatorade before a ride at The Tourne when I forgot a drink. Post ride Allaire lunches at the general store, etc.

Sterling doesn't exactly have a ton of spots around it, so those few restaurants likely have a couple tables a weekend from mountain bikers. It's not going to let them sell the place to private investors and retire early, but it's something.

I can tell you those locals in Davis aren't dropping a grand at a tequila bar.
 
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