Seattle Forrest

FYI

https://www.blm.gov/press-release/bl...ke-regulations

It doesn't sound harmful. A lot of car trips are being replaced by eBike trips, at least in cities. People are more likely to invest in one the more use they can get out of it, and all bikes are fun. We all benefit from fewer cars on the road and more bikes, even if they have motors. At least that's my take. Whether you agree or not, if you care it's a speak now or forever hold your peace kind of thing.

Cypress

My FTP is half of what the BLM considers a small amount of power

mwat

I vote for restrictions on ebikes for single track trails.

Marcus_Ti

Granted the amount of BLM land here is small, and the pop density is tiny where it is.....

But I'm guessing this is merely a formality, and the same twist-throttle-no-pedal modded mopeds that now zoom at 25MPH on the MUPs around here are already without any fear of citation are buzzing BLM territory too.

Iride01 

I don't really have an issue when e-bikes are used for helping those that otherwise wouldn't cycle because they don't have the stamina or ability to keep up with and enjoy a ride with others. Or simply the terrain in their area is more than their abilities.

However I see stuff here and there about modding e-bikes so they can be faster and more powerful. So I'd hope there are some rules to keep them within bounds so we won't eventually have something on those trails with non-motorized vehicles that could compete with the Yamaha 250 I used to ride when I was a teen.

big john

"E-bikes have small electric motors that help with pedaling, make bicycle travel easier for people with disabilities, younger children and people who aren’t experienced mountain bikers."
Whoever wrote this never saw a body-armored, full face helmeted young man doing back flips or double jumps on an e-bike.

chainwhip

Might want to ask a mod to edit your title.

big john

Don't like "pubic input"?

SethAZ 

I had to look that up. They're talking about <1hp motors, described as small. I should hope it's much less than 1hp, because apparently that's equivalent to around 745W. I may be a clydesdale, but apparently I'm a crappy one, because my own FTP is less than a third of that.

I don't personally have a problem with e-bikes being allowed where human-only bikes are allowed, as long as power limits and whatnot are established within reason. I have no idea what level of assist would be reasonable. I know some countries have absolute speed limits beyond which no assist is allowed, though I think that's probably the wrong approach. If assist were limited to, say, 150W, that would still be more than enough to let disabled or less physically capable folks ride meaningfully, without being so much power that non-Tour de France qualified riders are zooming around at 25 or 30 mph. What I'd definitely not want to see are e-bikes that are so powerfully assisted that they become effectively electric dirt bikes. Just as we wouldn't want motorcyclists swarming our MTB trails, electric dirtbikes doing the same thing would be bad news. If a human actually still has to provide a meaningful (majority?) amount of the power, the problem will limit itself.

Drew Eckhardt 

Nearly 100% of electric bicycles exceed the local multi-use path 15 MPH speed limit by 1/3, while a fraction of recreational users that are a minority of total cyclists do.

When bike paths have speed limits below 20 MPH, electric bicycles should be banned, or the speed limits increased because that's not a safety issue or prior restraint is unacceptable.

Marcus_Ti

Put it this way...Right now you can buy 1,000W rated ebike wheels for $200USD. Shoot, you can get them in 1,500W. Right off FleaBay marketplace.

Similarly there are a plethora of 2-stroke moped retrofits that are "49CC" AKA sub 1-HP...that you measure the displacement they're actually 80CC. I know this because a few of the contractors I worked with have them, and they'd brag about it.

SethAZ 

Wow. Ok, well I'd definitely not want to see e-bikes with that level of assist on the same trails as traditional human-powered bikes. That's insane, and I think would definitely create some safety issues, among other things.

I honesty have no idea what would be a good system for limiting the power output of e-bikes allowed to ride such trails. I'd probably want some kind of system that limits the total power of combined cyclist + assist to no more than a very strong rider can already achieve on their own. That's enough to give weak or moderate riders a chance to hang with stronger riders, or give stronger riders a way to extend their range by not using their own full output, but not result in folks riding around crazy fast beyond what human-powered bikes with strong riders are already capable of.

Seattle Forrest

This pisses me off too. It's been hard work to get there too.

Seattle Forrest

A few things to keep in mind.

Most eBikes are horribly inefficient. Fat knobby tires are the norm, cheap ones at that. Upright riding position. Very heavy bikes. The motor adds drag when pedaling. Ebike owners think it's stupid to pay for low RR tires or improve anything else, that's why they buy motorized bikes to begin with. They're realizing they can't use full power much or the battery dies mid ride, and they don't want to do all the work themselves. I'm not saying they don't have more power, I'm saying it gets them less, they waste so many watts, don't think watts are 1:1 compared to a road bike.

Ebikes are very heavy. I keep hearing the handling is awful. That's a hazard.

The proposal doesn't grant blanket access, but will make them more common on BLM land and other land managers will follow.

Whatever you think, you have an opportunity to have some influence now if you think it's important. A lot of individual comments that mostly go one way or the other really are taken seriously.

Cypress

I got sucked into the GCN channel dedicated to electric mountain bikes, and the overall feel of the channel is "bikes are neat, but ELECTRIC bikes are waaaaay neater." They are constantly patting themselves on the back, which is weird, because the bikes are literally doing all of the heavy lifting for them.

RChung

The proposed regulation describes another limitation: a max of 20 mph solely on motor alone when on a flat road and operated by a 170 lb. rider. Depending on bike weight and tires, that would take somewhere in the neighborhood of 200ish watts.

big john

I don't think the handling is much different than a modern enduro type mountain bike. They really aren't that much heavier. Besides, the weight isn't a hindrance if there's enough power to throw it around. If you've ever ridden a 230 pound motocross bike you know what I'm talking about.
I'm referring to higher end e-mountain bikes here. I've never ridden one but I have had them fly by me while I'm on my mountain bike. They may have a 500 watt motor from the factory. I've read reviews and they sound pretty fun.
Now if you put a reckless dufus on one and send him out where he is a danger to others,that could be a problem.

big john