saddlesores

yeah, what a loser, eh? no respect for the purity of the sport!

real pros cheat fair & square with steroids and blood doping!

veganbikes

E-Bikes can be fun (I work at a shop that sold them, we now have a dedicated shop) but I wouldn't really want to tour on one because it takes some of the fun out of it. It might be cool for carrying a large trailer (mini airstream type) but I would rather just have a good gearing and huff it and get stronger and stronger. Hills will always suck and while various motors can help get you up a hill the best motor is the two pistons dangling from your waist. They aren't powered by coal or nukes (think about charging it) and won't add extra weight to the bike you wouldn't already have to add plus our fuel is way tastier than electricity!

Yan 

This takes it to yet another level IMO. With medical doping at least the extra speed is still coming out of your legs. I suppose we have been desensitized to hearing about traditional doping over the years.

DropBarFan

E-bikes have become a lot more efficient & quieter over past few years but I'm wondering about the Van den Driessche deal. Vivax motor is supposed to weigh almost 2 kg (nobody ever noticed extra weight?). Perhaps it was a publicity stunt.

manapua_man

Is it weird that I'd be fine with steroids etc. if they had a separate class for it?

imi

I imagine it would then be even harder to keep out of junior racing. All those drugs and medicines can't be good for growing children.
What chemicals and drugs an adult decides to take is up to them imo, but keep them away from the kids. Sport should be a clean and healthy activity at any level... Yeah, naive I know.

saddlesores

oh, but they do indeed. it's called "competitive cycling"

"The acceptance of drug-taking in the Tour de France was so complete by 1930
that the rule book, distributed by Henri Desgrange, reminded riders that drugs
would not be provided by the organisers."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ses_in_cycling

indyfabz

https://www.nbc.com/saturday-night-live/video/update-all-drug-olympics/n9691

antokelly

ah well i still think it's a cracking idea.
btw it's the battery as far as i know that weights the most which i reckon in a few years time will greatly improve lighter and longer life.

350htrr

Of course it is... If it keeps you out there pedaling, it's a good thing. As long as it has a pressure sensor PAS not a throttle...

EDIT; I have done 3 trips averaging 10 days and 800KM on my BionX E-Assisted bike, never plugging into a wall outlet. Used the solar panel on my camper to charge up every day...

stevepusser

Providing 200 watts for one hour with that small a battery would have required a secret quantum leap in battery energy density technology, which in turn would make electric cars much more practical, along with revolutionizing so much else.

I can't wait for the countless threads in the future about the best way to charge your bike on a tour, though.

350htrr

A folding solar panel, of course... Fits into your backpack, folds out to a 4'X8' panel, 2Hrs later a full battery. Yay. Oh wait a minute, it's been available for years...

Squeezebox

But I think you have to agree there has been less doping in the pros lately. But this motor doping is just plain weird.
E-bikes have their place for folks that can't do a real bicycle. But my only experience with one was under a 50ish woman who was just to lazy to do a real bicycle.
If I had $5K for a bicycle it wouldn't be electric.
By the way I believe the racer that got hit for motor doping got a 6 yr suspension.

HTupolev

In using your bicycle, are you competing for prize pools worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, and working for huge corporations that would happily throw tons of money away to get their logos on podiums?

mstateglfr 

I wouldnt be interestedin this simce i am still your and healthy, relatively speaking, to ride under my own power at all times.

With that said...

I ride a couple times a week with a large group of teens. Call it 30 adult mentors and 40 kids training for RAGBRAI which is a week long ride across Iowa. The training rides arerides are 25-70mi long and thru rolling hills.
A 69 year old woman is one of the mentors. She actively races BMX still! But on training rides she rocks a recumbent trike with e-assist. She is 69 and needs help on the hills in order to be part of the team.
I say have at it to her. She pedals for 90% of our rides, but needs assistance. Why not do it.

saddlesores

yes, why not. ragbrai isn't a competition. i assume she doesn't
have a tiny motor on her bmx bike when racing.

but that trike raises another question, see the katy trail thread
from a week ago. e-assist trikes, or golf carts, or atvs........

mstateglfr 

Yeah, i see the direction it could go with allowing e-assist on paths.
But its only a slippery slope if allowed to be a slippery slope.

DropBarFan

Sometimes I feel it's kind of unfair that pros get careers ruined thru doping busts. It's not as if they sat around eating chocolates instead of training. OTOH I've seen a pro racer, Bert Oosterbosch, win a pro race & later die from (apparently) EPO abuse. Recently I watched TV coverage of UCI cyclo-cross & the announcer noted that CX had unique demands ie ability to do max efforts for short times & recover quickly. So cyclo-cross would be the ideal cycling discipline to try the motor scheme.

BigAura

bicycle : a 2-wheeled, self-powered vehicle, that a person rides by pushing on foot pedals

antokelly

Ah i don't know your still going to be peddling 99%of the time ,most cyclists are looking for easier cycling these days what with compact chainsets 36 rear cassette 11 gears sti leavers for simple quick shifting all make for easier cycling nothing wrong with that if u ask me. so a wee motor to help a fella up a hill sure what harm is that i ask.only thing that would stop me buying is the price .

fietsbob

Motor at 2700 euros yea the Price is probably most of just Buying an E Bike ready to Go.

Doug64

That may be true for some people. However, on a trip this summer, where I saw hundreds of e- bikes, a large proportion of the people were just moving their legs, not pedaling. I think the only reason they did that was to give the illusion that they were actually moving under their own power. It was pretty obvious that their pedaling motion was not contributing significantly to their speed.

I do think it is going to become more popular , and it is good in some ways, but it also has its negative aspects. The main negative for me is that it makes the popular routes really crowded by making it possible for people who either do not have the physical ability or temperament to get out there under their own power. The plus side is it gets them out there

gif4445

What he said.

Walter S

I tour and commute and live car free with a bicycle and cargo trailer. I would not consider electric assistance unless I really really needed it, like when I (hopefully) get much older.

E-assist defeats some of what I love about cycling. On tour, warming up on the road in the morning is some of my best time. I feel this magic in nature that lets me have the strength to do this all day, if only I make that my routine. It would spoil things some to be using a motor. The rush of energy in my legs is neither as splindid, nor as well fed if I depend on my own energy less.

I don't want assistance. That does not make me stronger like the lack of it does.

antokelly

Doug i like the plus side to be honest, i see a few guys here in my town that would never turn a pedal only for electric aided..
myself im cycling all my life well best part of it this past few years my back pain has stopped me getting in the big miles ,but im still cycling thank god i'll never use a motor never have the money for one.