thehammerdog

The new Road Bike Action has a list if newer battery powered bikes that attempt to hold true to the current modern form of a bicycle.
Some look like regular bikes others not so much. Not sure of the target buyers for these things as they cost $4K but it would be cool to take a normal looking bike out with a power pack and pound away on the trails.

Elvo

Great way to get uphill KOM's

https://www.trekbikes.com/us/en_US/b...ssrip/p/17457/

mstateglfr 

I strive for inclusion when it comes to cycling. All the different forms are great to see and the more the merrier in my mind. It takes all types to help gain traction and support for cycling so lowering the barriers to entry is good.

but man do I struggle to stay supportive when I see ebikes online, in magazines, or out on rides.
I dont really care if they exist, but I do dislike the idea that it would be compared to human powered cycling.

if a battery bike gets someone out into nature and exercising, then perfect.
if a battery bike allows someone to ride further and see more, then perfect.
if those people then brag about how far they rode, then thats lame.


I am glad that gravel rides, even the likely organized races, seem to clearly define ebikes as unacceptable.


as for me, if i wanted to go faster on gravel i would buy a moped or roll the windows dow in my car and drive.
I like the challenge of riding.

Marcus_Ti

One other scenario to nod too...if someone is a racer and their SO isn't. The moped lets one get their training in, and the other keep up pace.

Granted of the one or two couples I know like that...I have half a dozen coworkers who strip out the governor and go buzzing their mopeds solo at 25MPH on bike paths labeled "No Motorized Vehicles".

Metieval

I have a N+5 at the moment.

at the core I will always have a light race road bike, a anyroad/gravel bike, and a Mtn bike. (3) the Singlespeed thing is fun, but it is just a +1, the flat bar hybrid is fun but also just a +1

range is the limiting factor for me on e bikes. however some day, an E-bike I'll probably own. Really all depends on where I live. I can see doing a 60+ mile ride by manpower. then coming home showering, then screwing around in the evening on an e assist bike.

As long as there are e-bike, I'll never retire to a golfcart community! guaranteed!

Marcus_Ti

You definitely won't be persuaded to see it from another angle. So I won't even bother.

gravelfan

A friend of mine bought one to use to scout areas for hunting. It gives him and opportunity to explore terrain he would have a difficult time getting to by pedaling alone.

Zaskar

There's nothing new about this... kids were riding bikes with little motors when I was in high school...



Actually, if you go back even further, when someone put a motor on a bicycle - like 120 years ago - they called it a "motorcycle." Note, that it wasn't called a "combustion engine cycle" just a motorcycle. Not sure why an electric motor changes things - now they're "e-bikes." Nope. Still motorcycles or mopeds.

Yes - they can be great for some mixed fitness situations, e.g. 45-year-old cyclist wants to ride with his dad or kid, spouses riding together, etc. But the *$&@#heads who do group rides they'd never be able to hang with... and fly past the line, up hills, etc. Not sure how this will pan out - I guess bans for certain rides, or maybe the same treatment as TT bikes/bars?

5teve

https://www.bikeforums.net/electric-bikes/

Caliper

I call them e-peds, as in, an e-moped. The contraction of moped comes from "motor pedaler", according to Wikipedia, and the early mopeds were just modified bicycles. The term "motor" doesn't specify the power source, so I don't see why switching to electrical power makes things any different.

But, sorry, a bicycle is human powered. E-"bikes" tend to have some sort of software to manage the motor assist. People will hack that and make them faster for less pedaling, or the market will offer it in increasingly higher power "assist". I've already watched someone halfheartedly spin the cranks while going up a decent hill. It was clear she wasn't putting much effort in.

Why does this matter? Well, bicycles operate in this grey area in our current road useage. They're not a motor vehicle and not a pedestrian. Allowing actual motor vehicles to fall under the class of a bicycle starts to distort things. Allowing motorized vehicles on paths previously reserved for strictly human powered transportation also starts to distort the intent.

FlashBazbo

I think e-bikes are fine so long as they don't mess it up for human-powered cyclists. In areas where bicycles are on the verge of bans or have significant opposition -- wilderness and national park trails, city parks, bridle paths, running/bike paths, bike lanes -- e-bikes are very likely to get us all banned. That's not good or fair. In those areas where bicycle access is in potential jeopardy, e-bikes should stay well away.

Kelly.Fisher

Earlier this month I participated in a paid 60 mile gravel ride near Boulder. Several older women attended, both on e-bikes, and neither were gravel oriented in the least.. I'd say more along the line of straight upright comfort/hybrid bikes with big cushy gel saddles. Their etiquette was atrocious, they'd just be riding side by side chatting like they were at a social meeting, blocking everyone behind them. I must have passed them a dozen times, but they'd invariably pass me on a long uphill, still blissfully chatting away and barely pedaling, only to be forced to *painfully* pass them yet again on anything downhill or technical. It was infuriating.

Metieval

people like that camp in the passing lane on the freeways too.

really has nothing to do with being powered. (cars or bikes)

medic75

As a 44 year old man who recently got back into cycling, I view e-bikes as a way to cheat. If someone has a disability that restricts them from traditional riding I am 100% supportive. If someone is too lazy to actually pedal to the point that their legs are burning or too the point that they need to take a break, an e-bike is not going to help them any more than any other powered two wheeled vehicle will.

dgodave

e-bikes belong in situations where motorized vehicles have been traditionally tolerated, and pretty much nowhere else.

RJM

I got on an e mtb and was floored by how fast you can go on those things. It's pretty ridiculous how quickly you can ride climbs and flats...the thing sucked at going down.

I don't see the point unless you have some sort of disability preventing you from riding or you are a commuter who just wants an efficient way to get to work/grocery store.

When ebike riders have shown up to group rides on the road they have messed up the dynamic...that part is true.

fietsbob

My Local does Retrofits on MTB for Hunters ..

Timber Corp. lands forbid Petrol powered bikes.

trailangel

You guys from the east.... time to get with it.

https://electricbikereview.com/forum...c-bikes.24213/

Out west, Class 1 ebikes are considered by the state of California as ..... BICYCLES.

They are not considered motor vehicles.

They are not mopeds. The do not power themselves.

Why is it so bothering to you all?

You're all acting like surfer dudes, claiming the ocean as their own... no new surfers..... because their board is different? You're all being overly territorial.

mstateglfr 

its fundamentally different.

as mentioned earlier, I think its great if more people get out and ride. Others in this thread have also said it's great if ebikes allow more people to ride.

but its fundamentally different and as such- group rides, competitive tracking, and races all need to address the issue and should either ban ebikes outright or categorize them so clear lines are set.

Caliper

"Because CA does it that way" just showing how CA has become the bully of the 50 states, always telling everyone else how to live. "Time to get with it" nobody else cares what CA thinks.

Some of the things that bothers me about these is there is no way to enforce or check what class of e-ped one is riding, because they are at most only partially human powered and because even if something is labeled as one class of e-ped, many people will modify it to provide more power than allowed. I'm fine with them as a transportation aid as long as they are recognized as a form of motor vehicle. I am NOT fine with any sort of terminology that starts to confuse them with human powered vehicles. As far as recreation is concerned, there are rec areas set out for human power, there are rec areas set out for human and/or animal power and there are rec areas set out for motorized vehicles. Vehicles with electric motors are fine to take to the places where motorized vehicles are allowed, but not fine where an area has been designated not for motorized vehicles. Redefining an existing word "bicycle" that has for a century meant a human powered vehicle to include motorized vehicle does a tremendous disservice to all existing cyclists. What new word should be used for bicycles that are actually only human powered then?

Metieval

hands down it is a 'RESPECT' issue. not an E bike Issue.

If you really wish to blame E--bikes as the issue, then Do Group rides that are beyond the range of an Ebike. cough 30-40 plus miles.

dgodave

Actually I do think beaches should be closed to motorized surfboards too.

Cyclist0108

If their board had a motor, this analogy might make some sense.

Cyclist0108

Whoops. Sorry. Should have read that first.

trailangel

Oh my, so much California hate. Just wait for the electric scooters........