His partner purchased my trailer to move out there to help him get the eBike business off the ground

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You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

He talks about riding E-Moto on dirt roads. Maybe they are ~OK~ on dirt roads.

Long live the front derailleur!

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If you are the big tree
We are the small axe

Look at these lazy fucks climbing steep grades where they should have just been hike a biking like any purist mountain bikers should. Where's that magical "on" switch for the engine that promises conquest over any obstacle?

Look at the trail damage and access issue we all feed our fears and insecurities with about eBikes.

Just for consistency....
The slaying and slapping of corners in this video linked via a post here on DT by a revered DTer who some say have an ugly looking bike which I think is a cool conventional bike, is ok.
Segment at 55 sec marker is one of my pet peeves that makes us all mtbikers look like dorks (that's coming from a downhiller at heart who would slap corners when given the appropriate place and conditions). I could link other videos featured here on DT and other sites with trail bikes on known and renowned trails demonstrating conventional shredding.


I don't know why we as mountain bikers could be so divisive. We are a bunch of dorks.
Chew on this incidental hypocrisy...

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Department of Good Times

Check, and check. Cool! I had no idea I was a MTB purist.

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Thus, if we are to understand the world, we should live somewhere between judgement and amazement — Alfredo Lopez Austin

I only have 2 primary issues with the idea. 1). I worry that it will create an even more hostile anti-MTB attitude against us, and 2). I need all the fitness I can get, and don't want to be exposed to the potentially delicious Kool-Aid....

..Now..where did I put that old front der..

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"it can go full porno alley"

- Kimba - One love, many bikes - 2020

On #1)That's a lukewarm horse shit copout. Whether you and I are on a Bridgestone MB1 rigid 7 speed friction shifter equipped so-called mountain bike or an eBike, there is and will always be an anti-MTB attitude. Don't for a second think this animosity is just exclusive to us poor oppressed earth loving (sometimes shredding) mountain bikers. There are anti-outdoor activity sentiment on pretty much everything. OHV, motos, for pete's sake, even rock climbing. There will always be that attitude especially when you have user(s) with sense of entitlement clash among other entitled users. We're as pawns as other usergroups.

On #2) You obviously have not ridden an eBike out on the trails. Period. The fitness myth, yet another lukewarm copout. Try one and let me know how easy it is (well, it could be made much more easier when the overall weight does go down from the current offerings). Isn't any bike with Eleven6 Push shock a part of drinking kool aid?? Ha!

I still have one (retro) bike with a front deraileur. I mistakenly thought my front shifter paddle was for a dropper post (that I didn't have). Scary steep roll experience with the seat way way up lol.

Anyway, love, peace and harmony. Please don't jump me in the next group ride, guys. LOL!

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Department of Good Times

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"it can go full porno alley"

- Kimba - One love, many bikes - 2020

1) I'm not worried about "even more hostility" because the douche-baggery by the whiners can't get any worse but I do think there could be issues down the road when/if e-bikes are more widely accepted due to people that will modify the wattage of the e-bikes (or just buy and ride bikes with a plethora of wattage to start with). We all know that will happen because it happens on every other toy with a motor like dirt bikes, quads and boats. No law enforcement agency has the manpower to manage what wattage of motorized bicycle people are riding which is why the BLM and Forest Service made the simple decision to ban them.

It's not like people will willingly follow the law...proven by the fact that every e-bike rider I've seen so far has been on trails where they are illegal to begin with.

2) Yeah, after the fun factor, fitness is why I ride. I'll pass on the motorized bicycle. If I want a motor, I'll just go buy another KTM which by the way when ridden aggressively on worthy terrain or track is also quite the workout. Let's open up Noble Canyon to dirt bikes too.

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If you don't go this year, you'll only be a year older when you do - Warren Miller

Valid points especially the first. It's hard enough as it is to control aholes in our group to quit cutting stravasshole lines on perfectly winding trails.

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Department of Good Times

I'm not really that concerned about losing access to existing places so much. As said above, people who hate bikes will hate them regardless. Although e-bikes allow people to ride like douchebags uphill just as they already do downhill, which isn't going to help our image.

The biggest problem with e-bikes is they are going to make it a lot more difficult for regular MTBs to gain access to wilderness and trails like PCT. Much of the argument for access is that MTBs are human powered, and mountain biking is passive recreation. No sooner do we make some headway on access but e-bikes show up - "hey man, this thing is a game changer brah!!".

Nah, I heard it's bikepacking.

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Department of Good Times

I have tried to scope every ebike video I have seen for any increase in HP that would show that it has been manually increased for additional power, no luck. All videos I have seen show no additional trail damage going up as the BraaAAp crowd does going down. I keep hearing mention of hacking the ebikes for additional power but have yet to see any proof or videos of this being done. What am I missing with this argument? Sounds more like Fake News than anything.....

As my buddy & I were grinding up as little climb last night when we got passed by a eBike. He was working at it but it is soooo much easier for sure. As long as it's not an electric bike as in just sit and power along without pedaling, I'm not against them and can see them growing. If it gets you out riding, what the hell..

The anti bike haters are gonna hate if you have a battery or not. You are on "their" trails and have no right to be there.

The older I get, the better the eBikes look to me but I'll pedal until I can't any more

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You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike

Broad brush stroke generalizations always work to pigeonhole something one doesn't fully understand or compassionately just don't care about. Surprised no one pigeon holed this potential danger from eBikes yet. Or may be eBikers would some how stop saying hello to others like (inserting my generalization here to keep up with the theme) asshole XC/enduro brahs who just have to suffer to get to the top in a hurry to feel good about having a real mountain biking experience. Must be fun.


Off topic..
I kind of had a dream last night and recalled how dead this SDMBA meeting was I went to back in 2002. Would the board entertain the idea of may be forming a committee to vet eBike issues so the concerns and pending realities of this evil clout could be mulled over, develop implementing tools or strategies, or plain lobby (obviously against)? Just don't vote/assign evdog to chair it. That's like assigning Nancy Pelosi to chair the Border Wall oversight committee.

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Department of Good Times

Should there be three types of bikes?
1. Human powered
2. Pedal assisted
3. E Bikes

2 & 3 should not be lumped together

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You never know what tomorrow will bring so go ride your EBike today or walk your pooch
Fear the Yeti
"Go ride your bike today, don't let the old man in.."

Mike