Originally Posted by
shelbyfv
I wonder if folks who are lacking in physical ability to the point they need an e-bike will be comfortable bombing around on MTB trails. Probably the market will be motorcyclists who want to ride on restricted bike trails.
They are becoming more noticeable on mtb trail systems here with mixed feelings. People do bomb the trails on them though maybe not as aggressively as advanced riders.
On the one hand, if downhill is the goal, having an assist back up the hill doesn't seem to "violate " anything. A lot of people use vehicles to haul the bikes back up access roads or use chairlifts at mtb/ski parks aka Whistler. On horizontal trail systems they do seem kinda lazy.
On the other hand, electric assist creates more wear on trails because the rider can do more loops without effort (not paying the "price" for the run) and they can chew up trails as they power up portions a manual rider might otherwise walk.
I'm 50/50 on them but wouldn't invest until I knew the batteries were replaceable by a company that will be around when they fail. The proprietary nature of their designs makes me leery.