Originally Posted by
Abe_Froman
I don't see it happening.
E bikes are expensive. I think e bikes are the ultimate niche bike. There will never be enough people interested in them to be the next 'thing.'
I'm no e-bike fan, but electronics and batteries are getting less expensive every day. What I think will be self-limiting on e-bikes though is that once there is a motor, people will want a bigger motor and eventually they just morph into the electric mopeds that they are. Maybe they stay pedal "assist" to satisfy some law about where people ride them, but with the wattage available in compact electric motors, that assist could easily be set to 95% .
Originally Posted by
79pmooney
My hope - grass track racing. Won't sell a ton of bikes but could be a life changer for many. (I'd love to see inner city kids racing $600 Fuji track bikes on vacant lots. Another Nelson Vails?)
Ben
That sounds awesome. I wonder if they'd make a nice fixed gear gravel bike?
Originally Posted by
wheelsmcgee
My Midwest/rural USA perspective:
I don’t see a lot of gravel cyclists “moving on” to the next big cycling thing, at least where I live...maybe in other parts of the country. Gravel roads here are fun, challenging, abundant, offer great scenery, and in my opinion feel much safer than riding pavement (paved roads here are not designed with riding in mind, dedicated bike paths/MUPs are rare, and drivers are occasionally dangerous and inconsiderate)
I'm with you here. I didn't buy a gravel bike because I wanted to go somewhere and find gravel to ride. I bought it because I dislike driving somewhere to go ride, I was already riding gravel and the gravel bike was better at it than squeezing 38's into an old touring frame. Gravel bikes open up road cycling to the millions of Americans living in places where most of the roads aren't paved (the guys out west don't seem to understand midwest gravel riding). What would kill gravel riding here would involve millions and millions of dollars of asphalt.