Cuyuna

Class 1 ebikes...just another mountain bike around here. Even the self-righteous mountain bikers have stopped whining about them.

Maxacceleration

I love my pedal assist Yamaha 400 watt motor/400 watt battery Haibike. I have rode many mtn & road bikes.
There is no throttle on a pedal assist bike. You dont pedal, it dont go. Stops assisting at 20mph. Doesn't work over a 85rpm cadence. It rewards lower cadence pedaling. You can pedal at 19.5 mph endlessly lol.
I ride with friends on their normal bikes. Not to blow them away, but I do ride easy compared to them.
When the going gets tough an ebike will help you pedal thru a technical section or up a huge hill you would never make before. Fun stuff.

There is not any extra damage to trails with a pedal assist bike. You are not roosting like a motorcycle. Just pedaling easier.
Get on the pavement and you (I) can knock out miles, climb to view points that would normally kick your (my) butt. My gravel grinder tires rule everywhere.
I have road many trails without any complaint by users. They dont know usually unless we stop & chat. Sparks up good conversation mostly.
Jealousy is mostly on this thread. Its a non issue really!
Lacking fitness? Try one! Tired of suffering? I am, and have suffered enough over the years I can get sick of trying to stay my fittest.
The weight disappears under you - no kidding. Yes the bike can spoil you. ...Do it your way!




We like pictures lol.

trailangel

^^^ Nice!

DaveQ24

I have a similar perspective, although I am coming from a different, but not dissimilar, place. I crashed last summer on my non-powered Specialized, and had several injuries that made getting around, navigating public and private spaces, and doing normal activities challenging for a while. One of the things I realized quickly was that access to public spaces is a best still challenging, and at worst a real struggle for people with disabilities. I’m really lucky - and profoundly grateful - that all of my injuries could be (and 6 months later, have been) repaired and functionality restored about 99% (some weird trivial things occur once in a while - last week, as an example, I discovered that my surgically-repaired thumb and a manual stapler are a bad mix, same for trying to open a stubborn lid on a jar of salsa or olives).

I now have titanium in a few places in my body holding joints and bones together. I was able to take a couple of rides on an e-bike while still healing - 3 surgeries from August through November - the first ride was before I was allowed to walk on a broken leg - I strapped my crutches to my bike and rode. I could ONLY have done that on an E-bike.

I hypothesize that there are millions of people around the world with all manners of disabilities and medical issues who could have a little more freedom of movement, access to more places, and perhaps more pleasure and fulfillment through the use of E-bikes. So, I now bristle a little at blanket bans on e-bikes on public property. I think allowances should be made for people with documented and verifiable medical conditions, to allow them to use E-bikes in a common-sense way (reasonable limits on power and speed) on “non-motorized” public trails and paths if they would not be able to access those places without the assistance provided by a motor.

If I were permanently injured and couldn’t pedal much or at all, but could still ride, I would be really P’ed Off if I were denied the use of our local rails-to-trails network of public MUPs, one of my favorite places and paid for with tax dollars. I understand the concerns, environmental, safety, of anti-E-bikers, but ... if an E-bike is the only way someone can participate because of factors beyond their control, they should be granted that sense of inclusion.

Maxacceleration

I too have various injuries in my recent 10 years past Dave. I chose not to go that route as cycling is therapeutic for many/most injuries. Cycling heals...

You have to pedal the bike to go! There is no throttle to power past other bicycles.
Think of the pedal assist bike as matching your power output. In watts, as our power is measured. Basically it matches watts. You putting in 75 watts? Maybe it will match your 75 with 75 more watts. Ok, you're at 150 watts. And so on. There are 3 power levels on my bike. I can pedal at a crisp 15-17 mph with it, sometimes approaching its 20 mph max (yes there are ebikes that power to 28 mph).
A roadie who has 300+- watts in his legs will still out power you. For us non racers tho, the assist on climbs or technical sections is a godsend. Yes its like cheating, but you are not wearing on the trail (or pounding pavement) any more than a expert level rider.

So, for my 57 years, I can whoop on my mtb buddies on my Haibike. But I ride with them instead (we have had epic battles without ebikes to be sure).
On the pavement I have passed several road cyclists, where normally I wouldn't. I have also had roadies eat me up on the pavement. Maybe I could run with them, but I didn't try - I was not in a race with them.

Here is where I could see issue... Young 20 somethings with ego and youth. They potentially could pound some trails at amazing speed. The downhillers arent always pedaling as they are already at speed. Gravity does take away some ebike advantage, but the advantage will be pedaling up to that speed.

So I guess my opinion is... There is no harm in pedal assist bikes if you have any responsibility.
But I feel the irresponsible crowd will, as usual, blow it for the rest of us.

BTW, my recent injuries are a shattered (& screwed together) ankle from an auto accident. Broken tib/fib (rod & screws) 3 years ago (crashed my dirtbike), lower back surgery (left foot issues) & cancer twice.
I have recovered from all but I don't/haven't put out the effort for top fitness anymore! Also, my wife on her pedal assist Haibike can now go faster, for more miles than she did before. We ride together more!
FWIW!

speedy25

Sorry I'm late to this party. I havent had much time to poke around on here lately.
Basically all the negative commentary you hear about e-MTB is flat out WRONG.

They dont destroy trails
They dont lead to more accidents

My response when some ignoramus starts spouting innuendo, is declaring a new winner in the jumping to conclusions competition....and there have been some new records set recently! When they get banned, its because of people who havent got a clue and someone scared them. Get out and educate the people who run the parks. People For Bikes has some good resources. Even IMBA changed their stance last year when they realized they were wrong.

The only bad part about something new is that it could get popular and spoil it for all the luddites.

-SP

Cuyuna

The vast majority of whining that takes place about e-bikes, in my experience here but mostly on MTBR, falls into three categories:

• there's a general assumption that the presence of e-bikes will galvanize land managers and the public against any kind of mountain bike access. I've never really seen a rational explanation as to why they think that.
• they're easy to modify, and every e-biker will modify his/her bike to turn it into a 700 horsepower roosting trail-destroyer that will be indistinguishable from a Class 1 e-MTB.
• the self-righteous wing that views e-bikers as "cheaters", and are offended by people riding bikes on "their" trails without putting the sweat equity that they believe is crucial to the hobby.

bullcrap

billp91311

I think class 1 ebikes are great and have made mountain biking way more fun for me. I ride farther and longer than I did on my non-e MTB. I am also more apt to slow way down to a crawl or stop for hikers and or horses since its easier for me to get going again. As far rangers go, the only time we were spoken to was at Chesebro and they informed us that they don't ticket people on ebikes but they do inform them that they are not permitted. I can ride that whole open space area now from El Escorpion to Chesebro and back and have a great time and still get great exercise doing it. I am 59 years old and with this bike I can see riding until I am 80 and hopefully beyond. This is one great leap for the bike industry since this opens the doors for more and more people to be able to get out there and enjoy themselves and ride more whether it be off or on road.

drowling23

Someone needs to address once and for all this ridiculous argument that motorized ebikes destroy trails. I have several ebikes including an e-mtb and I don't see any way in which its operation is any different to an ordinary bike.

TommyBar

As long as it is a bicycle with pedals it does not destroy anything whether it is electric or non.. Every rider and their own preferences..

tegnamo

Good news...Mammoth bike park will be the first USFS land to allow class 1 ebikes

Not sure if it's a trail-specific thing, but at least you can ride the dang things within USFS boundaries!

BiciMan

While I mostly agree with the pro e-bike sentiment, I am confident that, riding similarly, my 50-pound e-MTB would/does in fact, if marginally, wear on the trails more than my 25-pound carbon MTB. Just logic. I could qualify this extensively, but I'm comfortable with this simple assessment.

colombo357

That's not a good assessment. Most eMTBs run fatter tires, many with 2.8s and 3.0s. No way your 25 lb bike is running anything wider than 2.5, I'd imagine.

Wide tires distribute weight with less pressure on the trail.