Originally Posted by
alan s
The TdF is a bicycle race. That's why they don't allow doping or motors. It's not a technology race to see who can create the most effective drugs or the most powerful or efficient motors. There are limits to everything, and adding an electric motor to a bicycle, whatever you end up calling the machine, means it is no longer a bicycle. Therefore, someone riding such a machine is not engaged in bicycle touring. Perhaps there needs to be a new definition for that activity, and I'll leave it up to those who do it to come up with something. Just don't call it bike touring.
You want a definition on what I think "real" bicycle and "real" touring is?
Lets start with what is a real human powered bicycle...
1; It's a bicycle that doesn't have mechanical advantage/assistance to make it up bigger hills easing the effort required by the rider,
a single speed. A real bicycle, you know the one where there is a HUGE wheel up front and a little itsy bitsy one on the back...
2; Next, A fixie it's that simple, tho even that has a mechanical advantage but I will let it slide...
Then you start to get into the assistance part whether it's the mechanical advantage allows for easier travels and also faster as does the E-Assist...
3; A 3 speed would qualify in my book, that is where the rider is getting assistance from the gearing that gives the rider an ADVANTAGE over a fixie...
4; Then along comes the 10 speed, an even bigger advantage over the 3 speed because of the mechanical assistance is greater.
5; Then we fast forward to today and everyone basically rides a 27 speed and that is the standard that everything is judged by today... TOTALY ignoring the fact that if you really want to do your tour totally un-assisted (mechanically or electrically) and tell others the tale of how you conquered those mountains, you must ride a fixie or you are cheating as compared to if you did the same thing with a fixie (the only "real" un-assisted) bicycle....
and, if you want to brag, do it on a unicycle, that will put hair on your chest that people would envy...
That is how I see it anyways... And yes an E-Assist is a greater and different type of assist, but a mechanical advantage is also an assist, even tho some people don't seem to recognize it as such...
To keep on the topic of touring, yes it's touring, even on an E-Assist bicycle, and will/would/does allow more people to do "touring". IMO