Originally Posted by
NeilGunton
Well, personally, I would call it a failure, because I value conquering hills as being an essential part of the bicycle touring experience. I don't like stopping on hills, let alone skipping them. But that's just me. If someone else is doing a bicycle tour, and chooses to skip a certain section for whatever reason, then that's their prerogative. The important thing is that they are doing the rest of their tour on the BICYCLE.
You could always construct gray area arguments, e.g. what if someone does a bicycle tour where 50% of the distance is done via train. I say, whatever. It's a bicycle tour if the portions you are doing as the "tour" are on a bicycle. It's really up to the individual to say where that line is, because it's completely subjective.
If you think ebikes can't say they are bike touring, but putting your bike on a train is fine, we are so far apart that there is no point in continuing this. It is utterly idiotic to think that using a train is a natural part of touring, but getting an assist from a motor is verboten, and sounds to me as if you want the definition to be exactly what you want it to be, and nothing else.
Originally Posted by
NeilGunton
Then why do you think you are seeing such push-back whenever the subject of e-bikes comes up here? I suggest it is because many cyclists object at a visceral level to having motorized transport intrude into this space, and moreover being told by people like yourself that we should just get over it, because "it's all the same".
I see the same push back every time a thread comes up about Bikes Direct bikes, and got the same push back when I was stupid enough to ask about whether friction shifters were really that bad on RBR. All it means is the forums are full of closed minded folks who cannot conceive anything but what they know, and are inexplicably annoyed by someone else doing something that doesn't affect them in any way.
Originally Posted by
BigAura
The point is: eBikes are motorbikes NOT bicycles. The world has plenty of infrastructure for motorized vehicles. Enjoy your motorized world. Hit the road AND stop
The point is, by many definitions, they are, whether you accept it or not. By many others, they admittedly are not. What is uttely confounding is that you apparently do see ebikes as more akin to an 1100cc Harley than the bike built on the exact same frame without a little electric motor. If that is the logic you are truly using, it is rather pointless to continue with you, too. Live in your macho world, to be honest I don't think the ebike touring community gives two craps that you hate what they call their activity.
As to the beating a dead horse, aren't you doing the same?