Originally Posted by
MixedRider
You make some very valuable points in earlier posts, so lets not make this a philosophical debate about ebikes being in existence.
It wasn't. I was arguing that motorized bicycles don't belong on a bicycle touring forum, that's all.
Look at it this way. You already exclude most of the world of topics from this forum. I doubt people would say it's ok to post threads on ATV's here. But I'm sure people tour on ATV's, and they probably encounter some of the same issues (camping etc) that bicycle tourists do. But we don't allow those discussions, because it's not "bicycle touring". All I am saying is that surely one of the fundamental aspects of "bicycle touring" is that there is no motor involved, no external power input.
I have said explicitly that I am not against the idea of e-bikes, so please don't twist my words to make it seem like that's my position. This is about what belongs here in a forum that is ostensibly about bicycle touring.
It sounds like you are completely opposed to e-bikes for touring. However, in post #189 you state you have tolerated some posts on your website about e-bikes. I just did a google search of your website and there are numerous ebike entries.
Let me google that for you
Yes, I try to be a little bit tolerant. I'm also against religion, and the rules state that it's a "Religion Free" zone, but there are journals on crazyguyonabike where people talk quite openly about their faith, and I didn't ban them. I'm not going to ban someone just because they mention e-bikes, so sometimes a discussion will happen. I can't help that. Usually, you'll find that such discussions are somewhat curtailed by me saying that e-bikes are not permitted in the journals, which they aren't (but sometimes I might still miss one, especially if the author doesn't make it clear). I don't recall ever saying that it's "open season" for e-bikes on crazyguyonabike. The website has been around for a good long while and has had a lot of forum discussions, so the fact that there are some findable mentions of the term on google doesn't surprise me at all... but again, if you ask me, then I'll tell you that crazyguyonabike is not the place for e-bike journals.
There appears to be a fine-line where input from people touring on ebikes can provide valuable feedback as it relates to touring, even on crazyguyonabike. That is the whole point of discussion of this thread. So where is that said line?
IMHO, If the post is mostly about the e-bike, then no, it doesn't belong here. But if you toured, on a legally allowed ebike, what is the harm of posting about your experience of the tour, providing input as to touring? People can decide for themselves if it is something they like or not.
Because of the whole slippery slope argument I made earlier. If you say that e-bikes are part of bicycle touring now, then it'll get harder and harder to distinguish that line as the technology improves down the line. What might be fairly obvious right now, in the industry's infancy, is just going to get more fuzzy, I guarantee. In any case, I think a much clearer line to draw, and one that makes intuitive sense to most cyclists, I'd warrant, is to simply say "no motors". Note that I'm not saying "you can't ride an e-bike", or even "you can't have a forum about them", or even "you can't have an e-bike touring forum" (I will almost certainly have one over on topicwise). My point is that they don't belong in *this* forum. Human powered is one of the basic tenets of "bicycle touring", I thought. If we start muddying the water by bringing motors into it and saying that it's all ok just because of some fuzzy inclusiveness mantra, then it'll get ever harder to say what's ok and what isn't. That was my point.
I didn't want to get back into this, but since you addressed me directly I felt you deserved a reply, so there you go.
Neil