Do eBikes belong on the mountain?

[GaryP]

I am not suggesting a unilateral banning of eBikes on trails. What I suggest is that if a motorbike is not allowed on the trail then that should include eBikes.

Hey. In my opinion, ebikes are not motorbikes even though they do have motors. I have personally seen the result of motorbikes on trails and again, in my opinion, their impact seemed much greater to me than ebikes. Cheers.

[Duane_Bosch]

I am not suggesting a unilateral banning of eBikes on trails. What I suggest is that if a motorbike is not allowed on the trail then that should include eBikes.

An Ebike makes about 500w which is less than 1 BHP. It also weighs about 25kg. So very little difference to a strong rider on a normal bike.

 

A motocross bike makes about 30bhp and the wheels go a LOT faster. The tires are designed to tear at the ground. They also weigh more than 120kg so your logic is off.

 

They are loads of fun and they are here to stay.

Edited May 16, 2019 by Duane_Bosch

[Ascension]

An Ebike makes about 500w which is less than 1 BHP. It also weighs about 25kg. So very little difference to a strong rider on a normal bike.

 

A motocross bike makes about 30bhp and the wheels go a LOT faster. The tires are designed to tear at the ground. They also weigh more than 120kg so your logic is off.

 

They are loads of fun and they are here to stay.

 

But soon an eBike will make 2000w. 1 Motocross bike can rip up a mtb trail in 1 go. An eBike might not be able to that yes, but there will be many eBikes, and they will do major damage to trails compared to mtbs.

[BigDL]

I have been watching this thread with some interest. The only question I have is:

 

WHO CARES IF SOMEONE, OF THEIR OWN FREE WILL, CHOOSES TO RIDE AN EBIKE OR NOT?

 

Who am I to judge? So what if I don't like ebikes? So what if I do?

 

The only thing that should matter, in my opinion, is that we all love riding our bikes, whether those are ebikes or not. That should surely be enough??

 

Cheers.

Agree with you, however the questions being posed here is should electric motorbikes be allowed on MTB trails?

[MrJacques]

Agree with you, however the questions being posed here is should electric motorbikes be allowed on MTB trails?

 

I think they will do too much damage to the trails and be a safety risk to other trail users, so no.

[Duane_Bosch]

But soon an eBike will make 2000w. 1 Motocross bike can rip up a mtb trail in 1 go. An eBike might not be able to that yes, but there will be many eBikes, and they will do major damage to trails compared to mtbs.

So eBikes are going to quadruple their power output? I doubt that VERY much. Do you know this or did you just make that up?

 

What do you base your damage statement on? I've done a fair bit of trail maintenance in my time and most trail damage I've seen is as a result of water runoff.

[Ascension]

You dont need to do trail maintenance to be able to see the damage to trails. You can just ride the trail also to see the type of damage, and all damage I have seen is from mtbs and not from water.

[Mamil]

Whenever i see an ebike i automatically judge the rider. I attribute qualities of weakness, laziness, entitlement to them without even knowing their story. This is accompanied by feelings of superiority and moral righteousness. I can't help myself. I recognise that this is pure prejudice and bigotry but that doesn't stop the feelings.

[Patchelicious]

The eBike weight point does raise another question when it comes to kids.

 

When buying a bike that weighs the same the rider, doesn't that worry other trail users a little?

 

Mambats lightie clearly shreds its harder than most of adults on here, so the question is not aimed at him. Its a more general question. I know that if I had to try and control an eBike that weighs 80kgs that I would be a safety hazard.

[Ascension]

Whenever i see an ebike i automatically judge the rider. I attribute qualities of weakness, laziness, entitlement to them without even knowing their story. This is accompanied by feelings of superiority and moral righteousness. I can't help myself. I recognise that this is pure prejudice and bigotry but that doesn't stop the feelings.

 

I suffer the same thing. And then when an eBike rider with boep and zero riding skills get to the top just before you and then you are stuck behind the thing on the st = anger.

[GaryP]

Whenever i see an ebike i automatically judge the rider. I attribute qualities of weakness, laziness, entitlement to them without even knowing their story. This is accompanied by feelings of superiority and moral righteousness. I can't help myself. I recognise that this is pure prejudice and bigotry but that doesn't stop the feelings.

 

Now that is an honest response...! 

[GaryP]

I have been looking for some actual research on the subject. Not sure if this has been posted before but here is one:

 

https://b.3cdn.net/bikes/c3fe8a28f1a0f32317_g3m6bdt7g.pdf

 

Basically the conclusion is: "This study found that the impacts from Class 1 eMTBs and traditional mountain bicycles were not significantly different, while motorcycles led to much greater soil displacement and erosion. Observations suggest that Class 1 eMTBs may lead to more displacement under certain trail conditions. More research is needed before conclusions can be drawn regarding the environmental impacts of Class 1 eMTBs as compared with traditional mountain bicycles".

[marko35s]

You dont need to do trail maintenance to be able to see the damage to trails. You can just ride the trail also to see the type of damage, and all damage I have seen is from mtbs and not from water.

Sorry but no.

A large amount of time and effort is expended dealing with the effects of water run off on trails.

I'm no fan of ebikes (I tend to hiss like an angry badger when I see one) but they in their current guise are not going to tear up trails any more than a normal bike with a 'panic braker' riding.

[Duane_Bosch]

I suffer the same thing. And then when an eBike rider with boep and zero riding skills get to the top just before you and then you are stuck behind the thing on the st = anger.

Same. But they never get to the top just before me. it's always LOOOOOOOONNG before me.

[MrJacques]

Also depends on how you ride. If you're skidding around corners and roosting berms you can cause a lot of damage on a normal mtb.

[GaryP]

Also depends on how you ride. If you're skidding around corners and roosting berms you can cause a lot of damage on a normal mtb.

True that. I am a generally cautious rider who cares about his teeth and bones. However, on one race I did, a dude with no such qualms came tearing down the hill behind me riding with a lot more skill and speed but with much skidding and sliding. Looked like fun but had no concern whatsoever about the results of that skidding an sliding