Do eBikes belong on the mountain?

[Eldron]

If they start last they will be able to influence a race say by giving that assisted hand push of a cyclist up a hill

 

Personally there is no place for an ebike in a race. If you decided to own an ebike, then you know you will not be racing with it.

Buy that man a bells :-)

[Headshot]

May the force be with you takes on a new meaning. In a race the person with the biggest battery will win. 

[Patchelicious]

If they start last they will be able to influence a race say by giving that assisted hand push of a cyclist up a hill

 

Personally there is no place for an ebike in a race.  If you decided to own an ebike, then you know you will not be racing with it.

 

100%

 

There is a place for eBikes in cycling yes, but races is not one of them.

 

If you need an eBike to do a race, rather just do the shorter distance with a normal human powered bike.

 

How would try-athletes feel if I pitched at a 5150 with one of these. I suck at swimming so this will allow me to enjoy a triathlon, without it I can't participate.

 

Edited September 28, 2017 by Patchelicious

[Thor Buttox]

100%

 

There is a place for eBikes in cycling yes, but races is not one of them.

 

If you need an eBike to do a race, rather just do the shorter distance with a normal human powered bike.

 

How would try-athletes feel if I pitched at a 5150 with one of these. I suck at swimming so this will allow me to enjoy a triathlon, without it I can't participate.

 

I think it's perfectly fine, Patch. Very different to eBikes. I think you should go for it.

[Patchelicious]

I think it's perfectly fine, Patch. Very different to eBikes. I think you should go for it.

YES!! Thought so, I'll post pics! AquaPatch!!

[rudi-h]

i'm no ebike fan myself and may I never have a big enough brain fart to buy one personally...  but protesting ebikes in races (cycling events really, we just seem to call them races in SA) is almost like protesting washing machines back in 1908 when they were first invented...

 

like them or not, ebikes have undisputed merits and they appeal to some in a way that bicycles can never match.  Most significant advantage is that family members and friends of different physical abilities and fitness can enjoy time together in nature while each person can dial the "toughness" of their individual workouts by setting the level of assistance.

 

So why should someone and his/her boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/dad/mom/friend not be able to enter a ride together, have the weaker athlete (or both) ride on an ebike and then set the appropriate level of assistance so that both can have a good day out? 

 

You might say, then don't enter races and ride elsewhere, but lets be honest...  Races are by far the most safe and fun riding that you can find out there.  The roads are marked and marshalled, trails are maintained, land access has been arranged, water points are available and the route is safe, so to tell people they should go ride elsewhere with their ebikes is a bit shortsighted.  Maybe a few more ebikes are exactly what we need to change marginal events into something that is more sustainable in the long run?

 

Of course you need to maintain the concept of "human power only" for competition and prize purposes, but why can't you also enter sabi classic or sani2c with an ebike?  Are the rest of us really going to be that much worse off?

[NotSoBigBen]

i'm no ebike fan myself and may I never have a big enough brain fart to buy one personally... but protesting ebikes in races (cycling events really, we just seem to call them races in SA) is almost like protesting washing machines back in 1908 when they were first invented...

 

like them or not, ebikes have undisputed merits and they appeal to some in a way that bicycles can never match. Most significant advantage is that family members and friends of different physical abilities and fitness can enjoy time together in nature while each person can dial the "toughness" of their individual workouts by setting the level of assistance.

 

So why should someone and his/her boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/dad/mom/friend not be able to enter a ride together, have the weaker athlete (or both) ride on an ebike and then set the appropriate level of assistance so that both can have a good day out?

 

You might say, then don't enter races and ride elsewhere, but lets be honest... Races are by far the most safe and fun riding that you can find out there. The roads are marked and marshalled, trails are maintained, land access has been arranged, water points are available and the route is safe, so to tell people they should go ride elsewhere with their ebikes is a bit shortsighted. Maybe a few more ebikes are exactly what we need to change marginal events into something that is more sustainable in the long run?

 

Of course you need to maintain the concept of "human power only" for competition and prize purposes, but why can't you also enter sabi classic or sani2c with an ebike? Are the rest of us really going to be that much worse off?

You assume everyone that rides an e-bike has good intentions?

 

Maybe I'm just old and jaded but I don't believe that .....

 

Sent from my LG-D958 using Tapatalk

[Eldron]

i'm no ebike fan myself and may I never have a big enough brain fart to buy one personally... but protesting ebikes in races (cycling events really, we just seem to call them races in SA) is almost like protesting washing machines back in 1908 when they were first invented...

 

like them or not, ebikes have undisputed merits and they appeal to some in a way that bicycles can never match. Most significant advantage is that family members and friends of different physical abilities and fitness can enjoy time together in nature while each person can dial the "toughness" of their individual workouts by setting the level of assistance.

 

So why should someone and his/her boyfriend/girlfriend/wife/dad/mom/friend not be able to enter a ride together, have the weaker athlete (or both) ride on an ebike and then set the appropriate level of assistance so that both can have a good day out?

 

You might say, then don't enter races and ride elsewhere, but lets be honest... Races are by far the most safe and fun riding that you can find out there. The roads are marked and marshalled, trails are maintained, land access has been arranged, water points are available and the route is safe, so to tell people they should go ride elsewhere with their ebikes is a bit shortsighted. Maybe a few more ebikes are exactly what we need to change marginal events into something that is more sustainable in the long run?

 

Of course you need to maintain the concept of "human power only" for competition and prize purposes, but why can't you also enter sabi classic or sani2c with an ebike? Are the rest of us really going to be that much worse off?

Pretty simple really - it isn't fair on all the human powered athletes.

 

I also disagree on the washing machine analogy. The eike is not the next evolution of a bicycle. It isn't a bicycle at all - it's a motorbike. Just because the name says "e" instead of "motor" doesn't make it any less of a motorbike.

 

If the motor ebike was the evolution of the bike we'd all have been racing mopeds for years...

[Patchelicious]

Pretty simple really - it isn't fair on all the human powered athletes.

 

I also disagree on the washing machine analogy. The eike is not the next evolution of a bicycle. It isn't a bicycle at all - it's a motorbike. Just because the name says "e" instead of "motor" doesn't make it any less of a motorbike.

 

If the motor ebike was the evolution of the bike we'd all have been racing mopeds for years...

Spot on, that was a false equivalency.

 

Nobody is protesting the progression of science, that would be futile.

 

But in sport there are categories for a reason. Else, by that example I could take a rifle to a bow hunting competition because it's "progression". Or take a car to the 400m in the Olympics, because running is sooooooo 300 years ago ????

[Skubarra]

It's going to be interesting - I can imagine a few organisers will go with rudi-h's argument of "as long it is a social rider at the back of the field it doesn't matter" route. 

 

And to be fair in that case it doesn't, but it is a slippery slope because where and how do you draw the line?

 

Probably we will see e-bike events when the numbers start picking up and then the strong cyclists can ride with their poor weak buddies in the ebike event and not the other way around?

Edited September 28, 2017 by Skubarra

[Thor Buttox]

YES!! Thought so, I'll post pics! AquaPatch!!

better than CigarettePatch. That would really stop you if you were smokin' them all.

[Patchelicious]

These guys really don't like them.

 

https://instagram.com/p/BZjsz0BhSwg/

[Robbie Stewart]

Got passed by a oke on his e-bike at Karoo to Coast on Sunday. He was properly motoring, and his only delay was walking most of Ou Wapad with his G group. He passed me as the Ou Wapad descent became level ground, shortly before the R62 tar road at Avontuur. I never saw him again.

So, does an e-bike translate to unfair advantage? That is an unequivocal yes! They must be banned at races.

[SwissVan]

May the force be with you takes on a new meaning. In a race the person with the biggest battery will win.

Hmmmm not necessarily

It takes skill and courage to ride a faster bike faster

 

Ja i know what u getting at tho...

[lechatnoir]

Just watched Martyn Ashton ride Whistler. Yes, it's different to and able-bodied person riding and ebike and smoking regular bike riders, but still... you have to wonder

 

anyway, here's the video. I smiled all the way through. 

 

 

Next time you see someone on an ebike, think... perhaps there's a reason for it. 

[rudi-h]

Pretty simple really - it isn't fair on all the human powered athletes.

 

I also disagree on the washing machine analogy. The eike is not the next evolution of a bicycle. It isn't a bicycle at all - it's a motorbike. Just because the name says "e" instead of "motor" doesn't make it any less of a motorbike.

 

If the motor ebike was the evolution of the bike we'd all have been racing mopeds for years...

 

Washing machine was maybe was a poor analogy, but I do think in 30 years from now when ebikes will inevitably be as common or even more common on our trails and streets as any other bike, well say:  "remember those crazy days when we weren't allowed to ride our ebikes on the trails..."

 

and i get the point of being unfair to "athletes", hence the importance of splitting the "competing" crowd from the fun riders.

 

How many of the 2000 people that cycled transbaviaans with me 6 weeks ago really call themselves "athletes"...  Although there weren't many weekend warriors around, most of us were just there for the experience, enjoying the scenery, the great soup at bergplaas and throwing in a bit of suffering and friendship in the mix along with some terrible 1AM jokes about chafing body parts...

 

I live in a small town, so by far the hardest part of an event like that (and sometimes a barrier to entry) is getting people of similar ability to train and ride with you...  I was lucky to get an entry from a varsity friend that had a team member pulling out this year, but if that didn't happen I wouldn't have been able to ride the race, purely because I don't have riding buddies that are/were up for a race of that distance.

 

Unfair maybe, but I won't mind the slightest...