Do eBikes belong on the mountain?

[Robbie Stewart]

watched a man kitted to the nines in his all-mountain gear descend the mineshaft at Meerendal on his e-bike (think it was Giant, but don't quote me on that).

So, he reaches that minute double before the new bit veering off to the left, where that minute gap is flowing into the berm/non-drop off/switchback bit.

Guy stops, rolls over the mini-double at crawling speed, chicken-run's the mini-gap, and walks the non-drop off, before crawling the rest of the bit to where I was waiting for my boet to finish fixing his tyre.

Finally, the dude reaches us, and nearly moers off as he navigates his way between us as we were standing either side of the ST. We were probably 2m apart at that stage...he then blasts of into the proverbial sunset on his steed, feeling all gung-ho on his mountain bike...

E-bikes. Gotta love the poser's...

[SwissVan]

'the chunder'? Man I'm getting old .....

 

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Despite my age, If I see some chunder (vomit) on the trail I will bunny hop (pronk) over it

[ChrisF]

.....

 

E-bikes. Gotta love the poser's...

 

Interesting post .....

 

Some may recall my posts about taking our little for skills training.  We have joined his couch on a number of rides since then.  On one particular ride there were a couple of families. 

 

One lady had not ridden a bike in about 20 years and were trying to get into it .... She happens to be a runner and had some seriously powerful legs and powered up the hills !!  Downhil she was super slow .... then the mini-burms from the pumptrack down to start.  She was going at less than walking pace !!!  To the point where she literally fell over in one of the turns.  I helped her up, gave some pointers and then followed her down, and kept on giving her pointers ... half way down she started relaxing a bit and managed to get from a crawling to a slow but steady pace.  A few more slow laps and she will be able to ride with her kids, and enjoy the trails as a family

 

There are MANY new riders at Meerendal !

 

Surely ill advised for a new rider to head on down to the mine-shaft though !  

 

But calling such new riders "posers" ..... maybe rather take a moment and assist them ?

 

 

 

reminds me of Sunday's ride with Maritz .... few months back I had to put my hand on his shoulder and help him up the steep hills.  Now he WANTS to ride up the steep hills, and he wants to do so without me helping him.  He may take a water-break halfway up, but no way may I assist !  And so we go from the pump track towards Dorstberg, up that first steep section, to join the contour line towards Burry Stander.  Obviously the last 40m is too steep for a 6 year old !  He gets off and pushes his bike up .... two riders encourage him ..... another takes a moment to tell me just how heavy a kids bike is and that I really should not let a kid struggle like that ...... meanwhile, Maritz is super stoked about having cycled the "old route" on his own and just how far he got on the new section under his own steam, wanting to go back to cycle even further ...... 

 

interesting how external perceptions often completely miss the reality of the situation.

[Tony datoy]

I was an ebike sceptic until Greg Minnar Cycles lent me a Levo for a weekend. Bike charged, I headed for the trails at first light on Saturday morning with a friend who already owned a Levo. What a blast, we rode every trail the bike park had to offer.

 

Two weeks later, I bought two Levo's; now my wife and I get to ride together at the same pace.

 

We're not in it to win it, we're not competing against fellow cyclists, we're just enjoying the great outdoors together.

 

If we're courteous to one another and we allow fellow cyclists who are trying to get KOM to pass, there is no reason that we can't enjoy the trails together. Ironically I have a few KOM's in the ebike category on Strava already.

 

In all honesty I haven't ridden my Pyga since getting a Levo, overall a Levo is a blast, it's just so much fun getting to the to of a mountain now.

 

If you can't afford a Levo, don't take one for a ride.

[Bonus]

I came flying down the hill from our village towards the end of last year and as I got near to the bottom, I saw two riders, a man and a woman, who'd just started the climb coming the other way. I thought I'd turn around and catch them going back up so I rolled for a bit, turned around and gave chase.

 

I assumed from the look of them that this wouldn't be too bigger problem to achieve. Turns out I assumed wrong. By the time I got to the outskirts of our village back at the top I still hadn't caught them. Finally saw them where they'd stopped to take photos of the view of the mountains!

 

I was broken and panting like a Labrador, they were on e-bikes and having a lovely day out :-)

[ChrisF]

I was an ebike sceptic until Greg Minnar Cycles lent me a Levo for a weekend. Bike charged, I headed for the trails at first light on Saturday morning with a friend who already owned a Levo. What a blast, we rode every trail the bike park had to offer.

 

Two weeks later, I bought two Levo's; now my wife and I get to ride together at the same pace.

 

We're not in it to win it, we're not competing against fellow cyclists, we're just enjoying the great outdoors together.

 

If we're courteous to one another and we allow fellow cyclists who are trying to get KOM to pass, there is no reason that we can't enjoy the trails together. Ironically I have a few KOM's in the ebike category on Strava already.

 

In all honesty I haven't ridden my Pyga since getting a Levo, overall a Levo is a blast, it's just so much fun getting to the to of a mountain now.

 

If you can't afford a Levo, don't take one for a ride.

 

after a couple of knee operations my wife dont cycle any more ....

 

I have offered to buy her an ebike, and would do so gladly if she ever decided to come ride with us !!!

[GLuvsMtb]

Still the biggest problem with this is ego. The ebiker who cannot resist the competition but who can't ccept that he is not a pure cyclist, and the pure cyclist who doesn't like the feeling of being passed by Uncle Bob if Uncle Bob is acting decently on the trails.

 

If both groups accepted that both have different uses and stuck within some logical behaviour all would be well.

 

But that's just happy thinking... Meanwhile I have strapped an outboard to a dugout and entered a local surfski race. Let's see what happens

How do you feel about Ski-lifts (on the Northern Hemisphere of course) and bakkie-shuttles (at home of course). Are those guys also not ‘pure cyclists’?

 

 

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[GLuvsMtb]

.

Edited April 28, 2018 by GLuvsMtb

[Bonus]

How do you feel about Ski-lifts (on the Northern Hemisphere of course) and bakkie-shuttles (at home of course). Are those guys also not ‘pure cyclists’?

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Aaah man! Don't get me started on those guys that come all the way to Ainsa to ride Zona Zero and then want lifts up to the top of all the hills . . .

 

;-)

Edited April 28, 2018 by Bonus

[Thor Buttox]

How do you feel about Ski-lifts (on the Northern Hemisphere of course) and bakkie-shuttles (at home of course). Are those guys also not ‘pure cyclists’?

 

 

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You know that's a false equivalence, because downhill racing on real bikes is also a subset of the sport.

 

The 'purity' I spoke of was only meant in a competitive context - cycling has always been human-powered without mechanical/electric assistance, whether marathon or downhill after a skilift up.

 

In the same way, wrt my stupid outboard dugout joke is that one is paddling and the other boating. We just haven't separated them in our little world yet. To complete your skilift analogy as I intended, guys who drive with bike on their car to a race are pure cyclists, guys who drive with an ebike are competing in a race, and may be exerting themselves muchly, but they are not pure cyclists. IMHO in a competitive environment.

Edited April 28, 2018 by Thor Buttox

[gadi-perl]

Been watching this thread with some amusement...

 

Coming from a totally different sport, It amazes me how critical, judgemental and brassy cylists are compared to some other sports...

Baggies vs Lycra

Specialized vs other brands

29ers vs other sizes

blah blah blah etc

 

Ive started to enjoy the tech side of the sport, trying to understand bits and bobs of geometry of bikes, gear ratios, suspension etc

 

This e-bike debate is pointless and a waste of energy...

 

Ride what you want to ride

Dont ride what you dont want

 

ps the Specialized Levo i demo-ed recently thanks to the guys at Revolution Cycles was incredible, fun, and playful.. Got a great sweat, workout, and sure, lots of KOMS, and PBS, naturally.. which i then erased...

 

So get over yourself if you a) believe an E-bike is the same as a motorbike, and b) some dude beats you up the hill

[Eldron]

I thought we had solved this. No issues with Emotorbikes on the trails but they're a big no no in races ????

Edited April 28, 2018 by Eldron

[ChrisF]

I thought we had solved this. No issues with Emotorbikes on the trails but they're a big no no in races

 

jaaaa, but that was on page 20 ... time to re-post all the same arguments ....    

 

and in another 20 page we will rinse and repeat ..... 

 

and with each cycle there will be more ebike owners .... 

 

who knows, maybe Mr Thor himself may reconsider the purity of his posts ...    

[Patchelicious]

Jeeeeeezuz people can be sensitive.

 

Try understand what is being said and stop getting selectively upset.

[Eldron]

jaaaa, but that was on page 20 ... time to re-post all the same arguments ....

 

and in another 20 page we will rinse and repeat .....

 

and with each cycle there will be more ebike owners ....

 

who knows, maybe Mr Thor himself may reconsider the purity of his posts ...

I do love the "single representative sample" argument... I met ONE guy on an ebike that rode like a tjop. Therefore they're ALL tjops. Its science. Bitches.

[Thor Buttox]

jaaaa, but that was on page 20 ... time to re-post all the same arguments ....

 

and in another 20 page we will rinse and repeat .....

 

and with each cycle there will be more ebike owners ....

 

who knows, maybe Mr Thor himself may reconsider the purity of his posts ...

Chris, re-read both my post from 3 pages ago about ego and the one above. I am actually agreeing with all your posts about their place and their benefits. And if anyone thinks my representative sample is based on a tjop, they are wrong. Here they are used by everyone including posties to deliver mail. I had a lovely old fella zoom up behind me into a stiff breeze the other week while I was labouring under the misapprehension that I was a half decent cyclist. We chatted for a whole and then he zoomed off - HE said he knows he's not a 'pure' cyclist, apologised for not being able to wait to draft me. All perfectly civilised. Seems only in Africa are there so many labouring under their illusions - on BOTH sides.

 

Getting angry about my post above is exactly the converse of getting angry at those who don't want them on the trails at all - and that was exactly the point of my first post about ego.