CAAD4 Posted March 30, 2019 Posted March 30, 2019 A mamil might feel a bit threatened if a silver haired tannie came breezing past him on chappies. Especially if she was on a bright red, 7 speed 26er wearing a lilac tracksuit and a purple rinse putting out 500 watts plus the 30 her plimsols are laying down and singing out a cheery good morning as she sailed by. This. There are a lot of them. But don't forget the young whipper snappers who despise older people on shiny expensive bikes, with smiles on their faces... ChrisF 1
CraigTaylor Posted March 30, 2019 Posted March 30, 2019 I am not a fan and I feel like they should not be allowed BUT each to their own and as long as you are out on your bike we are mates. I like the Strava point, not sure that is fair but hey, last time I checked life was not fair.
ChrisF Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 Time for a RE-think .... WOW !! At the bottom of Burry Stander I stopped and had some water. Saw a lady on a bike coming along the contour line from the pump track .... she was MOVING !! Then recognized it as an ebike .... She was going to do a U-turn onto the single track that flows from Burry Stander. I greeted, and waved her through. She comment that she had to push it as her husband was catching up .... THIS is when I realised this lady must be about retirement age ! And she was doing a DECENT speed, and was working hard enough that her breathing was showing it !!! About 10 seconds later her husband came past, also on an ebike. He was motoring !! Hey, it is downhill, and technical .... so I let RIP !! IT was only a few hard pedals before I had my fingers lightly on the brakes .... I was moving along as fast as I dared to ! And those infernal ebikes were just dissapearing into the distance !!! Now the sad reality is that I was going as fast as I felt safe to go, the physical limitations would have been another 20 to 25km/h faster, but the trail is too rutted and corrugated to go full blast ... yet these people appearing to be of retirement age simply dissapeared into the distance ...... My ego wants to lament about the advantages of motorised two wheeled monstrosities on the trails .... Yet my common sense have to admit there are some people having tons of FUN on ebikes, WHILE pushing the limits of the trails, AND (heaven forbid) getting a decent workout. dammit .... not being able to afford these bikes I so wanted to hate it ..... Tatt and WaynejG 2
Patchelicious Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 Time for a RE-think .... WOW !! At the bottom of Burry Stander I stopped and had some water. Saw a lady on a bike coming along the contour line from the pump track .... she was MOVING !! Then recognized it as an ebike .... She was going to do a U-turn onto the single track that flows from Burry Stander. I greeted, and waved her through. She comment that she had to push it as her husband was catching up .... THIS is when I realised this lady must be about retirement age ! And she was doing a DECENT speed, and was working hard enough that her breathing was showing it !!! About 10 seconds later her husband came past, also on an ebike. He was motoring !! Hey, it is downhill, and technical .... so I let RIP !! IT was only a few hard pedals before I had my fingers lightly on the brakes .... I was moving along as fast as I dared to ! And those infernal ebikes were just dissapearing into the distance !!! Now the sad reality is that I was going as fast as I felt safe to go, the physical limitations would have been another 20 to 25km/h faster, but the trail is too rutted and corrugated to go full blast ... yet these people appearing to be of retirement age simply dissapeared into the distance ...... My ego wants to lament about the advantages of motorised two wheeled monstrosities on the trails .... Yet my common sense have to admit there are some people having tons of FUN on ebikes, WHILE pushing the limits of the trails, AND (heaven forbid) getting a decent workout. dammit .... not being able to afford these bikes I so wanted to hate it ..... Any reason you saw that they wouldn’t have had as much fun on a bicycle? Simply an increase in speed on the motorbike or was there other elements? BigDL, Pieterlab1 and Hairy 3
Zatopek Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 this is getting a bit petty don't you think... who knows, the unfit newbie on his ebike that you despise might just end up being the same guy who goes out of his way to build/maintain trails every second weekend... compare that to a serious dude training for epic who would typically be way too obsessed with chasing strava segments and hitting weekly TSS targets to ever touch a rake or a shovel to fix a berm...I'm using an argument with a representative group on both sides of the e bike fence. I.e. there would be people that are willing to swing a spade in equal numbers on both sides of it. (Are there actually a trail that reduce membership fees if you swing a spade from time to time?) It's not petty. I guess rather to early for the discussion.... Let's proceed with it in a couple of years when 30-40% of members of your favourite (membership based) trail use ebikes and annual fees are increased to cover maintenance.
SwissVan Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 Anyone riding a normal pedal bike while their partner (GF, BF, Wife or hubby) rides an Ebike? Just wondering how this combo works especially when one partner is not as strong as the other, does it level the playing field....?
Grease_Monkey Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 (edited) Anyone riding a normal pedal bike while their partner (GF, BF, Wife or hubby) rides an Ebike? Just wondering how this combo works especially when one partner is not as strong as the other, does it level the playing field....?My mom and dad. Mom is crazy fit (done cycles from Richards Bay down to Cape Town, top 10 in her age group at races like Argus, lots of stage races, etc etc). My dad is 140kg+, very unfit, so got an ebike to keep up with my mom. End result: it does not work - he smokes her on every hill - it's a matter of him pedaling ahead then stopping and waiting, and then the same thing over again. On the flipsside, because of the battery limitations and his lack of overall fitness he cannot go on any long rides with her anyway. They tried to make it work for a whike - but for them it just does not. I dunno if it is just their dynamic or what - but it didn't work like they had hoped it would. Another limiting factor is that the ebike does not give any skills to riders, so when it comes to any sort of single track situtation my mom still rides far ahead of my dad on the ebike. Long story short, they still do not ride together. An ebike gives pedaking speed to unfit riders, but no skills - so there is always going to be a divide between experienced and non experienced riders. Where it does work IMO is when both have ebikes, and the stronger one uses less assistance from the motor, the weaker one uses more assistance from the motor. Edited March 31, 2019 by Grease_Monkey SwissVan 1
SwissVan Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 My mom and dad. Mom is crazy fit (done cross country cycles, top 10 in her age group at races like Argus, lots of stage races, etc etc). My dad is 140kg+, very unfit, so got an ebike to keep up with my mom. End result: it does not work - he smokes her on every hill - it's a matter of him pedaling ahead then stopping and waiting, and then the same thing over again, and because of the battery limitations and his lack of overall fitness he cannot go on any long rides with her anyway. Long story short, they still do not ride together. Where it does work IMO is when both have ebikes, and the stronger one uses less assistance from the motor, the weaker one uses more assistance from the motor.Lol interesting I’m not sure my wife would wait for me....Can see her shouting “Suffer baastid, faster baastid.... cu at the top” Hairy, Vaalhaai, ChrisF and 3 others 6
Grease_Monkey Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 Lol interesting I’m not sure my wife would wait for me....Can see her shouting “Suffer baastid, faster baastid.... cu at the top”That's the thing - on hills he (the unfit one on the ebike) must wait for her - that is how much of an advantage an ebike gives! Everywhere else (where power/speed is not involved) she must wait for him. Hairy 1
Andreas_187 Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 I've been looking at some ebike reviews on YouTube and it looks like a lot of fun. I'm not interested in an assisted road bike but it looks great for riding MTB
ChrisF Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 (edited) Any reason you saw that they wouldn’t have had as much fun on a bicycle? Simply an increase in speed on the motorbike or was there other elements? wish I could multi-quote ... as much of my amazement regarding this couple rests in the posts from Grease_Monkey ... "fun" - clearly these are experienced riders, and something tells me they would have fun on any set of wheels .... Their age MAY suggest that the ebike allows them to ride longer distances (but the way they were ripping down the single tracks flies in the face of their apparent age!). "skills" - many have made the comment that the sick-lame-and-lazy-and-unskilled ride ebikes. This couple sure DONT fit any of these stereo types !! The way they dissapeared ahead of me on that single track had MUCH more to do with their skill level than the power of the ebikes ! I was not near my top speed, as the trail simply is too rutted .... They were ripping down there like a couple of narly teenagers. I was half expecting to find them in a pile next to a berm .... "trail damage" - our dearly beloved trail master reminds us weekly that damage is primarily as a result of the blithering idiots (his words) that lock the brakes into every turn .... This couple surely did NOT do this ! Patch dont get me wrong - I, ME, and MYSELF were having a damn good time and stacks of FUN on the trails ! I probably covered less kilometers than this couple, only made it halfway up Dorstberg, had to stop once to catch my breath. For ME that is a good day on the trail. I matched my previous average speeds, with a significantly lower average heart rate (I was aiming for a slow ride). I still believe it IS possible to have stacks of fun without an ebike, as long as your legs allows. BUT, for me the revelation was that even older people on ebikes ARE capable of having a BLAST out on the trails, and it IS possible that these riders actually have some skills ! Edited March 31, 2019 by ChrisF Vaalhaai, koukie and Tatt 3
ChrisF Posted March 31, 2019 Posted March 31, 2019 Anyone riding a normal pedal bike while their partner (GF, BF, Wife or hubby) rides an Ebike? Just wondering how this combo works especially when one partner is not as strong as the other, does it level the playing field....? We are encountering more and more ebikes on the trails. Often you can see it is an older dad joining his son for a ride .... not sure of their dynamics on the trails. But they sure look happy having a cold one after the ride. The value of family and bonding time outways any other riding issues ..... Riding with the kids we typically idle along slowly. On these rides we have had older people on ebikes join us, turn the motor down to the lowest setting and they would ride as slowly as the kids, and talk to the kids, encouraging them along. Some do make it work for them Vaalhaai, rorydewet, koukie and 1 other 4
Hairy Posted April 5, 2019 Posted April 5, 2019 https://www.pinkbike.com/news/uci-threatens-disciplinary-measures-on-riders-who-compete-in-fim-e-mtb-series.html Headshot 1
Headshot Posted April 5, 2019 Posted April 5, 2019 Clearly the debate is not over. The FIM think eMTBs are moto's and the UCI think they are bicycles. What both agree on is that a revenue stream can be generated currently.
Grease_Monkey Posted April 6, 2019 Posted April 6, 2019 What both agree on is that a revenue stream can be generated currently.More of a river than a stream though
Patchelicious Posted April 7, 2019 Posted April 7, 2019 More of a river than a stream though eBikes, so it’s a current of revenue... da dum tish Grease_Monkey 1
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