Ebike on sani2c

[BigDL]

32 minutes ago, rorydewet said:

Is this based on fact. 

E-bikes dont like water.

I though the water level is an issue for e-bikes and normal bikes.

Have yet to read that normal bikes can go where e-bikes cant.

Thought it was the same for both.

I would assume that, where there is an electric motor / battery etc involved, there is more opportunity for failure when coming into contact with water, should water ingress anywhere into sealed units and they would be harder to dry out completely. 

[mazambaan]

16 minutes ago, BigDL said:

I would assume that, where there is an electric motor / battery etc involved, there is more opportunity for failure when coming into contact with water, should water ingress anywhere into sealed units and they would be harder to dry out completely. 

My comments were based on Giant bikes and the battery compartment is not sealed well, if at all. Water can easily penetrate where the pins make contact at the base of the battery near the motor. Just washing the bike will have some moisture there.  Drop that thing running in a pool (submerge it) and it is going to get saturated.  The incidents I quoted I saw myself, although not the Sani drowning.

Be careful out there.

[BigDL]

2 hours ago, mazambaan said:

My comments were based on Giant bikes and the battery compartment is not sealed well, if at all. Water can easily penetrate where the pins make contact at the base of the battery near the motor. Just washing the bike will have some moisture there.  Drop that thing running in a pool (submerge it) and it is going to get saturated.  The incidents I quoted I saw myself, although not the Sani drowning.

Be careful out there.

Makes sense. Why phone makers generally won't say that their products are waterproof, even if they are. 

My good mate has a Ghost bike and I swear he spends more time fixing it than riding it. TBF he rides hectic trails. 

[DieselnDust]

On 5/18/2022 at 9:03 AM, Eldron said:

I still don't understand ebikes. If you want to ride a bike then ride a bike - what is the point of taking on a challenging thing then making it easier by using a motor?

This "I want the experience but couldn't be bothered to train or sweat a little on the uphills" attitude just smacks of laziness.

 

 

Hmmmmm, maybe we should also throw the pocket calculators in the bin and go back to the slide rule..... The math pass rate in SA certainly indicates something drastic should be done

On 5/18/2022 at 9:11 AM, Eldron said:

A few times the whole race is a just enough to give you that awesome sense of accomplishment at the end though right? Maybe I am just a little too old school for ebikes but I'd much rather suffer a little and finish than hit the boost button and let the motor finish for me.

Tel me you didn't like Knight Rider... be honest.... or Airwolf...... EVERYBODY loved the WHOOOOOOOSH button

On 5/18/2022 at 9:27 AM, herrowpreeze said:

what is this cant control an ebike? what is your experience on an ebike? this agrument is boring and old

again people who have zero experience on ebike knocking ebikes

firstly its a...r...g...u...m...e...n...t     argument

secondly no one's knocking e-bikes, they're down right slating them!!1!

On 5/18/2022 at 9:33 AM, BrentCGP said:

I remember when it was just Roadies vs MTBers the Dark side vs Light Side.

Now it is as follows:

MTBers vs Roadies

MTBers vs Gravel Bikers

MTBers vs E Bikers.

May your own inference.

p.s. I dont like e bikes either, I have owned one, but see the appeal in certain cases.

I see what did there.....

might be time to identify as a roadie again......

[love2fly]

5 hours ago, rorydewet said:

Is this based on fact. 

E-bikes dont like water.

I though the water level is an issue for e-bikes and normal bikes.

Have yet to read that normal bikes can go where e-bikes cant.

Thought it was the same for both.

Was chatting to a Liv rider a fee weeks ago. Her ebike was going to be exchanged by a well known chain as it couldn't even handle a wash or the rain we'd had the week before. Maybe an anomaly but it shows a certain.....vulnerability.

[love2fly]

5 hours ago, mazambaan said:

My comments were based on Giant bikes and the battery compartment is not sealed well, if at all. Water can easily penetrate where the pins make contact at the base of the battery near the motor. Just washing the bike will have some moisture there.  Drop that thing running in a pool (submerge it) and it is going to get saturated.  The incidents I quoted I saw myself, although not the Sani drowning.

Be careful out there.

Yip. I've seen that first hand...

[DieselnDust]

On 5/18/2022 at 12:53 PM, ChrisF said:

 

Dont worry too much about the posters in these threads .....  Thankfully I have not encountered this level of keyboard warrior hatred out on the trails.....

 

By far the most ebikes in events are riden properly.  And when you start at the back, and dont ride like a box (irrespective of the type of bike), then the other riders are fine with your bike of choice.

 

At the Argus I rode next to a couple on ebikes up Smitswinkel.  The gent is a capable athlete, doing Ironman events.  For this Argus, he joined his wife on her first Argus event.  Both of them having a super chilled slow ride and enjoying the ride and the vibe.

 

 

 

At the Eselfontein event I held up NO rider on a downhill ... simply because I pulled over at the top and took photos as the bunch came past.  I only passed on twee-spoor sections where it was safe to do so.

 

 

The other reality is that most events automatically exclude ebike from any prizes ....

 

 

 

Ironcally the biggest mess I have seen .... ebikes starting 10 minutes BEFORE the regular bikes.  This caused a serious bottleneck as the racers pushed for the win .....  So my 2c .... 

You did't hold anyone up because they were all too busy doing their make up in your vast plethora of rear view mirrors 

[ChrisF]

Almost surprizing that any ebikes managed to finish the "wettest Argus" .....

[DieselnDust]

On 5/18/2022 at 2:25 PM, shaper said:

Really??? I am reading this thread totally different... mostly those who ride ebikes venomously defending their choice with a lot of sarcastic comments thrown in.... and seem to think they are somewhat better and enjoy the false sense of enjoyment/entitlement as they blast past never to be seen again, to quote one poster.  

If someone has trained hard for an event and continues to train hard for future events, they have a right to have concerns about ebikes being in the middle of cycle events and by the comments here there seems to be enough ebike riders that they could have their own day tagged onto the Sani event which is already over 3 days. So why not make it 4 days and 1 being solely for ebikes or teams with an ebike in it, even if the other half of the team does not ride an ebike.

As I see it the hate is coming the other direction because someone voiced their concern about the level of fitness and skill of people riding an ebike at Sani this year where some decent handling skills and a certain fitness level are a must and felt it was a danger not only to themselves but to the riders of ebikes.

I rode past an e-biker in Tokai whose e-bike had suffered a flat battery. Since he had sped past me earlier all smug in his speed I took great delight in informing him that he shouldn't worry, the current will be on again in 2hrs as I analogued past him. 

he mumbled something after the exchange so now when I see him I call him "Mumbles"

[throttles]

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/commuter-bikes/547744/29er-motorized-bicycle-custom-built

 

Sani 2023 🦾

[The Ouzo]

3 minutes ago, throttles said:

https://bikehub.co.za/classifieds/item/commuter-bikes/547744/29er-motorized-bicycle-custom-built

 

Sani 2023 🦾

That hot exhaust must get interesting 

[throttles]

6 minutes ago, ouzo said:

That hot exhaust must get interesting 

Makes you pedal faster... 🔥

Silver lining.. you can work on your one leg pedaling.. 

[JarradVZ]

So...

I now have an opinion on this topic. We rode Nonstop this past weekend and had a pair of e-bikes clearly racing us (for some reason). They managed to get past us on "day 3" and ended up crossing the finish line first. Because of this, Farmer Glen on the lead bike was with them instead of us. He said he could hardly keep up because they were gunning their little Bosch motors so hard. If it weren't for that, Glen would have been with us when we made our nav error 2km from home (we followed some identical markers apparently laid out by trail runners) that cost us the overall victory. I am not blaming them for our mistake, just noting that things could have been different if they behaved differently.

I reckon e-bikes are welcome but they should stay the hell away from guys racing for real podiums.

Edited June 7, 2022 by JarradVZ
Tried to make it clearer that I am not blaming them. They broke no rules.

[jcza]

43 minutes ago, JarradVZ said:

So...

I now have an opinion on this topic. We rode Nonstop this past weekend and had a pair of e-bikes clearly racing us (for some reason). They managed to get past us on "day 3" and ended up crossing the finish line first. Because of this, Farmer Glen on the lead bike was with them instead of us. He said he could hardly keep up because they were gunning their little Bosch motors so hard. If it weren't for that, Glen would have been with us when we made our nav error 2km from home (we followed some identical markers apparently laid out by trail runners) that cost us the overall victory. I am not blaming them for our mistake, just noting that things could have been different if they behaved differently.

I reckon e-bikes are welcome but they should stay the hell away from guys racing for real podiums.

Why didn't you follow GPS? (or the ebikes?)

Well done on the result, it was bloody tough out there. Personally I thought the GPS route wasn't great, took many wrong turns. 

[JarradVZ]

Ha ha. The e-bikes were out of sight.

We debated it but remembered being told that markers overrule GPS. We decided to head up the climb and then felt vindicated when we saw a 2nd and 3rd marker further up. We all assumed we had to be right not imagining that another race would be using the same damn markers.

Oh well. There is always next year.

[Mattman]

I agree that there needs to be measures to separate ebikes in races. I had a similar experience riding Amohela recently where a lady on an ebike passed most people on the hills and then doesn't have the skill or balls to ride the technical descent or small drop, causing every to go down at snails pace which is VERY dangerous.

Nothing wrong with ebikes, just keep them completely separate to those that want to use their legs only, which is the vast majority of riders.