Stop bleeping at me! And winking….I think it’s W R O N G ….

😂

I don't personally have an issue with gadgets or Ebikes, especially in urban settings. Can see myself commuting on one when i'm a bit older and creakier, and definitely would be useful for a cargo bike type thing.

Less so an E-mtb. When i'm in the hills I like being analogue, and treading lightly.
 
Blimey LGF isn’t that indeed the case…it can be bonkers…but (mostly) you can hear them coming…like cantering elephants….
 
Tech/data can be fun but the beeps during a ride (especially someone else's beeps) would get annoying quickly.
 
…can I see myself using an e-mtb at some stage? Currently, even at my advanced age, I am not so sure…

Danny McA is keen…but not a typical punter

Consensus in my neck of the woods is that increasingly, they are beginning to look and feel like electric trials bikes - I lifted a Specialised this week just to check the weight, and I know that it was lighter that a 90’s KTM but they increasingly are looking like being more like eco-motorbikes than true MTBs….

Spot the difference

1637918531701.jpeg

And the Specialized cousin…

1637918660293.jpeg
 
my first thought when I saw a first full suspension bike "just missing an engine" and the engines have now arrived!
 
2manyoranges said:
…can I see myself using an e-mtb at some stage? Currently, even at my advanced age, I am not so sure…

Danny McA is keen…but not a typical punter

Consensus in my neck of the woods is that increasingly, they are beginning to look and feel like electric trials bikes - I lifted a Specialised this week just to check the weight, and I know that it was lighter that a 90’s KTM but they increasingly are looking like being more like eco-motorbikes than true MTBs….

Spot the difference

View attachment 585815

And the Specialized cousin…

View attachment 585816
Click to expand...

mdvineng said:
my first thought when I saw a first full suspension bike "just missing an engine" and the engines have now arrived!
Click to expand...
I did a day wheel building course at Bicycles by Design, in January 2020 just before COVID hit - lovely people. Sat in the workshop on the hallowed wheelbuilding stool chatting bikes and biking all day long, was great. They were absolutely evangelical about e-bikes - what it was allowing people to do in hilly staffs, long-distance coast-to-coast type riding and 2nd car type use. Very much as a game changer for transport generally, and for who can access cycling. There were some cargo and road e-bikes in the workshop and on display, but also a few monsterish 1940s army-issue motorbike alike cross-country tourer/bike packing ones.

I observed some looked a bit beefy and Pete pointed to the recently installed double-sided motorcycle servicing lift/hoist bang smack in the middle of the workshop - they simply couldn't lift/suspend a lot the e-machines for servicing without it. They also said a lot of the bigger bikes come with a 'recovery package' where the equivalent of the AA come out with a quad bike trailer to haul you home if you have a mechanical, because you're not pushing/shouldering the thing if it does fail any distance from home.
 
I look forward to when people are using them a lot more to commute, go shopping, taking kids to school, hauling stuff to the allotment etc - it is a really good thing.

But for recreation on a Saturday morning through the woods - no time pressures, no load to carry etc - this is where I become a little more sceptical of it.
 
Ah … apart from the suicidal speed of some e-bikes in town, if they reduce the number of cars and allow more urban mobility then I agree that there is great benefit. But there can be a very high cost of entry: I bought a very nice Polo for my daughter recently - 3900 gbp. Can be parked securely in its own right. Decent e-bike: tends to be very off-road oriented, and costs more than that. And very prone to theft/component-stripping in urban settings.

It feels like they have their place in the greening of society, I agree.
 
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