E-Bike vs non E-bike ?

84projectFORD said:
for the price ive seen some of them, id just buy a dirt bike lol
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Literally why I don't own one. I looked at them and thought... I can buy a motorcycle for that.

To me? NOT cheating but I am not a MTB purist or whatever you want to call it. I have always been into things with motors and a bicycle with a motor is like a motorcycle which is something I like more then bicycles.
 
Dsrtrcr01 said:
Literally why I don't own one. I looked at them and thought... I can buy a motorcycle for that.

To me? NOT cheating but I am not a MTB purist or whatever you want to call it. I have always been into things with motors and a bicycle with a motor is like a motorcycle which is something I like more then bicycles.
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Sure but can you ride your motorcycle on mtb trails?... obviously depends on where you are riding even on e bikes. some trail systems aren't about that ebike life.

For me, it's an hr drive to the nearest place I could fire up a Dirtbike. unless I wanted to go full John Connor.
Where I've got a trailhead less than 30 seconds from my driveway and dozens of trails systems within a short drive.
 
I've got nothing against the e-bikes, but they have a hell of a time in technical terrain. The trails out here are low speed and extremely rocky, and the few people that have e-bikes seem to end the day more tired than the rest of us.

I'm a very casual rider on an old single speed Gary Fisher hardtail, and I have a blast with $400 into the MTB hobby. If someone wants to drop the coin and wrestle an E-MTB around the trails, more power to them I suppose. I bet they'd be pretty sweet in more open terrain.
 
badlinesgoodtimes said:
Sure but can you ride your motorcycle on mtb trails?... obviously depends on where you are riding even on e bikes. some trail systems aren't about that ebike life.

For me, it's an hr drive to the nearest place I could fire up a Dirtbike. unless I wanted to go full John Connor.
Where I've got a trailhead less than 30 seconds from my driveway and dozens of trails systems within a short drive.
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i guess thats where that differs for me. out here, there is more dirt biking single track than there is mountain biking. I can ride right from the house too which is sweet. Flagstaff and the White Moutains probably have the highest number of mtb stuff but surprisingly, in flag the bikes have to share with motorcycles on single track stuff. not all trails are that way but lots are.

i did downhill a few times in CO and it was a blast, sure as hell had me looking for a bike but if i could have an electric motor to help my lack of cardio get back up the mountain for more downhill, id be all for it.

i think those against the e bike are just against change in general. i dont see how they are so bad but maybe im missing something since i dont ride them. at the end of the day, its all about having some riding ethics and common courtesy.
 
My wife and I each have an electric bike (Ecotric) hers was about $800 and mine $900 and since the streets have hills in my area we use them to go to the Farmers Market to buy Tamales and sometimes the store. They both have pedal assist and a throttle but I try to only use as little assist as needed when going up hills but because they are a little heavier it's more often then I would like. We bought the folding kind so if we take the wife's car we can throw them in. I think they have their place but I will say that where I live every damn 12 year old has one and I never see them pedal. I think every kid should have a reqular bike so they could struggle like I did riding up hills and 4 miles to Jr High every day....lol
 
badlinesgoodtimes said:
Sure but can you ride your motorcycle on mtb trails?... obviously depends on where you are riding even on e bikes. some trail systems aren't about that ebike life.

For me, it's an hr drive to the nearest place I could fire up a Dirtbike. unless I wanted to go full John Connor.
Where I've got a trailhead less than 30 seconds from my driveway and dozens of trails systems within a short drive.
Click to expand...
That's why my New bike has a license plate. I ride wherever now. There are less areas to ride a MTB then actual dirtbikes around me. I guess you could ride the bikes where we ride the bikes but I doubt it would be fun. The mtb trails are close but less area to ride.
 
I was against it until I went for a ride on one. A Buddy of mine had a spare.... He said let's go for a ride I was like sure man. I'll ride my bike he's like no no I got you... Specialized Turbo Levo.. we did 20 miles 4500 feet of climbing in like an hr and a half. I was on the ride with some older guys 50 + the all had their bikes in Turbo, fast setting, I was in the eco/mid-range and still hanging no problem. It basically takes most of the suck factor out of the climbing ( Which I happen to enjoy) you can pop off stuff on an uphill where normally I'd be spinning 2nd or 3rd gear. I was trying climbs I would never attempt on my regular bike... basically, it upped the fun factor on the uphill. The downhill I really didn't notice much of a difference other than it was heavier to throw around and it needed more brakes.

Some things it opened my eyes to...
- you can still get just as much of a workout if you push yourself
- you can go check out way more remote trails
-you can ride twice as far in the same amount of time
- trail maintenance is way easier to ride with tools


Now does it suck when you get your doors blown off by some overweight middle-aged women, When you are pinging it off the rev limiter on a climb? Yea for sure but it would suck even worse if she was on a non-ebike, right? At the end of the day does it really matter what someone else is riding or how fast they get there on said bike ? No. Why? because YOU have to pedal YOUR pile of parts to the top.

All that said while I can... I'm sticking with my non ebike.

E
 
There was a guy on the street yesterday on one that had all the travel and dude did block long wheelies when leaving from a red light. He beat every car to the next light. I want that one.
 
A conversation I had a while back with some random at a shop visit -

He and his buddies rode e-bikes. He was late 40s and was more about having friends to go ride with (his age group) vs trying to be a Lance Armstrong. He and his buddies all got turned onto the e-bikes after they went to somewhere in Utah. Basically they were able to rent bikes and go check out more trails on an E-bike vs killing themselves on a regular MTB.

With that said there are probably two sides to every story... I ride to get a work out in on the weekly. But since I'm no pro and get winded easy I'd probably prefer renting an E-bike if checking out a new region or state if I'm only going to be visiting for a short period of time.
 
You still can get your heart rate way up on a ebike on climbs. You just do it at a way faster speed. The one I borrowed I averaged about 7.5 mph up to block house in eco. I was winded at the top. I still have the traditional one buy would get a e bike In a second if I the money. A dual sport is higher on the list. Places like Idylwild are ebike heaven with the miles of single track and the elevation changes. 20 miles would be easy and I could shuttle myself back up to the cabin. And I paid more for my Giant Trance than I did my used CRF 450r a few years earlier.
 
Now that I have my YT Decoy, I am upset I waited so long. ;)

Downsides
1) The ebike is nowhere near as playful as my Amish bike was. 20lbs will do that. I don't look for things to pop off of as much anymore as it is fairly non dramatic. The Decoy is faster everywhere than my Trance and line choice is way less of an issue as it just goes through it.
2) the Amish bike does better is cope with the transition from down to up in the wrong gear. Might be a lot due to my old motor system but where I could brute force the Amish bike up stuff the ebike says "Nope" due to needing higher cadence for the motor to send power.
3) Only having a 540 battery gets worrisome around the 20 mile mark. These beasts don't pedal well with no power.
 
Where I'm at, it seems inevitable that the majority of mountain bikers will end up on e-bikes within the next few years.

I've got both, and I probably always will, but not for the reason you think. A nice light, slack, long travel, regular bike will always be my go to for bike park and shuttle laps.

The only reason I ride my regular bike more than my ebike on trail rides at home is because I still have friends that do the same. That number is going down though, and when I've got homies to trail ride more distance in the same amount of time on an ebike, you can bet I'm gonna be doing that. Shoot, 3 more of the local homies just jumped on the recent sale of levos. They're dropping like flies.

At Mammoth or Northstar or Whistler or whatever though, I'll stick with something more playful...which is funny because in the future that'll probably end up being a dh bike.
 
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