eBikes - what's the current perspective

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Knuckles

Lives under a bridge
All these fat chunts breaking the mountain biking codes of conduct, should have their bloated carcass' staked out for the crows to feed on!

These arseholes make CXers look half normal.
 

Mr Crudley

Glock in your sock
You saying Ideate's fat, and braking the mtb code of conduct?
No, not at all, I'm tight with the code of honour :) This is a big physical advantage for those descents, so should be embraced and forgotten about on those climbs. For all I know, Ideate's wallet and tyres might be the only fat bits.
 

moorey

call me Mia
No, not at all, I'm tight with the code of honour :) This is a big physical advantage for those descents, so should be embraced and forgotten about on those climbs. For all I know, Ideate's wallet and tyres might be the only fat bits.
Stop fat shaming Ideate.....
 

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
Sooooooooo, I've ridden an E Bike. A fully automated throttle controlled E bike. The short version of a long story:
I've been in Canada for a few weeks. Yep, I took my downhill bike and I rode six bike parks; an absolute dream come true. Twas a hot day in downtown Whistler and after a six hour session on A Line, my arms were a tad limp. I found wifey parading around Whistler village admiring all the wares and we decided we'd head to a nearby lake for a refreshing dip. The apartment I had has secure bike storage in the form of a rental store that has all sorts of bikes..............including E Bikes. I told the guy we wanted to grab an upright bike for a half hour pedal to Lake Alta and he said we get half price rates 'cause we're staying in the building. Sweet! I looked at the range and he said to take his new E Bikes for a fang. Wifey snickered under her breath but I jumped at it seeing an opportunity to get a better opinion. We signed our forms, paid our cash and were shown how to operate the bike and off we went.
We had the bikes for two hours, cruised around the great paths in Whistler, around the golf course and onto the shared track around Lake Alta. Yep, the scenery is awesome, the weather was fine, the birds were singing and the water was just warm (cool?) enough to swim in. There was a problem though.........................




EVERY single person on the shared path be it a pedestrian or a mountain biker gave us the greasiest looks known to man. I shit you not, even the kids on balance bikes clenched their teeth and glared at us. I'll be honest, I pedaled most of the ride and used the throttle to get over a couple of hills and wound it out on a flat open road where it topped out at 42km. We were passed by a group on E Bikes going in the same direction while we were cruising along looking at the gardens on the golf course and they were all on the throttle and not pedaling doing a good speed. We saw them ride straight through a T intersection further up and thought it best to find a good spot to chill out away from those mongs.
It was easy to see why the locals seemingly despise the stupid things, they are a fucking menace and totally not what you want to be sharing any sort of trail with. The guy renting them to us said he rides one from home to work each day in the cycle lane on the roadside and knows how much they piss people off but he plays it cool as he's wearing his business shirt. He told us a story of a group getting an E bike from another store and were riding them on the dirt jumps near the car parking in Whistler just being total arsehats. Unluckily for them, some of the crew who had just shaped some new stuff on the pump track were having beers in the shade and hammered these jerks with the hose, causing one of the bikes to stop working. They kept it and scared the morons off and later fronted the rental store and got the details of the riders. He didn't say what the end result was but he said there were charges chucked in.
Look, I get the desire to ride an E Bike. I see a huge benefit in pedal assist and I love the idea of getting people on bikes that may have blown a knee and can't pedal so much. There's tons of good reasons why these things should exist but people just can't help themselves if they're given the chance to be a dick. These throttle operated hunks of lard have no place on anything shared or on anything not built to house them. Again, they are a bloody menace and I wish I had gotten a ladies nine speed cruiser for my cruise around the lake.
 

Calvin27

Eats Squid
EVERY single person on the shared path be it a pedestrian or a mountain biker gave us the greasiest looks known to man. I shit you not, even the kids on balance bikes clenched their teeth and glared at us.
Sums up my first ebike ride to work. Funny thing is it's wasn't that much faster (with 29er configuration) compared to my road bike.
 

Stredda

Runs naked through virgin scrub
Sooooooooo, I've ridden an E Bike. A fully automated throttle controlled E bike.
So do you mean this was one of those bikes with a twist throttle like a motor bike or a pedal assist where you have to pedal to go.

I really have no issue with pedal assist bikes, yet to try one though and probably wouldn't buy one (well maybe at least not for another 10 years or so)

When it comes to a twist throttle bike with no power limitation, they are really just an electric motor bike even if they do have pedals.
 

Dozer

Heavy machinery.
Staff member
So do you mean this was one of those bikes with a twist throttle like a motor bike or a pedal assist where you have to pedal to go.

I really have no issue with pedal assist bikes, yet to try one though and probably wouldn't buy one (well maybe at least not for another 10 years or so)

When it comes to a twist throttle bike with no power limitation, they are really just an electric motor bike even if they do have pedals.
A twist throttle, just like a motor bike. You have to do two full crank rotations before the throttle can engage just so you can't throttle off from a standing start. And yes, I agree, a pedal assist bike has it's place.
 
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