eBikes - what's the current perspective

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I just read the MTBR review of the 2018 Trek Powerfly where it says Trek European MTB sales are 30% ebikes and they're selling them as fast as they make them, which surprised me. But then again it doesn't surprise me too much. I'm guessing that as the sport expands it's doing so downwards towards the lowest common denominator, where the price of entry (I mean amount of amount of effort, skill, fitness etc, not cash) to the sport is massively reduced. I can see parallels with ebikes and the explosion of bolts in rock climbing.
 
D01 said:
I just read the MTBR review of the 2018 Trek Powerfly where it says Trek European MTB sales are 30% ebikes and they're selling them as fast as they make them, which surprised me. But then again it doesn't surprise me too much. I'm guessing that as the sport expands it's doing so downwards towards the lowest common denominator, where the price of entry (I mean amount of amount of effort, skill, fitness etc, not cash) to the sport is massively reduced. I can see parallels with ebikes and the explosion of bolts in rock climbing.
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I used to be on the purist bandwagon but then i rode one and thought, omg these things are terrible for a lot of the reasons everyone else mentions.

Then after stuffing around with mates ebike a few times (swapping bike uphill etc) I slowly warmed to the idea. I started to think about commuting. If I could cut 15 minutes off a 50 minute ride, that would be a game changer - I'd actually take the bike when I was running late and not have to shower at the end of it. Add to this I could extend my range and climb ridiculous gradients (last weekend I made it up 22% sludge hill). So yeah my perspective has changed significantly both from a utility perspective and recreation. Now we are talking about trying 100 km with craploads of climbing on terrible terrain, or 2-300km rides in a day.

For the Vic folks, see if you know this place.

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Mywifesirrational said:
Whats the riding around there like now days? haven't been there since <2006 ish.

Looks like Silvan in general is having some pretty positive progress.
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I only did fire roads and a few of the really steep climbs on the ebike - we were basically trying to find them to test our bikes! It's way too sluggish for single track so I didn't do those tracks.

Last time I did the single track on a normal (non-e) 29er I couldn't actually turn some corners - was physically impossible. However it was quite good, on the harder side for an XC bike, about right for AM and probably too much climbing for DH. Trails poorly marked (not sure they are even legal?) but aside from a lot of plant growth that kills you with a thousand paper cut type lacerations, the trails are good condition even with a bit of rain lately.
 
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D01 said:
... I'm guessing that as the sport expands it's doing so downwards towards the lowest common denominator, where the price of entry (I mean amount of amount of effort, skill, fitness etc, not cash) to the sport is massively reduced. ...
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Why guess when you can try for yourself? There's people that are actually fit and/or skilled buying ebikes, not just cashed up lazy fat, unskilled people. Why is there a stigma that you have to put all this effort and fitness in when you ride a bike anyway? Why can't I just have fun when I ride my bike?
 
D01 said:
I'm not trying to stop anyone have fun...
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Who said you were? I just gathered by your sarcasm that you THINK all ebikers are fat unskilled people that are breaking the mtb code of conduct by not putting in effort to maintain fitness (so they can climb hills).
 
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