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By all means say so, but do you want to say why? I’m open to argument, but if I went swimming with someone who was using invisible fins while I wasn’t, and he was consistently able to out-perform me when I didn’t expect it, then I would be left wondering why. Hell, I might even get a bit frustrated.
In that case you're an idiot.
Do you often "go swimming" with folk you don't know?
Is he one of jesus' mates?
I can't think of anyone in (my version of) real life with invisible water going footwear.
I don’t know what the answer is, although I am inclined to think that if we could visually demarcate ebikes somehow, so that psychologically we made the distinction between the “pure” activity and the “assisted” activity, it would be a good thing.
Unless you're some how cheating others, ie in a race pretending that you're not on an emtb then I don't see the problem, aesthetics matter to me & probably others*
*FWIW I have an external battery.
PS, Gary tell them what you have bought, lovely looking ebike 🙂
If, however, I knew he was using fins (i.e. they were fully visible), it wouldn’t bother me at all, as their visibility would be like disclosure.
assuming you're trying (badly) to make some sort of comparison between "fins" and an Ebike motor.
There's not a single emtb that it's not baltantly obvious has a motor.
but even if there were. WTF cares?
My instinctive position was that an apparently healthy dad and son riding ebikes around trails should not be confused with the rigours of actual riding.
I feel it worth pointing out that apparently healthy doesn't mean healthy. I expect I look apparently healthy, unless you're riding with me for a while and see me unable to stand once I get off the bike sometimes or the amount I fall off going uphill because of my balance and lack of leg strength to catch myself.
Can't see a time when "everyone" is in an emtb, but they're clearly here to stay. Personally I don't care either way, I don't get wound up by folk on them as some people on t'internet seem to it's just another way of enjoying the countryside like horseriding or walking.
In that case you’re an idiot.
Thank you for that.
Funny, though, I remember coming on here a number of years ago expressing how surprised I was that, when climbing a particularly challenging road in Cardiff, an older man who started behind me, went pedalling by seemingly effortlessly before disappearing. Naively, I hadn't even thought of an ebike at the time, but people on here didn't seem bothered that I might be somewhat taken aback at being passed the way I was. But I guess I'm an idiot.
I feel it worth pointing out that apparently healthy doesn’t mean healthy.
Yes, I know, and I was going to add a parenthetical comment to that effect, but figured I wouldn't need to. I guess I was wrong. Sorry.
Yes, I know, and I was going to add a parenthetical comment to that effect, but figured I wouldn’t need to. I guess I was wrong. Sorry.
It wasn't necessarily aimed at you :). Some (few) people do seem to forget/feel it necessary to pass negative comments when out and about though so just thought I'd bring it up.
PMSL @sharkbait
😀
Needs less tabs moar weed but the rest is spot on
but people on here didn’t seem bothered that I might be somewhat taken aback at being passed the way I was. But I guess I’m an idiot.
Ok. idiot might have been a touch strong. But why would you care so much it would frustrate you?
your hill climb in Cardiff wasn't a race.
Are you taken a back or frustrated when an old guy overtakes you in his car/motorbike/The Bus on the same hill?
Do you sit in the outside lane of the motorway in your own car stopping anyone with a faster car passing you?
It's utter madness getting wound up about Emtbs.
and it's utterly delusional puting them into a wee box labelled [for the old/physically challenged/Lazy/Fat etc.]
They're just fun.
Loads of fun.
gotta agree with the "cyclist" comment made earlier.
Ride yer bike... But whatever you do don't become a "Cyclist" Bunch of weirdos the lot of 'em.
The only thing that annoys me about the old guy that regularly e-cycles past me up the Old Logging Way is the cheery way he rings his bell 😁
Is it cheating using a 22lb xc hardtail on the climbs and a dh bike on dh tracks?
What a load of shite
I'm inclined to agree! Enjoy your own ride, it doesn't matter even a tiny little bit what others are doing / riding.
riding bikes is very serious business which shall be undertaken in an approved manner.
It’s utter madness getting wound up about Emtbs
Whereas constantly arguing with people about it is a sign of complete sanity
DebZ, to be fair, you bite more than most on here! 😊
Can we combine all the Ebike threads on here into one long thread?#
Not only would it be massively helpful but we could see whether the post count would anywhere come close to the one about a mediocre titanium gravel bike that was apparently er... "lush?"
Can we combine all the Ebike threads on here into one long thread?
Thin end of the wedge that. Apply that to the forum and it'll be left with about 5 threads.
- e-bike grudge match
- for the love of God, which tyres?
- geometry wars
- all the gravel
- my thing is broken
Thin end of the wedge that. Apply that to the forum and it’ll be left with about 5 threads.
– e-bike grudge match
– for the love of God, which tyres?
– geometry wars
– all the gravel
– my thing is broken
Just add in Jameso and Zwift and i think you have it covered!
Ooh how did I miss another eBike thread! I don’t think I’ll ever have one mainly because I am poor, shallow and thoroughly enjoy the exercise riding under my own steam brings.
Poor - eBikes are expensive and there are more bits to break or go wrong.
Shallow - They are really ugly. I’ve only just (grudgingly) got around to admitting some full suspension bikes are okay to look at (as long as they are mainly steel)
Everyone else can go for it though. If it brings more pleasure to their riding that can only be a good thing.
I am a 36 year old, relatively fit male. I just bought a trance e bike, and still own a normal reign. Living in the alps i find the ebike supremely good fun. I can go out for an hour or 2 and do all the singletrails in the area and really enjoy it.
With the normal bike sometimes its quite hard to get the motivation to go out and do a 40 minute climb for one descent, with the ebike its alot easier to decide to nip out. Still enjoy riding the reign as well, both serve a purpose.
In the terms of the extra weight, i find the trance descends very well, the weight helps it track, both bikes as fun as each other downhill, albeit in different ways...
DebZ, to be fair, you bite more than most on here! 😊
Absolute bollocks! Show me one single bloody thread where I get into any kind of argument! There's no comparison.
A friend has just bought one a week or so ago. He’s using it to commute to work, taking in a few nadgery bits along with some road/bridlepaths linking them up.
So far, while just cruising home every day at least one cyclist has either chased him down and sat behind to make a point or made a comment about being unassisted. It’s clearly
bothered them enough. I don’t get why, although some on this thread clearly do.
I don’t think they’ll ever replace, but for those riders more interested in crashing through the woods I can see them becoming pretty dominant over the next few years. There are plenty people who don’t enjoy the slow slog back up (I do, FWIW).
That said, I’ve just ordered a Decoy to go alongside my Smuggler. I can’t see the latter getting much use for a while. I’m looking forward to those rides home after work in the battering wind when you just can’t raise any energy. 🙂
Quite a commuter.
Just try not to think how much more "lush" a tripster would have been 😉
There’s a couple of cheeky trails on the way in/home. Hardly warranting 160mm but I’m definitely not buying two ebikes. 😉
It’s a weekend bike really.
160mm is actually awesome on an Eeb for otherwise fairly mediocre undulating XC singletrack. got 40 miles of it from the door here
Also, @SaxonRider, just because someone is on an e-bike doesn't mean they aren't giving it all they've got just like you are.
Looking forward to finding out. 🙂
There are a couple of potentially good trails on the way home (it’s not the way in, reversed) that look interesting but after a long day I can’t be arsed to see where they go, just to turn around if it’s a waste of effort. Plus a couple
of really steep, technical climbs that I couldn’t do even when I was decent (a l.o.n.g time ago).
The ebike could be awesome for this sort of stuff. I can’t figure out why people aren’t intrigued by what they could potentially open up. I can think of loads of local riding which I’ve always been able to ride down, but never up. It’ll reinvent my local trails. All good 🙂
Broken back 3 years ago (road bike) - no e-bike for me at present.
Spent 3 years of trying to be able to ride a bike for more than an hour without shooting back pain. Just returned from a weekend with mates and about 4 hours in the saddle both days (8 hours).
If it get's folk on bikes, then it's OK. Just wish the guy that passed 7 of us on a climb would have actually shouted which way he was coming through - he went via my left elbow (I was at the side of the trail). Given his 'attire' he wasn't a full on biker, but he was out at least !. Just would have been nice not to be shoulder barged.
I saw a few couples out, the missus on an e-mtb, the fella not - why not - if that makes everyone happy.
Just bought my missus a good 100mm XC full susser, just to potter about, where her hybrid can't do it - massive overkill but got a good price (2nd hand) and it's a cracking bike. Means she won't feel like she will 'crash'...
I'm more convinced now that there is a permanent place for e-bikes than I was a few years ago and there's room for both.
My mum has just bought a cheapish Decathlon. Not exactly the cutting edge of e-bikes but she's an overweight 68yo so doesn't need to be. It's meant that her and my dad can enjoy riding together again for the first time in years, with him on a normal MTB. I've been quite surprised at some of the trails she's done on it. This can only be a good thing.
The ebike could be awesome for this sort of stuff. I can’t figure out why people aren’t intrigued by what they could potentially open up. I can think of loads of local riding which I’ve always been able to ride down, but never up. It’ll reinvent my local trails. All good 🙂
Sounds like you "get" the point massively before even having one.
I'd been dying for them to get good enough for me to actually want one. (Geometry, suspension and weight) in the last few years or so they've come on in absolute leaps and bounds and we're now at a point where there's barely a poor Emtb out there.
You're going to love it!
I've absolutely no idea why so many others just can't get it. or worse still refuse to out of some bizarre sort of pride in their own "achievment". We're grown adults pissing about on bikes FFS! They're really not achieving anything in the grand scheme of things.
There's no better feeling than pissing about on bikes mind... Well... not many 😉
Just add in Jameso and Zwift
Confused ... I don't have a zwift
I’ve absolutely no idea why so many others just can’t get it. or worse still refuse to out of some bizarre sort of pride in their own “achievment”.
People are different shocker.
Poor fat, lazy, unfit, unachieving, landing like a sack o tatties Cedric
:'(
Believing everything you read on the internet 😉
If there is anything about Cedric he is a shrewd business man, getting in on exploiting the fat lazy sack of tatties would be funny 🙂
I’ve absolutely no idea why so many others just can’t get it. or worse still refuse to out of some bizarre sort of pride in their own “achievment”. We’re grown adults pissing about on bikes FFS! They’re really not achieving anything in the grand scheme of things.
There’s no better feeling than pissing about on bikes mind… Well… not many
This
I can perfectly understand why some folk love 'em. I have had a great deal of fun on them. . Given unlimited space and money I'd have one and indeed I do have an ebike for utility cycling but what eMTBs are great at is a small part of my riding. Thats about me not the bikes.
When riding around town on my ebike I do apologise to folk as I whizz past them up the hills.
I’ve absolutely no idea
Glad to see you've finally caught up with the rest of us.
Can we combine all the Ebike threads on here into one long thread?#
The E-Bike referendum - are you in or out?
It could go on for 3 years and MikeW could post in it 58 million times.
It could go on for 3 years and MikeW could post in it 58 million times.
I reckon anyone would be hard pushed to best geex on the ebiker/ewhiner threads 😉
The Yak has only ridden two e bikes. One was years ago and was a commuter style bike, the other a modern full suspension bike. The Yak enjoyed both bikes. The Yak got a row from the owner of the full suspension bike for changing gear too hard. The Yak doesn't realise The Yak's own strength.
The Yak would probably have an e bike if The Yak could afford one, but The Yak has other things to spend The Yak's money on. Currently The Yak is debating whether or not to buy a JBL Boombox. The Yak could put a rack on the pushbike and cycle around listening to "banging tunes" which would be enjoyable.
Should The Yak buy a JBL Boombox?
Another thread which has spiralled away from the subject - but that's STW.
I think it will be many years before 50% of the mtb population are on EMTBs.
I see e-bikes as another form of cycling; they make cycling more accessible to more of the population and can help existing cyclists to continue cycling when age/infirmity become a problem.
I don't have one but have zipped around a yard on a modified enduro-type which was (frighteningly) fast but was also fine for pootling and, I guess, ok for everything in-between.
They are here to stay and I think they are great! Perfect for steep trails where there’s no uplift and you have no interest in the ride up. Propel your self up on the ebike then have loads of fun on the way down.... then repeat way faster than you could do pedalling with no motor.
They are here to stay and I think they are great! Perfect for steep trails where there’s no uplift and you have no interest in the ride up. Propel your self up on the ebike then have loads of fun on the way down…. then repeat way faster than you could do pedalling with no motor.
^^^Summed up perfectly sir.
They are here to stay and I think they are great! Perfect for steep trails where there’s no uplift and you have no interest in the ride up.
Works fine if that is all you ride, if not it's another n+1 unless you can pop out the motor and battery for a normal ride, seen a few and they really don't go the same without the extra boost there!! You can't just ride one like a normal bike can you?
Not sure. Maybe age or injury would make me.
Price is too close to a motorbike at the moment and I’d rather buy a new motorbike than an ebike.
You can’t just ride one like a normal bike can you?
Yes Mik
you can
it's just a bit heavier.
i'm not weak though.
seen a few and they really don’t go the same without the extra boost there!!
DH they go exactly the same switched on or off.
how fast they go is down to the rider.
The main thing slowing most of them down when switched off is the owners belief that you need to put supertacky DH casing plus tyres on the back of them.
You totally don't. They do roll like shit and are way less playful with big heavy high drag tyres fitted. I ditched the DH casing Maxgrips and ran either a dual compound 2.3 SS exo or a dual compound 2.4 HRII exo on the back of mine and it was fast rolling either switched on or off.
“You can’t just ride one like a normal bike can you?”
You totally can. I’ve confused some people when they’ve found that I had the assistance turned off!
God no.
theYak should buy bluetooth headphones.
TheYak likes runrig and dad rock driving ballads.
How long till everyone is on a EMTB
Just in case nobody's said it before, the correct answer is never.
You totally can. I’ve confused some people when they’ve found that I had the assistance turned off!
On the flat or uphill? Watched people hit the limits and it cuts out or turn it off to demonstrate and it suddenly turns into a heavy bike needing a lot more effort to move it. You.cant change physics if the motor is off you need to be supplying the extra effort.
Those with e-bikes, particularly Shimano driven, how receptive are the Shimano service centres re sorting a motor fault? I'm thinking of either the new YT or a Canyon. The big plus for the latter is their UK distribution is about 5 miles away so if anything goes awry i assume i can just run it back there. With the YT I would be reliant on Shimano service centres assuming it is a motor issue. The YT does look a better bike although the canyon's seem fairly well regarded.
Have a look on here Steve;
Seems a bit inconclusive as to how YT are going to handle it, especially given the custom battery. I'd still go the YT for the better geo (stays are too short on the Canyon if you're tall IMO) and potential improved range, I'd really like better range from my Vitus. The faff of removing the battery to charge in the house for 6 months of the year is a negative point for the YT though. It looks mint though! Get one so I can have a go
Edit to say my mate had an issue with his Vitus and CRC authorised the LBS to sort it out direct with Madison, others have had to send the whole bike back to NI though, not just the motor
There are no Shimano STEPS authorised service centres.
Not anywhere near me anyway. (Edinburgh/Borders)
Just Shimano service centres. so useless.
eg. I know more about the E8000 motor than my local Shimano service centre do.
apparently one of their mechanics will go on a course (at some point).
Ok, thanks. So it'll be a big old box back to Germany then.
Dave - will let you know, thank for the link.
On the flat or uphill? Watched people hit the limits and it cuts out or turn it off to demonstrate and it suddenly turns into a heavy bike needing a lot more effort to move it. You.cant change physics if the motor is off you need to be supplying the extra effort.
no shit?
Depending on the motor (some have drag while others (Shimano/Brose have none) What you've witnessed on the flat when riders exceed the assist limit may most likely (with those motors at least) be more to do with the effect of the very heavy/draggy tyres they are running AND the fact 16mph on the flat is an achievement for many.
Climbing?
Yes. the bikes are 15-18lb heavier.
That's completely manageble for a decently fit strong rider.
Especially now we have massive cassettes.
I pretty much never use anything lower than 36x36t (or 37t depending on the cassette) while it's switched on. But do use the 46t (or 50t) climbing while it's off.
Can't really speak for anyone else.
No. The Yak should buy a Minirig:
The Yak likes the look of those, unfortunately they're way out of The Yak's budget. The Boombox is a fair bit cheaper.
The Yak clearly can't work the quote thingy.
"TheYak likes runrig and dad rock driving ballads."
The Yak likes the above and much more. The Yak has an eclectic taste in music.
"On the flat or uphill? Watched people hit the limits and it cuts out or turn it off to demonstrate and it suddenly turns into a heavy bike needing a lot more effort to move it. You.cant change physics if the motor is off you need to be supplying the extra effort."
On the flat it's quicker than either my 27.5 full-sus or hardtail. Uphill it requires a bit more effort but as the total system is less than 10% heavier than it's not a huge deal at all. You can't change physics!
I deliberately take on difficult climbs without the motor because it's satisfying to keep up with everyone when I've got the small handicap of the extra weight.
Downhill, power off, even with minimal gradient, bloody hell it gathers and carries speeds like a mofo. Have to leave plenty of space in front and recalibrate for how fast I'm hitting jumps.
Reading some of this thread, its a miracle that their isnt more divorce threads on here... some of you must be right barrels of laughs to live with 🤣
I think for a lot of people, especially those outside the cycling community, it really comes down to cost.
I've considered throwing a mid drive kit onto an old bike in my back garden with rim brakes and 700c wheels as a commuter before now, all that's stopped me is money.
I think e-bikes will get more people on bikes when the prices start to come down.
How long?
Sadly the bike I had, a Scott eSpark has to go back to Scott today - I got the challenge done, am very pleased Scott got on board for this and we found the limit of one battery is a whole lot further than expected by the ebike community.
I had it for a good few winter training months and with the massive light, it was a riot to use and I get why lots of riders use them.
Bikes are like gods - everybody has their favourites;that's why there are so many to choose from...
But, I'm back on the Tallboy and loving it too.
Please don't give me stick.
The Yak is too tight for most modern music equipment. The Yak should try ADSA's George boombox range.
The Yak's eclecticity in music only just spans anything as modern as 4 years ago and is about as varied as Jeremy Clarkson's wardrobe. (or CD collection)
I think the yak should simply bungee cord an 80’s ghetto blaster to a pannier rack and play the breakout compilation on a C90.
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I can see an Ebike in my future.
Decoy eh, wheres the Drakes head colour scheme?
Geex is clearly too dottled to realise when The Yak is playing a modern song. Geex's ear drums obviously haven't recovered from the mix of Aphex Twin and the sound of his voice telling The Yak exciting new e bike news.
The Yak despairs.