Why I dislike e-bikes

[evdog]

FYI many motorcycle shops are now also selling mopeds. The KTM shop 1/2 mile from my house has Intense ones. The moto guys love them. It's funny, but they are sometimes better at following the rules than the non-cyclists who buy mopeds, because they are used to riding dirtbikes, which can't exactly sneak onto non-motorized trails.

Yup, the moto shop I go to has those Intense mopeds out on the floor as well.

We have plenty of trails here in Socal that get poached by motos. Problem with motos is it doesn't take many of them to completely fuck up a trail if it is at all steep. And that's usually their favorite type of trail.

The community that gets suuuuper wound up in any comment section if anyone says anything somewhat negative about ebikes.

Or if you call them mopeds, even though they technically are mopeds.

The MTBR moped forum now has an "E-moderator" (lol) who gets butthurt if you call them mopeds or criticize them at all. I've had a few replies deleted with threats to ban me for trolling. I find that hilarious since they are basically trolling moped haters by sticking those threads in our faces on the main page under "recommended for you" - with predictable results. I wouldn't go out of my way to seek those threads out but if you toss me a softball with a thread called "I'm getting sick of the negativity around e-bikes" I'm probably gonna take a swing.

The horse people are always kinda crazy to me. I understand that there's a longstanding legacy of horseback riding but I sometimes get a kick out of running through this thought experiment:

What if horses were a new invention?

Here's their pitch:
We want to ride 1000lb animals on trails.
All other users must yield to us so our animal doesn't spook.
All of that weight will be focused on small feet that will tear up soft trails.
Our sport is mostly restricted to rich people.
We're not going to show up for or organize any sort of volunteer trail clean up/maintenance.
We will routinely leave big piles of shit on the trail.

Great way to think about it.

A few more to add:
Massive trailheads must built everywhere with public money so we can park our unnecessarily large rigs
Our favorite time to ride is right after rain storms when we can do the most damage.
Other trail users will be given stink eye constantly for being on "our" trails
We will have up to 25 horses per group on Wilderness trips carrying all the glamping gear for fat/lazy tourists who would never put out the effort themselves to get out there

[XXX-er]

I dealt with horses back in the day, when i rode motor bike I found horse types were pretty tightly wound in general but some were cool in that if I came up on them I would shut down so they could ride back behind me then I could continue on my way with out spooking the horses

and then you get the riders who don't play the game and start yapping at ya SO just ride on by them

[I've seen black diamonds!]

I grew up on a street that featured both horse people and a fundamentalist Christian enclave. This group of Christians believed in biblical infallibility (every words is literally correct), and yet they were far more rational and likable than the horse people.

[joetron]

This “climbing right of way” thing has some legs for hate. The Venn Diagram of of Mopeddlers and bros who started loved to bitch about how stupid it is to yield to the climbers in the e-bike beforetimes likely has a fair amount of overlap.

I also was recently pondering that the amount of production capacity consumed by moped bikes and their components has significantly contributed to the supply chain issues we’ve enjoyed for the past 2 years. So yeah, fuck emtb.


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[joetron]

This “climbing right of way” thing has some legs for hate. The Venn Diagram of of Mopeddlers and bros who loved to bitch about how stupid it is to yield to the climbers in the e-bike beforetimes likely has a fair amount of overlap.

I also was recently pondering that the amount of production capacity consumed by moped bikes and their components has significantly contributed to the supply chain issues we’ve enjoyed for the past 2 years. So yeah, fuck emtb.


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[grinch]

My cup runeth over . Love the tears of karens. Soo good

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[joetron]

Those aren’t tears in your cup

[XXX-er]

yeah uphill rider has the right-of-way so we give way to climbers hereabouts

except they are all Canadians so they pull over and say sorry even if they have right of way

[grinch]

True. Very few go to their puter to whine after as well

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[XXX-er]

I didnt know about the uphill has right of way rule for acoustic or e-bike but I ran into the builder out there and he told me so I been giving way to up hill traffic

[SkiLyft]

I take it case by case, based on the trail, and fitness levels. Sometimes when climbing I enjoy a break. I find communication trumps “right of ways”.


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[yeahman]

I have better things to do than argue with people about their behavior.

Try bear spray. In tests it has been shown to deter most ebikers.

But seriously, only a matter of time until this shit boils over and somebody gets hurt.

[Bunion 2020]

I didnt know about the uphill has right of way rule for acoustic or e-bike but I ran into the builder out there and he told me so I been giving way to up hill traffic

Yeah, that's only been a thing since around 1988.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I didnt know about the uphill has right of way rule for acoustic or e-bike but I ran into the builder out there and he told me so I been giving way to up hill traffic

Jong


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[MagnificentUnicorn]

I take it case by case, based on the trail, and fitness levels. Sometimes when climbing I enjoy a break. I find communication trumps “right of ways”.


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Except, people are used to norms when it comes to ROW and when that doesn’t happen it leads to conflict.


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[MagnificentUnicorn]

I take it case by case, based on the trail, and fitness levels. Sometimes when climbing I enjoy a break. I find communication trumps “right of ways”.


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Except, people are used to norms when it comes to ROW and when that doesn’t happen it leads to conflict. Usually what I see is riders, usually men, not yielding because that’s what Americans do regardless of ROW.


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[toast2266]

I take it case by case, based on the trail, and fitness levels. Sometimes when climbing I enjoy a break. I find communication trumps “right of ways”.


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This.

And if you're climbing up a downhill trail (on moped or analog), I'm not pulling over for you. Climbing up downhill trails is wrong, and you should feel bad.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

I take it case by case, based on the trail, and fitness levels. Sometimes when climbing I enjoy a break. I find communication trumps “right of ways”.


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Except, people are used to norms when it comes to ROW and when that doesn’t happen it leads to conflict. Usually what I see is riders, usually men, not yielding because that’s what Americans do regardless of ROW.


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[snowaddict91]

I pretty much just always yield in either direction if I can see the person coming and have a decent place to stop and get going again.

But if its a directional trail and you are going the wrong way, I'll let you know.

[goldenboy]

Threads like this one and people calling them mopeds kind of makes me want to get one just for spite. The ebike hate is just weird.

[Bunion 2020]

Threads like this one and people calling them mopeds kind of makes me want to get one just for spite. The ebike hate is just weird.

And your reaction is totally normal?

[climberevan]

And your reaction is totally normal?

There's an entire political party whose platform is pretty much "Do things just for spite", so yeah, that reaction is sadly normal.

Uphill has had the right of way for longer than any of us have been riding. It's not up for discussion. I agree that norms make things work smoothly. Motorized should yield no matter what, but it does screw up the flow since DH riders can't see that the uphill rider has a motor until she's already stopped.

Obviously it's stupid to go the wrong way on directional trails and people doing that deserve what they get.

Poaching is even more stupid and those people should GTFO.

[XXX-er]

Jong


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well it just never came up

are you still fucking little boys ?

[Bunion 2020]

I have never taken part in fucking little boys? So no. Acting little boys at heart? Yes, very much so.

I get on a bike and I am 11-12 again.

[MagnificentUnicorn]

well it just never came up

are you still fucking little boys ?

Come on man , you’re better than that. Take a time out


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