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From a regulatory sense, I think the only way anything significant can be done is a ban on throttled-but-has-pedals units, those that intentionally blur the line between a bicycle and a scooter/motorcycle. Additional regulations will be needed to address the language used when marketing e-motos like Surrons to insure they are not termed the same as any pedal assist vehicle. Pipe dream, but hey, a human can dream.

I got ~30 minutes each with Avinox and Bosch and am still figuring out what to do with the content (podcast or writing). Unsurprisingly, Bosch is a bit "disappointed" (I'm paraphrasing) in the direction Avinox is pushing the industry. They leaned heavily into trail access and stewardship, and suggested the current crop of high-output motors doesn't jive with the effort they've put into balancing stakeholders and leading the powertrain side responsibly. For fun, I looked back to see if Bosch has ever pushed power or torque limits on their own accord, and from what I can tell the answer is...

I half wrote an essay before realising it was more of a rant; essentially I think the power wars risk breaking the social contract of responsible land use, where I live we have very small woods and they’re intensively used for recreation. The tacit agreement is that you’re allowed to do you there under your own power, no dirt bikes, no quads etc. If this is perceived to be broken because you can razz around on fire road climbs at 20mph then I reckon land managers will just ban bikes altogether because it would be too difficult to only ban...

Pricing pressures mean most if not all automotive components are designed to be made as cheap as possible, which coincides with as unrepairable as possible. Mercedes recently came out with what is essentially "we will start using screws to assemble headlights again as its stupid to throw away 1500 usd of front light over a 10 usd fault". But that's what's happening now as most if not all headlight assemblies are essentially permanently bonded during assembly. Also, IC motors (engines) not being throwaway like ebike drive units are, they actually are. If you have a normie car and blow the...

At a shop level, there's just a lack of capability in repairs for electric motors. You'd have to start hiring and training at an entirely new level that does not exist currently and will constantly keep shifting over the new few years. Other than a few weeks long courses, the only real training out there for shop staff is time and the older guy in the bike shop they work with and that guy doesn't exist yet for ebikes. IC engines have had that support structure for 100 years now. Most bike shops are only just now in the last...

Not to continue beating a dead horse, but conceptually there's a massive difference in parts availability and even what constitute repairs when you're comparing that YZ to a modern ebike. Even at the LBS, there is no repair happening to your ebike. In the context of Bosch and Shimano at least a repair means throwing away the faulty / broken part of the system and installing a new part either under warranty or at full pop. With the rare exception of loose wires / connectors there's no diagnosis or fault-finding beyond find the broken part / replace with new part...

Specialized has been able to this point to keep ebikes up to 10 years old going with new parts, and within usually pretty quick turnaround, so it is possible, but they're in charge of their own parts catalog for that stuff and not many others are. Hoping this becomes the standard.

Spot on Costs more than a YZ250, but a YZ250 I can take it in the woods or on the track and thrash it to within an inch of its life. Maybe even blow it up. But if that happens Sunday I can have the parts on the way to my front door that Monday and rebuild it myself or take it to any number of shops. And those parts should be available for five years. Long enough for a reasonable amortization of the original cost. Until e-bikes have similar I’m not interested.

b/c of that thumbnail search, i'm now getting JNCO ads on youtube. backfire of the year so far 🤣

I used to ride in Dickies cut off and hemmed to just below the knee.

i ride in dickies or the costco banana republic pants. i have to put the driveside pant leg of dickies into my sock so it doesn't get snagged by the chain. if over 80 degrees, i go shorts.

I've said this elsewhere, but for the anti-32 crowd...it's well understood that geometry is the single most important aspect of bike fit and function. Wheel diameter is the geometry of wheels.