@B.Radly. Didn’t you just say you were done posting ebike articles on Vital?

Freynolds: my sentiment exactly!

“Most pros don’t ride ebikes” like that’s a fact? That’s ignorant as generalization often is. I can name tow pro riding buddies that ride their ebikes a fair amount, especially pre season. I’m definitely not going to name drop my friends because you have a pre determined belief that you are correct.

I honestly can beat my wife up most trails(excluding fire roads) on her ebike. it certainly doesn’t turn everyone in to Nino.

I guess for me assuming there is no license or permit required to operate a bicycle on a trail, then trail education is a bonus and not a requirement. I will advocate for it but if people want to ride like assholes then that is their prerogative.

@kdiff: have you ridden a motorcycle? Have you ridden an ebike? That would tell you all you need to know. In CA we classify pedal assist motors at 500watts max assist and up to 18mph top speed. For reference 1000 watts equates to 1.25 horsepower at most. A good motocross bike will have at least 30 horsepower so at lease 23,000plus watts. And that would be a boring dirt bike in my opinion. If you really want to see why ebikes aren’t motorcycles look up the FIM ebike World Cup race and then watch a motorcross race. See if you can see the subtle difference

To me this your piece was about reclassifying ebikes as a different sport, as read in the title. On that we don’t agree at all. A bicycle with a tiny motor is still a bicycle in my opinion. To me your piece feels more like a skier back in the day not likening snowboards on the mountain, and advocating for keeping the mountains for skiers only. I’m not just an ebike fan boy, and I definitely would like to see more trails or groups teach trail etiquette, especially for ebikes, but that wasn’t in this thread. Im also all for having conversations about how to better share trails and trail safety, and even consumerism and the environmental effects of the throw away mountain bike culture.
Right now except on federal land, land managers get to decide if ebikes are allowed or in most cases not allowed. Perhaps that’s why ebike sales are small, not a lack of demand, just a lack of access to trails?

Feels like a rant that was a long time coming. I am not going for popularity on Vital here, any pro ebike comments gets knocked pretty quickly online. I believe pedal assist ebikes are simply not a problem. Sure they are not as fun, most days I agree with that, and that’s why mine hasn’t been ridden even once in months. Occasionally like when I’m sick, injured, or just super lazy I would say ebikes are way more fun, at least more fun than not riding. They aren’t real MTBs? They sure aren’t motorcycles, at least not class 1 pedal assists. In the Bay Area, CA I see a lot of these bikes on the trails. Probably a lot of new riders that don’t have the experience or fitness to be otherwise riding these longer steeper trails, and that has never bothered me once.
It’s great that you are a “real” mtb rider who knows what’s best for access, even though you admit there isn’t enough data to understand erosion, or environmental damage. It’s great that you single handedly can decide that bikes with a tiny motor that are “slow” shouldn’t be classified as bikes. Seriously though, the bro culture of mtb is deciding that they don’t want to be passed up hill by “gapers” or at least not be “classified” the same as them.
Obviously I’m on the other side of the fence here. I have no quarrel with ebikes. I don’t often ride mine. Out of 100+ rides a year maybe 5-10 are on an ebike. But seriously, if you want evidence that they belong, and won’t limit trail access look to other Countries where ebikes are a huge part of the industry. Germany, GB, France to name a few.

I don’t even care to change your mind or alter your perspective a bit. But I did want to say that I’m fit, I’m a mtb community member, I do dig days, I support my local MBOSC community, and I have not seen a negative impact on ebikes yet, except on online forums that is, oh and for sure a bunch of grouchy bro’s!

Sweet

It’s Awesome to see some good competition in the suspension world. I was thinking of going back to a sram shock after blowing out 3 different X2’s recently, but hopefully we will have more options coming from new players in the high end MTB market.