E-Bikes

Saw a video from West Mountain, they have companies down there demoing bikes for a rental fleet.  The owner was riding a Trek E-bike.

On the surface... I don't like them.  BUT

I grew up riding dirtbikes/quads/sleds so the idea of some extra speed definitely gets me curious.  

I think that I would rather not know how much easier climbs and stuff are.  That's why I don't want to do lift serviced all that much, I'd rather not know how fun it is because I like working for the turns

My neighbor has 3 of these things by Bosch.  He showed them to me last weekend.  They weight a ton - the battery alone is like 10 pounds.
They have the huge snow bike tires on them.  He is going to take me out on them soon.  He says they motor up climbs like you would believe.

If you are injured or handicapped a e-bike is great..If you are not , then you are lazy and don't want to put the work into getting in better shape..

right now the bikes are expensive, but in time like all tech the price will come down..

The problem I see , it is just a matter of time before some smart kid Jailbreaks the code. Now you will have a electric motorcycle tooling around the mountain bike trails..

The bike story in our town is selling a bundle of them.  I tried one an they are a lot of fun.

The idea that it's an "assist" when you need it is BS.  They fly but are so heavy that they aren't much fun to pedal.

Buddy of mine has one ---- they're fun to ride ---- he actually rides it to his deer stand, stealth mode

Harvey wrote

The bike story in our town is selling a bundle of them.  I tried one an they are a lot of fun.

The idea that it's an "assist" when you need it is BS.  They fly but are so heavy that they aren't much fun to pedal.

Agree when you have the snow bike tires on it and all that extra weight you need the motor or riding it would such without the motor.

A better approach would be a more normal bike weight plus maybe 5 pounds and 29er wheels and then the assist is just for the hills.  Being in the motor biz I know they are working on this in Europe.  I believe we are selling some 22 and 35mm motors for this type of thing.  Our motors are super light so it's a good fit but the batteries are boat anchors.

Ebikes were discussed on the Meateater podcast recently and as hunters they were not pleased because people will inevitably use them to get into the backcountry.  The backcountry out west is generally reserved for people willing to work for it.